The effect of pelvic floor muscle exercises on sexual function in women with multiple sclerosis: a pre – post intervention clinical trial

Introduction
Sexual dysfunction (SD) is a common symptom in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). In women with MS, there are no specific pharmacological or non-pharmacological therapies which have been proven effective for SD. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pelvic floor muscle exercises on improving sexual function in women with MS.

Material and methods
This study was a pre-/post-intervention clinical trial conducted on 45 MS women who had been referred to the MS Clinic in Ahvaz, Iran. All participants were selected by the purposeful sampling method. The data collection tools in this study included a demographic data form and the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire. The study participants (n = 45) performed pelvic floor muscle exercises for 12 consecutive weeks. The data were analyzed as descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) with the Shapiro–Wilk test, the independent t-test, and the paired t-test using SPSS software version 24; a p-value of <0.05 was selected as the significance level.

Results
The results revealed that after pelvic floor muscle exercise, the mean score of sexual function of women with MS had increased from 10.58 to 30.17 and that this increase was statistically significant (p = 0.001).

Conclusions
Pelvic floor muscle exercise can improve sexual function in women with MS. Thus, performing these exercises is recommended as an easy and cost-effective method to improve the sexual function of these patients.