Many New Gym Members Report Urinary Incontinence, Few Get Info On Exercise Treatment

People often report incontinence (UI) when they join a fitness club, and rarely receive information about pelvic-floor-muscle training (PFMT) from club staff, new findings show.

Women often experience UI with exercise, while there is some evidence that walking and other low-impact activities may help improve UI, Dr. Lene A. H. Haakstad of the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences in Oslo and colleagues note in the International Journal of Urogynecology. PFMT is effective for preventing and treating stress UI, they add, and is most beneficial when training is supervised.

To better understand the relationship between UI and exercise, the authors performed a secondary analysis of data from a study of 250 people who had joined a fitness club within the past 4 weeks, 125 of whom were women. Study participants completed an online questionnaire including information on UI when they joined the gym and 3, 6,and 12 months later.

Twenty-one women (16.8%) reported UI when they started their club membership, including 15 (71.4%) who had slight UI and six (28.5%) with moderate or severe UI. Women with UI were about 9 years older than those without UI, and were more likely to have had children.

The percentage of women with UI and UI severity remained similar at all follow-up points. About three-quarters of the study participants knew about PFMT, about a quarter reported performing PFMT, and 7.5% said that club staff had coached or supervised them in PFMT. Performing PFMT regularly was not associated with improved continence.

"We believe there is huge potential for improvement in PFMT guidance in exercise classes and at fitness clubs, along with the promotion of pelvic floor friendly exercise options," Dr. Haakstad and colleagues write.

"Cure rates of PFMT vary between 35%-80%, depending on the amount of supervision and training, and the training has no known side effects," they add. "Educating and assisting fitness instructors in how to correctly teach PFMT could be a good method for preventing and treating UI, which would lower the economic burden and need for other medical and health care services."

Dr. Haakstad was not available for an interview by press time.

—Reuters Staff

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