by Pauline Six
Lucy, a 31-year-old runner, suffers from urinary incontinence. She has been an active runner for seven years. Embarrassed by the condition of her leaking bladder, she dares not tell the soul. She wears protection so she doesn’t get her underwear wet. As the topic is somewhat taboo among her peers, we would like to help Lucy and everyone else suffering from this condition by removing the stigma and tackling this health challenge.
Although bladder leakage is certainly annoying, it should not prevent women – or men – from running and maintaining regular training schedule. Although urinary incontinence can also affect men, women are more likely to suffer from this condition at some point in their lives. For this reason, we focus here on the leakage of the bladder in women. We broke the problem and identified some simple solutions.
What is bladder leakage?
Medically known as “stress urinary incontinence” (SUI), the condition describes an involuntary leakage of the bladder. This is often caused by an active lifestyle, such as a runner, but can also be caused by coughing, sneezing or laughing too much. Unfortunately, SUI comes with little or no warning signs; without wanting to use the bathroom, you are often completely surprised.
How does a bladder leak occur?
Simply put, SUI occurs when the pressure in your bladder exceeds your internal capacity during exercise.
Imagine an inflated balloon held closed by a piece of string wrapped around the hole. When the balloon becomes too inflated, the cord is untied and the air inside the balloon is released.
In women, running creates vertical pressure on perineum due to gravity, which can cause leakage.
As a female athlete, it is important to balance heavy abdominal training with workouts to strengthen the perineal muscles or pelvic floor. Bladder leakage affects many female athletes; those who focus more on strengthening the abdominal muscles than the perineal muscles are more likely to suffer from this condition.
Stress urinary incontinence: the main risk factors
- Age: People over 65 have a higher risk of developing SUI.
- Body Mass Index: High BMI has been identified as a risk factor for SUI. (1)
- Pregnancy and childbirth: Trauma during childbirth is associated with weakening of the perineum, leading to SUI.(2)
Risk of incontinence in women depending on the type of exercise
Incontinence in female athletes varies depending on on physical activity. Here is a list of common sports divided by risk levels:
High risk sports
- Running
- Acrobatic gymnastics
- aerobics
- Jumping over obstacles
- Basketball
- volleyball
- Handball
- Martial Arts
Moderate risk sports
Low risk sports
- A walk
- swimming
- Cycling
- Roller skating
- Golf
Management Incontinence When Running
For accidental small leaks during work, the simplest solution is to use swabs to control the bladder. This may be all you need to avoid any risk of leakage during a trip.
Good to know:
The bladder control tampon is not what you can imagine. You do not need to put anything in your urethra (which you should never do). Instead, this tampon is inserted into the vagina and dilated to support the urethra and stop the flow of urine while running or otherwise.
If you experience urinary incontinence regularly, it is important to get to the root of the problem. Instead of looking for temporary fixes, let’s look at a few techniques to better control your bladder so you can just … run.
1. Perineal rehabilitation
The main idea is to provide greater awareness of the perineal muscles. Exercises focused on these muscles help strengthen and tone the pelvic floor, which can help prevent SUI.
Exercise you can do at home: He lies on his back, knees bent with his feet on the floor. Exhale deeply, squeeze your stomach, then squeeze the perineum, as if trying to block the urge to urinate. Hold the contraction for 10 seconds. Release in 20 seconds. Repeat 10 times.
2. Strengthen the abdomen
This aspect of training is crucial in connection with perineal exercises. Urinary incontinence in athletes is partly caused by abdominal pressure.
Abdominal crunches should be avoided. When the shoulders approach the pelvis, this can cause an increase in intra-abdominal pressure, leading to an increased risk of leakage.
° COre training is how we strengthen the transverse abdominal muscle, which shrinks excessive abdominal pressure, which leads to less bladder leakage in female athletes. Athletes can perform ventrally, laterally or dorsally board exercises. These exercises can be performed statically or dynamicwhich makes the exercise more difficult and effective.
3. Breathing exercises
It is important to work on your breathing to create a healthy synergy between the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles. An easy way to achieve this is to retract your abdomen when breathing. To learn how to breathe properly while running or strength training will also help you get more out of your workouts.
4. Surgery to drain the bladder
If all else fails, the method of treating SUI is surgical treatment. Talk to your doctor about the most effective treatment plan.
Let’s talk about it
Urinary stress incontinence is a common condition that female athletes should feel completely free to discuss. So, let’s end the taboo and share our experience. Strengthening the pelvic floor muscles is always a good idea, so remember: combined strengthening of the abdomen and perineal is essential. The best news is that you can forget about abdominal presses because they only make things worse.
About the author:
Pauline Six is a sports medicine doctor Running care. She specializes in the rehabilitation of athletes (from initial diagnosis to re-training). Pauline is a passionate runner; she competes in long distance running and triathlon.
***