A friend recently told me she found a place to hide pads in the bathroom of her gym so that she doesn’t have to worry about leaking during exercise, a form of stress incontinence. To which I responded “go see a pelvic floor PT, stat!” Her response: “this only affects me from 5-6pm MWF, why would I go do that?”
The answer is, it may only be affecting you when you do double-unders or box jumps now, but if you don’t address the root cause, it could grow to a bigger problem later in life.
The next logical question is, what is the root cause?
I’m so glad you asked!
Unfortunately, the answer isn’t always very clear. It could be a number of things. And doing Kegels isn’t always the answer.
Well, what is the answer then?
Wow, another great question!
The answer is: I don’t know. It really depends on the root cause.
We’re going in circles now. So let’s dive into the possibilities.
Stress urinary incontinence, or leaking urine during activity, is when the pelvic floor muscles do not do their job of holding in urine when there is increased pressure in the abdomen.
Often, if you google why this happens, you’ll find that it is due to weakened pelvic floor muscles and that you just need to do Kegels to get better.
This might be the case. But it might actually make things worse. Sometimes, the muscles of the pelvic floor are actually holding tight too much, and fatigue to the point of letting go when we need them the most (like during jumping exercises, or heavy lifting).
In this case, Kegels are not the first go-to solution.
NEWS FLASH: Not only people who have had children experience stress incontinence!
Not only women experience stress incontinence!
Anyone can experience this, because everyone has a pelvic floor. So, if this is something you struggle with, first, know you are not alone. But second, know you do not have to live with this. It is common, but not normal, and working with a pelvic floor physical therapist can greatly improve your pelvic floor’s ability to function as it should.
Have questions about your stress incontinence or other pelvic floor issues that are impacting your life and the activities you love?
We have helped hundreds of adults just like you overcome this common, but not normal issues. We can point you in the right direction!
