Weak bladders stop many women doing sport

New research has revealed that many young women avoid participating in sporting activities because of weak bladders.

The study has uncovered the significant impact urinary stress incontinence has on the recreational sports activity of young and middle aged women.

Urinary stress incontinence which is an involuntary leakage of urine, is relatively high among women, with some research putting the figure as high as 46%.

The condition for some women is so embarrassing that they are reluctant to engage in any sporting activity and many abandon sport altogether.

The study involved 679 Italian women who were questioned about urinary stress incontinence - all were still menstruating and all took part in non-competitive sports.

The responses showed that around 1 in 7 (15%) suffered from the condition and on average, the women had been struggling with the symptoms for around six years.

Experts say being overweight and having had children boosts the risk of urinary stress incontinence.

Of those women affected, almost half said the condition occurred during routine activities, while one in three said it occurred solely during sporting activities and one in five said it occurred in both circumstances.

For women with the problem the most risky sports were, in descending order of magnitude, basketball, athletics, and tennis or squash and over half of the women had suffered up to three episodes of involuntary leakage a month, but for around one in five the frequency of episodes exceeded more than three a week.

1 in 10 women said that stress incontinence had prompted them to give up their favourite sport and a further 1 in 5 said that the condition had restricted or forced them to change their activities, in a bid to avoid the risk of leakage.

The researchers say the figures would have been considerably higher if post-menopausal women had been included in the sample.

They say that urinary stress incontinence impacts on the quality of women's lives, affecting many aspects of routine and recreational activities, but few women seek help for the condition.

They suggest that women should be given information and offered diagnostic and conservative therapeutic options, including pelvic floor exercises, which can help with the condition.

The research is published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.