Introduction: Fecal incontinence means the involuntary leakage of liquid or formed faeces and poses a major social and hygienic problem for the patient. Fecal incontinence is a symptom or consequence of some diseases in self-diagnosis, which can occur due to various factors. Even if there are many different approaches to treating fecal incontinence, the first choice is usually conservative treatment. The role of the physiotherapist for the treatment and application of interventions is very important. Purpose: The main purpose of the thesis is to compare the different effects of conservative treatment in women with fecal incontinence based on a review of experts in the scientific literature and to determine whether one of the methods is more effective than others. Methods of work: The literature review included the research we found in the general databases PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PEDro and Cochrane Library and in the libraries published between 1999 and 2016. The inclusion criteria were the following: randomized controlled trials, adult women older than 18 years, Slovenian and English language, fecal incontinence in women and physiotherapy of fecal incontinence. Results: After reviewing all included and excluded factors we selected 8 studies. The results showed that pelvic floor muscle exercise is the most commonly used method, and is even more common in combination with biofeedback or electrical stimulation. In addition, education by a physiotherapist or nurse is often included. All interventions showed improvement of the symptoms of fecal incontinence. Discussion and conclusion: It is impossible to evaluate which of the selected interventions is the most effective. From the results in the reviewing literature, we can conclude that each of the methods of conservative treatment has made only some effective contribution to improving the symptoms of fecal incontinence. In order to be able to confirm with certainty which of the methods or combination of the methods is most useful, additional qualitative research should be completed. Pelvic floor muscle training, which is also the least invasive, has proven to be the most useful. There is no findings in the literature that any of the methods used would have negative consequences on the health status of patients.
|