3 Best Yoga Poses to Control Urinary Incontinence

Alleviate your Body and Mind with Hatha Yoga

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Yoga. It’s it’s calming, it’s a great work out, and it’s incredibly trendy. This hip form of exercise makes you as flexible as monkey and lean as a lioness. After a good yoga workout, your fierce new muscles are ready for anything with a limber attitude. Not only does yoga allow your body and mind to heal through meditative strength training, it also helps to prevent those accidental leaks. According to a study from UC San Francisco published in Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, yoga can help you gain control over urinary incontinence.

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The Study

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The study consisted of twenty women, 40 years and older who consistently experienced urinary incontinence. Half of these women took a six-week yoga therapy program, and the other half did not. The women who did the yoga program had a 70% reduction in their urine leakage. The other group who did not do yoga, experience 13% reduction in their urine leakage. Women with stress urinary incontinence (when you have urine leakage as you sneeze, run, jump, laugh, etc.), experienced the most positive results. Their leakage with every sneeze was reduced, and sometimes they didn’t even leak at all.

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The Theory

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Yoga relaxes body and mind. Many women with incontinence share the same emotions of depression and anxiety, which increases their urinary leakage. With a relaxed mind, more women feel motivation to improve their symptoms and take control of their life. When they used to avoid working out because they feared leakage, now they’ve gotten their blood pumping and their mind at ease so treatment is sought out. Urinary incontinence treatments like dietary changes, absorbent liner pads, and exercise fight leakage and keep women active! Also, the motto mind over matter is incredibly applicable here. With more confidence you can achieve almost anything you put your mind to.

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Not only does yoga relax the mind, but it relaxes the body. A relaxed urethra is essential to controlling bladder leaks. Urinary incontinence can be due to a spasmodic urinary sphincter, which releases urine at wrong time. Spasmodic or Overactive bladder (aka Urge Incontinence), can be caused by nerve damage, which tends to happen during vaginal childbirth. Menopausal and pregnant women are at risk of overactive bladder because of hormonal imbalances, as well.

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Certain yoga poses relax and strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. So those women with stress urinary incontinence benefit from the strengthening aspect as well. Because the urinary sphincter is weakened with stress urinary incontinence, urine escapes before you can hold it in. You may not even have the ability to hold it in. Again, stress urinary incontinence can be caused by pregnancy, post-pregnancy, and menopause. This is the most common form of urinary incontinence in women.

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The Program

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So now that you have the facts, here are three different Yoga poses that can help improve the symptoms of Urinary Incontinence.

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The Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

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The Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)

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The Squat Pose (Malasana)

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These are part of the yoga-therapy program that consisted of a number of Hatha yoga poses. The Hatha yoga poses are especially great for controlling urinary incontinence. To focus specifically on the pelvic floor muscles as you pose, make an appointment with a physical therapist. Once they’ve helped you locate the exact way to exercise your pelvic floor muscles along with these poses, your set! Start getting your meditative stretch on and battle incontinence in peace!