Resistance training helps to reduce risk of stress urinary incontinence: study

A study has found a way to help women undertake resistance training that will help reduce the risk of stress urinary incontinence - the involuntary loss of urine on effort or physical exertion. The study was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. It involves women engaging in a Kegel exercise program that will tighten pelvic floor muscles before they commence resistance training. The combined exercises help to prevent or control urinary incontinence.
Urinary incontinence affects up to 70 per cent of women worldwide, with stress urinary incontinence reported as the most prevalent sub-type. However, Donelle Cross, from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University, says her research has identified that some incontinent women who continue to perform resistance training experienced an improvement in their daily continence.
Cross says, "Physically active women tend to have stronger pelvic floors, and this is thought to contribute to a successful continence mechanism when there is an increase in their intra-abdominal pressure." In addition, a recent study found over 8 per cent of incontinent women no longer experienced urinary leakage during their daily life after performing resistance training, which suggests its positive impact on pelvic floor strength and women's ability to timely and effectively activate their pelvic floor muscles.
And the new research showed that combining Kegel exercises before resistance training provided the most effective results. The latest research - "Does a Kegel Exercise Program Prior to Resistance Training Reduce the Risk of Stress Urinary Incontinence?" by Donelle Cross, Marilynne N. Kirshbaum, Lolita Wikander, Jing-Yu Tan, Simon Moss and Daniel Gahreman - studied incontinent women before they commenced resistance training, comparing groups with and without prior Kegel exercises. They recorded their Incontinence Severity Index score, pelvic floor muscle strength, and body composition (such as body mass index, fat, and muscle mass) both before and after exercising.
"A dedicated program of Kegel exercises preceding a resistance training program improved average pelvic floor muscle strength and was effective in reducing stress urinary incontinence among incontinent women," says Cross.