Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
@article{207382,
author = {VEDIKA ASHISH KARMARKAR and S ANANDH and SAKSHI JADHAV},
title = {EFFECT OF PHYSIOTHERAPY INTERVENTIONS TARGETING INTRA-ABDOMINAL PRESSURE REGULATION ON RECOVERY FOLLOWING CESAREAN SECTION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW},
journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
year = {2026},
volume = {13},
number = {3},
pages = {672-681},
issn = {2349-6002},
url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=207382},
abstract = {Few abdominal operations are performed as often, worldwide, as the cesarean section (CS), and its growing share of deliveries has pushed clinicians to look for rehabilitation care that actually has evidence behind it. Three structures — the abdominal wall, the diaphragm, and the pelvic floor — work as a unit to keep intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) in a stable range and to hold the front of the pelvis and lower back steady. Cutting through that system during a CS can weaken core muscle function, slow the return to normal activity, and raise the odds of problems like diastasis recti abdominis (DRA) or pelvic floor dysfunction. A number of physiotherapy techniques try to rebuild IAP control directly — activating the transversus abdominis and pelvic floor, bracing the abdomen, Kinesio taping, wearing an abdominal binder, or following a structured exercise plan — and these have all been floated as ways to help women recover after CS. Objective: The aim here was to work out how well physiotherapy that targets IAP control actually helps women recover from a cesarean section. Methods: Literature searches ran across PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science, capturing anything published from 2010 up to 2026. Eligibility was restricted to randomized trials and cross-sectional studies that tied physiotherapy, or a physiotherapy-adjacent intervention, to IAP control, abdominal wall healing, or pelvic floor function after a cesarean birth. Bias in the trials was scored with the Revised Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (RoB 2), and the cross-sectional work was scored with AXIS. Ten studies cleared the bar: seven trials, three cross-sectional studies, screened using the PRISMA 2020 methodology (Fig. 1). Results: Structured physiotherapy programs — early mobilization and exercise after surgery, transversus abdominis and core-stability training, Kinesio taping, education delivered before surgery, and pelvic floor training paired with EMG biofeedback — all showed measurable improvement in pain, functional recovery, abdominal muscle strength, and the gap between the recti muscles following CS. Results for abdominal binders were less consistent: several trials found less pain, distress, and blood loss with a binder, but one trial found no real difference. The cross-sectional studies backed this up from another angle, showing that women who had a CS tended to have worse diastasis recti abdominis and different pelvic floor muscle activity than women who delivered vaginally — consistent with the idea that cutting through the abdominal wall interferes with how IAP is regulated afterward. Most trials ended up rated “some concerns” overall on RoB 2, largely because it's nearly impossible to blind someone to a physiotherapy intervention, while the cross-sectional studies held up well against the AXIS criteria. Conclusion: Taken as a whole, the evidence points to physiotherapy aimed at IAP regulation — early structured exercise above all, alongside core and pelvic floor activation and pre-surgery education — as a safe way to ease pain, speed up function, and support abdominal wall healing after a cesarean, and it deserves a standard place in post-operative rehabilitation.},
keywords = {Abdominal binder, cesarean section, core stability, diastasis recti abdominis, intra-abdominal pressure, pelvic floor muscle training, physiotherapy, PRISMA, systematic review.},
month = {August},
}
Submit your research paper and those of your network (friends, colleagues, or peers) through your IPN account, and receive 800 INR for each paper that gets published.
Join NowNational Conference on Sustainable Engineering and Management - 2024 Last Date: 15th March 2024
Submit inquiry