Urinary Incontinence and Practice of Physical Exercises

Introduction: Urinary incontinence is often seen as a problem that affects multipara and old-aged women, however, there is evidence that during high impact physical activity, mainly, or those ones which promote a sudden increase of intra-abdominal pressure, this symptom is common, even among young women, physically active, and without known risk factors.

Objective: Evaluate the prevalence of urinary incontinence in nulliparous and nulligest women who regularly practice physical activities.

Method: 108 women, nulliparous and nulligest, average age 23.9 years old (from 18 to 30 years old) who exercise regularly. They were divided into 3 groups according to the regular practice of exercise forms, they are (G1) weight training, (G2) aerobic exercises, included jump, step and dancing classes, and (G3) swimming (crawl mode). All participants were questioned about the perception of leakage of urine during the practice of exercises. The established exclusion criterion included: surgeries of urinary tract, urinary infections, gestations, child-birth, advanced aged, obesity, sedentariness and practice of only one form of physical activity.