Urinary incontinence in a fitness club setting—is it a workout problem?

Abstract

Introduction The aims of the present study were to report longitudinal data on the prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) in a fitness club setting and to investigate whether gym members are educated about and exercise their pelvic floor muscles. Methods New members (125 women) from 25 fitness clubs in Oslo, Norway, filled in a 25-min online questionnaire (SurveyXact) at four time points (onset, 3, 6 and 12 months of fitness club membership). The questionnaire covered background/health information, membership dropout and exercise habits, including pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT). A modified Subjective Health Complaints Inventory (SHC Inventory) and the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form (ICIQ-UI SF) were used to gather repeated measures of UI. Results At onset, 3, 6 and 12 months of fitness club membership, 16.8%, 13.8%, 19.6% and 18.7% reported UI, respectively (p = 0.11). Of these, 57.1% to 76.2% reported leakage during exercise and perceived the UI to be slight. Less than 8% had received information about PFMT by the fitness club staff. Adherence to regular exercise and PFMT throughout the follow-up period (minimum two sessions/week) did not show any association with absent or present UI at 12 months (p = 0.48 and p = 0.63) and was reported by 30% and 22.2% of the participants, respectively. Conclusions About 17% reported UI at onset of fitness club membership, with no changes in proportions throughout the first year. Adherence to regular exercise and PFMT did not show any association with absent or present UI at 12 months. Few had been taught PFMT.

Effectiveness of Pelvic Floor Muscle Training and Yoga on the Quality of Life in Perimenopausal Women with Urinary Incontinence

“…Most of studies on PFMT have observed the effect of PFMT on improving the QOL of women with urinary incontinence complaints. Different things were found in research by Haakstad et al (2020), which found that adherence to PFMT for 12 months did not show a correlation with urinary incontinence, including the QOL.…”

“…In previous studies, yoga interventions were carried out at varying times between 20-40 minutes per day at home and 70-90 minutes under instructor supervision for 8-18 weeks (Jayabharathi & Judie, 2014;Kim et al, 2015;Reed et al, 2014). Meanwhile, PFMT is carried out for 30-40 minutes for 8-12 weeks (Fitz et al, 2017;Haakstad et al, 2020;Kim et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2018). PFMT could be done at any time without providing a specific time; it could be done in a short time.…”

“…PFMT could be done at any time without providing a specific time; it could be done in a short time. So far, both interventions give good results against urinary incontinence primarily to improve the QOL in perimenopausal women, although other researchers have found different results (Haakstad et al, 2020;Nguyen et al, 2020). To date, little research has been conducted on the effectiveness of PFMT and yoga on the QOL.…”

Does regular strength training cause urinary incontinence in overweight inactive women? A randomized controlled trial

“…However, Neels et al [29] reported that only 7.1% of pregnant women had received information about the PFM before pregnancy, e.g., during yoga or Pilates classes, back school, or sporting activities. This confers with a recent study among new members from 25 fitness clubs in Oslo, Norway, in which less than 8% had received any information about PFMT by the fitness club staff [21]. If the instructors learn how to teach PFMT correctly, general exercise classes have the potential to become an important arena for PFMT.…”

What Makes Individuals Stick to Their Exercise Regime? A One-Year Follow-Up Study Among Novice Exercisers in a Fitness Club Setting

“…Using data from the research project "Fitness clubs -a venue for public health?" (Gjestvang et al, 2017(Gjestvang et al, , 2019(Gjestvang et al, , 2020aHaakstad et al, 2020;Heiestad et al, 2020), we aimed to investigate different psychosocial factors that might increase the likelihood of reporting regular exercise the first year of a fitness club membership, including self-efficacy, social support, motives, life satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. Our hypothesis was that self-efficacy, perceived motives considered as intrinsic, and social support would be higher in regular exercisers compared with those reporting non-regular exercise attendance.…”