Urine Leaks While Exercising

Are you a woman who runs away from trampolines or who has abandoned doing the sports you love because of urine leaks?

It doesn’t matter whether this is your first baby or your third, or whether you are 20 or 90 years old, it is not "normal" to lose urine while running or doing Zumba. Several interventions can help. First, don’t worry: you are not alone! It seems that 20-60% of women of all ages experience loss of urine to a varying degree.

The most frequent types of urinary incontinence are these three: effort incontinence; urge incontinence, where urine loss is linked to an urgent need to urinate; and mixed urinary incontinence, a combination of urine leaks due to both effort and urgency. In all cases, exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, also known as Kegel exercises, are often useful – indeed essential. The pelvic floor is made of a set of muscles, forming a hammock between the pubis and the coccyx. It plays an important supporting role – retaining all of the organs of the abdomen – but it is also essential for urinary and fecal continence. Strengthening your pelvic floor will help you reduce urine leaks and eventually eliminate them.

If you have any doubts about how to contract your pelvic floor or wish to receive personalized advice and treatment to be able to go back to running or practicing your favorite sport, a consultation with a physiotherapist specializing in pelvic and perineal re-education might help. And don’t be surprised to learn that similar problems occur to men as well, since they have a pelvic floor too. So whether you're a man or a woman, a word of advice: talk about it, because it's never too late!

Douanka Gendreau
physiotherapist