Plugging stress incontinence

FOR SOME people, there’s a problem they have to try and hide when they exercise: incontinence.

It’s not something people tend to talk about, but accidental peeing during exercise may be more common than you think.

“One in three women will experience it at some point in their lives,” says obstetriciangynaecologist Dr Jessica Shepherd.

“It’s definitely more common once you’ve had children, but there’s a misconception that if you haven’t had kids, you don’t have bladder leakage.”

Weeing yourself a little bit is actually normal and is often called light bladder leakage (LBL), or stress urinary incontinence (SUI) which refers to the involuntary leakage that occurs not just through exercise but also from sneezing, laughing or no reason at all.

“You’d be surprised how many times a day I talk about this,” DanceBody founder Katia Pryce told Well+Good magazine.

“My workout is dance cardio; there’s a lot of jumping. I have some women who always wear patterned pants so if they pee, you can’t see it.”

Stress incontinence is most common when doing highimpact, high-intensity workouts such as box jumps, double unders and even deadlifts, adds physical therapist Ann Wendel.

So what can you do to keep yourself jumping?

Strengthening the pelvic floor and working on the abdominals can help. Try finding a personal trainer who specialises in deepcore work. – The Independent