Female Saudi athletes’ awareness of the importance of pelvic floor muscle exercises to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction: a cross-sectional online survey

The pelvic floor muscles (PFMs) function as essential elements in supporting the female bladder, bowel control, pregnancy, and sexual activities. Female athletes show increasing rates of pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD), which causes urinary incontinence (UI), pelvic pain, and low-back pain. PFD affects many women; however, this population of female athletes partially understands the condition. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and practical experience of female Saudi athletes regarding the benefits of PFM exercises for the prevention and treatment of PFD. A cross-sectional survey was conducted between September and December 2024. Seventy-six adult female Saudi athletes from the Riyadh region were included. In the survey, Arabic was used to evaluate the participants’ knowledge of PFD. We used three questionnaires: the Prolapse and Incontinence Knowledge Questionnaire (PIKQ) UI scale, the PIKQ pelvic organ prolapse (POP) scale, and the PFM knowledge questionnaire. These tools were used to assess PFD awareness. Descriptive statistics were reported as mean ± standard deviation for continuous variables and frequency (%) for categorical variables. Statistical analyses were performed using the t-test and analysis of variance in SPSS version 28, after checking data for normality. Female Saudi athletes showed limited knowledge and understanding of the PFMs and their dysfunction patterns. This population was adequately aware of UI; however, their understanding of POP was low. The PFM knowledge was the lowest among the Female Saudi athletes. Only PFM anatomical knowledge (Score 3) showed a statistically significant difference across training types (p = 0.022), with resistance/weightlifting athletes scoring higher. Adult female Saudi athletes lack sufficient knowledge of PFD, highlighting a systemic educational gap. The prevention and treatment of PFD require female athletes to receive adequate education on pelvic floor exercises.