TOPLINE

Women with endometriosis-related pelvic pain who received supervised exercise and pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) combined with pain management reported improved sexual function at 4 months than those who received pain management alone, but the benefit was not sustained at 12 months.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers conducted a secondary analysis of a two-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled trial that enrolled 81 women aged 18-45 years with laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis and moderate to severe pelvic or genital pain (≥ 4 on a numeric rating scale [NRS]) in Norway.
• All participants attended a 4-hour multidisciplinary pain management course; the exercise group (n = 41) also participated in weekly 60-minute supervised group training sessions for 4 months, including general exercise and PFMT, plus home training.
• Sexual function was assessed using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) at baseline, 4 months, and at 12 months.

TAKEAWAY

• At 4 months, participants in the exercise group demonstrated a significantly higher total FSFI score than those in the control group (mean difference [MD], 3.52; P = .023).
• Women in the exercise group also reported improvement in the lubrication (MD, 0.90; P = .016) and orgasm scores (MD, 0.81; P = .033); no differences were found for desire, arousal, satisfaction, or pain.
• No significant between-group differences in overall sexual function or any sexual function domain remained at the 12-month follow-up.
• A higher proportion of women in the exercise group were sexually active at 4 months compared with those in the control group (92% vs 61%); subgroup analysis among sexually active participants showed no significant between-group difference in total FSFI score.

IN PRACTICE

"The findings suggest that the combined intervention of supervised exercise and PFMT, when added to pain management, may lead to short-term improvements in sexual function... However, the higher proportion of sexually active women in the exercise group and the absence of between-group differences among sexually active participants suggest that these findings may partly reflect differences in sexual activity status rather than improved sexual function," wrote the authors of the study.

SOURCE

The study was led by Rakel Gabrielsen, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Akershus University Hospital in Nordbyhagen, Norway. It was published online on July 22 in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.

LIMITATIONS

Sexual function was a secondary outcome, and the trial was not powered for this endpoint. Relatively low adherence to the PFMT protocol and high loss to follow-up at 12 months limited interpretation of long-term effects. Differences in sexual activity status between groups may have influenced FSFI scores rather than reflecting true differences in sexual function among sexually active women.

DISCLOSURES

The study was supported by the Norwegian Fund for Post-Graduate Training in Physiotherapy. One author reported receiving speaker fees from GE Healthcare and Gedeon Richter. The other authors reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.