Urinary incontinence in musicians: A preliminary study

Abstract

There has been a graduate interest in the long-term health risks associated with music practice at a professional and semi-professional level. Playing a wind instrument resembles the effects of physical exercise and is compared to the ones of a Valsalva Maneuver (VM). Strenuous exercise due to the increase of the Intrabdominal Pressure (IAP) may be considered a risk factor for urinary incontinence (UI) (3).Being established that increases in IAP are related with a higher risk of UI in young female and playing a wind instrument leads to an increase IAP, the aim of this work is to analyze the impact that playing a wind instrument can have in women, based in the different internal pressures they are subjected to due to their practice. To test this hypothesis, questionnaires will be performed by female musicians with different music backgrounds.