To prevent and cure urinary leaks, you need to strengthen the perineum

Urinary incontinence is a problem that affects millions of French people, mostly women. Appropriate exercises can help reduce it.

When faced with urinary incontinence, it is important to strengthen your perineum. This is confirmed by a recent study, which Dr. Martin Ducret, a doctor and journalist at Doctor’s Daily.

franceinfo: First of all, what is urinary incontinence?

Martin Ducret: These are urinary leaks which correspond to an involuntary loss of urine, whatever the quantity, even a few drops. There are two types of urinary incontinence, which can be isolated or combined. First, there is stress urinary leakage, which occurs during an activity during which abdominal pressure is increased (such as lifting a heavy load, running or jumping, but also during minimal effort such as laughing or coughing). The second type is urinary incontinence due to “urgenturia”: the person feels an urgent need to urinate and the leakage occurs before they have time to reach the toilet, without any effort. These leaks affect millions of French people, the majority of whom are women – but not only.

Why do these urinary leaks occur?

Two anomalies are involved, which can be associated. On the one hand, a weakening of the tissues and muscles of the perineum – the area between the coccyx at the back and the pubis at the front –, on the other hand, an overactive bladder responsible for poor functioning of the muscle that controls the exit of urine. Several contexts or diseases can promote these urinary leaks: natural aging, pregnancy, obesity, being overweight, a urinary infection or taking medication. Let us add that urinary incontinence does not only affect elderly women or women who have given birth but also young and athletic women.

To prevent and cure urinary leaks, do you therefore need to strengthen the perineum?

Yes, especially in cases of stress urinary incontinence. In fact, a recent study showed that specific exercises to do at home, combining breathing, stretching and strengthening the perineal and abdominal muscles, helped reduce the frequency of urinary leakage. “Attention, These exercises are not enough to completely cure stress urinary incontinence,” emphasizes Dr. Carole Maître, sports gynecologist at INSEP. In any case, you need to consult a specialist doctor who will conduct a complete assessment to identify the causes of the problem. He or she will then refer you to a physiotherapist or midwife to work on the contraction and relaxation of the perineal muscles using a probe or vaginal examination, as well as strengthening a deep abdominal muscle that is often neglected, the transverse abdominis muscle.

“Neverthelessadds the doctor. Master, These home exercises are very effective in preventing urinary incontinence”. You can find them on the INSEP YouTube channel, or consult the Sab Santé channel to learn more about the perineum.

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