The objective of this study was to group and update knowledge related to physical therapy intervention in anal incontinence in the elderly. The literature research was done in electronic databases: Medline, Lilacs, Cochrane, PubMed and Scielo, from January 2006 to July 2011. The keywords used in various combinations were anal incontinence, fecal incontinence, elderly, physical therapy, physiotherapy, exercises, electrotherapy and rehabilitation. The physiotherapy intervention includes assessment of anal incontinence constituted by signs and symptoms, physical examination and laboratory tests, including anorectal manometry, retosigmoidoscopia, defecography, anorectal electromyography, endoanal ultrasonography and terminal motor latency of the pudendal nerve; exercises to strengthen pelvic floor muscles, biofeedback, rectal balloon training and electrostimulation are the mainstay of treatment. This update showed the scarcity of studies addressing this theme; only five studies published in recent years were found, which mostly emphasize the procedures already established in the literature to treat these patients. However, a considerably new mode of treatment, sacral neurostimulation, has been investigated with apparently positive results, raising the need for further studies with specific methodological designs on this problem.</p
