Sarah Oliver Osteopathy

Better Breathing=Better Bladder Control

22nd September, 2010 - Posted by admin - No Comments

I came across a study on urinary incontinence via Leon Chaitow’s excellent blog and thought it was interesting enough to warrant sharing.

Urinary incontinence is a fancy name for wetting yourself.  It is surprisingly common,  particularly in women.  It is often considered to be a consequence of pregnancy but is also seen in women without children, and in many men.  Some research has reported that over 40% of female athletes suffer with urinary incontinence, purportedly because of over training without considering breathing patterns.

The muscles of the pelvic floor work in concert with the diaphragm and the abdominal and spinal muscles to maintain an upright posture, provide stability for the spine and limbs and contain the abdominal organs.  Imbalance of strength and tone, or uncoordinated movement between these muscle groups may result in problems such as back pain and incontinence.

A recent study from Taiwan found that women suffering from stress urinary incontinence reported a massive 90% improvement in symptoms following a 4 month course of training exercise to the diaphragm, abdominal and pelvic floor muscles.

Admittedly with a total sample size of 70 women this is not the most robust scientific study, but it does highlight the importance breathing ‘correctly’ has on our health.  It also shows what a difference some simple exercises can make.  Instead of having to go through invasive treatments these women have seen big improvements in an embarrassing condition just by exercising in the privacy of their own homes.

You can read the abstract of the study by clicking here:

An alternative intervention for urinary incontinen… [Man Ther. 2010] – PubMed result.