Childbirth, Continence, and the Pelvic Floor

Abstract

Since the beginning of recorded medical history, vaginal delivery has been known to damage the pelvic floor. Vesicovaginal fistulae, fecal incontinence, and uterine prolapse were often the dreaded price of bearing children. In the past few centuries, trained midwives and obstetricians learned to intervene before prolonged pressure of the fetal head on the pelvic floor destroyed a mother's continence, her marriage, or even her life. Despite the progress that modern obstetrical care has made in reducing these problems, vaginal delivery remains a traumatic event with respect to the maternal perineum. Recently, there has been renewed interest in the mechanism of . . .