Exercises for Women to Overcome Incontinence Challenges
Believe it or not, urinary incontinence is much more common than you think as a woman, especially as you age. Up to 57% of middle-aged women and 75% of elderly women experience incontinence, which can significantly affect one’s quality of life. Luckily, there are solutions to train your body to become stronger, preventing accidents and leakage.
The Role of Exercise in Managing Incontinence
Exercise plays a vital role in dealing with incontinence symptoms, particularly for women who experience stress incontinence or other bladder control issues. These conditions often arise after childbirth or during perimenopause and menopause, as hormonal changes and weakening of pelvic muscles can lead to bladder leaks. Strengthening the pelvic floor muscles through targeted exercises helps restore muscle tone and improve bladder control, reducing the frequency and severity of leaks. Regular physical activity also supports overall bladder health, helping to prevent related complications like urinary tract infections (UTIs).
The Best Incontinence Exercises for Women
There are several crucial exercises to manage urinary incontinence. so you can get back to feeling like yourself again without worrying about your bladder.
Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises (Kegels)
Kegel exercises are popular for women’s health because they involve engaging and strengthening the pelvic floor muscles to improve bladder function.
How to Practice Kegels
Make sure your bladder is empty, and sit in a comfortable chair. You can locate the pelvic floor muscles by pretending like you’re stopping the flow of urine — these are the muscles you’ll be working with. Start to tighten these muscles like you’re lifting a marble, and hold up to 5 seconds. Relax the muscles for 5 seconds. Repeat 10 times, up to three times daily.
Over time, kegels will become so easy you can do it while driving, watching TV, or paying the bills!
Core Strengthening Exercises
When you strengthen your core, you’re strengthening the foundation that supports your pelvic muscles. By doing the right core exercises and targeting the correct muscles in your core, you can prevent urine leakage as well as different types of urinary incontinence by keeping your abdominal muscles strong. As a bonus, it can improve sexual function, too!
Plank
This simple core exercise requires no equipment other than a soft surface or mat. Get on the floor on your hands and knees, and press your forearms into the floor. Lift the knees and press the heels back until your entire body is supported by your forearms and the balls of your feet. Try to avoid sagging the hips and hold for a few seconds. Build up to holding for longer periods of time every single day until you can hold for one minute. As a modification, you can leave the knees on the floor while pulling the naval in.
Bridge
Lie on your back on the floor, mat, or soft surface. Bend your knees and walk your heels in toward your buttocks. Pressing your feet firmly into the floor, lift your hips and buttocks off the floor. Hold for at least five rounds of breath and then come back down. Do this up to three times — this exercise also strengthens your back, too.
Pelvic Tilt
A pelvic tilt is an exercise that strengthens your core and back muscles. Start by lying on the floor, mat, or soft surface with your knees bent. Flatten your back against the floor (especially your low back) by tightening the abdominal muscles and bending your pelvis up slightly, and hold for 10 seconds. Repeat this process up to 10 times.
Bladder Training Techniques
In addition to pelvic floor exercises, there are also bladder training techniques as a treatment option for incontinence that work great with pelvic floor muscle training. These techniques help you regain control of your urine stream, leaks, and any issues related to continence. This method involves scheduling your bathroom breaks for the day, with the goal of only urinating during these times. As you continue, you can increase the time in between bathroom breaks to train your bladder to hold in urine, which helps prevent leaks. It’s important to resist the urge to urinate and to stick to your scheduled times so the urethra area knows what to do. This method, in combination with physical therapy exercises, is proven a highly effective technique.
Yoga and Pilates for Incontinence
Another wonderful solution to improve your pelvic health and incontinence issues is by targeting the right muscles through pilates or gentle yoga. Yoga poses, such as bridge (as mentioned previously), cat cow, which involves arching and rounding the spine, and bow pose, can help activate and strengthen this area. Pelvic tilt (as described above), single leg lift, and clamshell are all excellent pilates exercises to try. Visit your local gym, yoga studio, or pilates studio and talk to an instructor on how to slowly incorporate these practices into your life.
Tip: when considering bow pose, start small with a sphinx pose as to not put too much pressure on the pelvis, as this could create the opposite effect. Before starting any exercise regimen, seek advice from a healthcare provider.
How Parentgiving Can Help
Parentgiving offers gentle exercise tools for seniors, incontinence products, health information, and education for families and caretakers regarding aging in place to ensure a healthy, happy golden age. See our full selection of exercise equipment.
You can also view more resources about exercise here: