Older women suffering from urine incontinence can benefit from frequent, low-impact exercise, including yoga, stretching, and strengthening, according to a new study.
The research, led by scientists at Stanford Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco, is part of a bigger attempt to develop low-risk, low-cost treatments for one of the most frequent health concerns that women encounter as they age.
After 12 weeks of a low-impact yoga exercise, study participants experienced approximately 65 per cent fewer incontinence episodes. Women in a control group who did stretching and strengthening activities saw similar results over the same period. According to the researchers, the benefits are comparable to the effects of incontinence medications.
“Our study was testing the kind of yoga that just about anyone can do, with modifications for different physical abilities,” said the study’s senior author, Leslee Subak, MD, chair of obstetrics and gynaecology at Stanford Medicine. “What I love about it is that it’s safe, inexpensive, doesn’t require a doctor and is accessible wherever you live.” Because the trial was conducted partly during the COVID-19 pandemic, many participants received their yoga or exercise instruction via online meetings, exercising in their own homes, she noted.
The study’s lead author is Alison Huang, MD, professor of medicine, urology, and epidemiology and biostatistics at UCSF.
Urinary incontinence, which affects more than half of middle-aged women and up to 80 per cent of 80-year-olds, can lead to a variety of other problems, from social isolation to bone fractures caused by falls. But there is help.
“Part of the problem is that incontinence is stigmatized; we don’t talk about it,” said Subak, the Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor III. “Or we hear folklore about this being normal when you get older. In fact, it’s very common but it’s not inevitable, and we have very effective ways of treating it.”-TIN Bureau