Background: Because of its prevalence and impact on women's well-being, and its high financial costs, female LUTS is an important health problem that requires serious attention from health professionals.

Objective: The objective of this review was to determine the clinical effects of osteopathic treatment on female lower urinary tract disorders.

Data sources: A systematic literature search was performed in May 2011 in the electronic databases Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PEDro, OSTMED-DR, OSTEOPATHIC WEBRESEARCH and databases of ongoing trials. A manual search in reference lists and a personal communication with experts in the field of osteopathy was also conducted to identify additional studies.

Study selection: Only randomized clinical studies (RCT) or controlled clinical studies (CCT) were included. Inclusion criteria of the participants were female, at least 18 years old and a diagnosed female urinary tract disorder. Exclusion criteria were neurologic disorders, tumors, urinary tract infections or antibiotic treatment, and pregnancy.

Data extraction: Two review authors independently extracted the data of the studies using a standardized data extraction form. The updated Cochrane Risk of bias tool from 2011 was used to assess the methodological quality.

Results: The quantitative analysis shows a statistically significant and clinically relevant improvement when the osteopathic intervention was compared to an untreated group. Two studies which compare OMT with the pelvic floor muscle training as a reference treatment document almost the same therapeutic effect.

Conclusion: The findings of this systematic review and meta-analysis are promising and encouraging to conduct larger, rigorous osteopathic intervention studies for female urination disorders. Future studies should compare the osteopathic treatment with established standard procedures in the control group.