Introduction: Pregnancy and labour cause physiological changes of all organ systems, including changes of the pelvic floor. During pregnancy, the connective tissue gets loosen up due to the hormon influence. The growth and weight of fetus push the organs down, which causes higher load and weakens of the pelvic floor muscle. With pelvic floor exercise during pregnancy, we can improve the strength and control of these muscles, which are important and necessary in the process of labouring. Purpose: The purpose of diploma work is to determine the impact of pelvic floor muscle exercise on the childbirth outcomes, based on the review of professional and scientific literature. We want to find out how pelvic floor muscle strengthening affects pregnancy, inter and postpartum complications. Methods: The literature review was conducted according to the general medical and health database PubMed and physiotherapy specific databases Cochrane library and PEDro. The following inclusion criteria were used: english language, research and articles published between 2010 and 2020 and adult women aged 18 to 44 years. The exclusion criteria were the following: associated diseases of pregnant women or fetus, multiple fertile or high-risk pregnancy and risk of premature birth. The review was also conducted through the Semantic Scholar database (the inclusion factor were articles published between 2015 and 2020). Results: During the literature search, 303 professional articles were found. According to the exclusion criteria, 8 articles published between 2011 and 2018 were included in the literature review. The results of the research showed that pelvic floor muscle exercise during pregnancy affects the course of labour, which is reflected in shortened second stage of labour. Pelvic floor muscle exercise also affects the incidence and intensity of pain and associated use of analgetics during and after the labour. Discussion and conclusion: Based on the described results from the literature review, we can assume that performing pelvic floor muscle exercises contributes to a better pregnancy experience and childbirth of future mothers. Performing exercises can reduce the risk of many health complications for future mothers and newborn babies. Even though most researches claim the positive effects of pelvic floor muscle exercise, more research is still needed. Scientific literature does not state that pelvic floor muscle exercise has any negative impact on the health of pregnant women and fetus.
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