Sport

Some physical activities can cause you to leak more or make you feel the urge to go more often. Therefore you might feel that it’s safer to simply avoid sports and other physical activities. But the fear of increased bladder issues should not hold you back from exercising – quite the contrary.

When you have a medical condition it is important to have a strong body and to be in the best possible shape. If you’re in a poor physical condition, your bladder issues may get worse – or you may experience them as being worse, because you generally feel poorly. Being overweight and constipation can make bladder problems worse and a large abdomen (belly) can also make it more difficult to catheterise – especially if you are a woman.

What sports activities are suitable for you?

The bouncing and pounding movement of running might cause leakage.

Try power walking (fast walking).

Heavy lifting (using hand weights or other lifting equipment) can put too much pressure on your bladder.

Instead: switch to lighter weights instead and exceed the number of lifts or experiment with doing them slower or faster.

Swimming is ideal because it can be done by most people regardless of how fit or mobile they are

There are also plenty of sports that can be done sitting in a wheelchair, also competitive sports. Online research can help you find one of the many organisations who specialise in sport for wheelchair users.

There are many good health reasons that you should exercise – not to mention if you find activities that are fun and use the occasion to socialise with others.

Bladder training exercises

Pelvic floor exercise - also called Kegels - is the exercise to improve bladder management. Do it everyday, and you will feel the difference. If you should pick one physical exercise to do everyday - this is the one.

Stick to your schedule

It’s easy to get carried away when you’re involved in sports activities – especially when you’re almost about to win or in good company! Set yourself a reminder so you don’t forget to do intermittent catheterisation. Think about where you’ll be doing your activity and plan when you can visit the bathroom so it doesn’t get in the way.

Catheterise before the activity

Whatever you decide to do, catheterise right before you start, as this will minimise the risk of leakages.

Remember to drink

Bladder issues and the insecurity of not being at home might persuade you to drink less. But if you sweat more or the weather is hot, you will need to drink even more to replace lost fluids. Take small sips and plan your catheterisations.

Pelvic floor exercises – or Kegels - are designed to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles to help reduce urinary incontinence.

This is how you do them:

Isolate your pelvic floor muscles

Imagine stopping yourself from passing wind, pull in from the back passage upwards and forwards. Do not let the chest lift, do not hold your breath or tighten your stomach muscles.

Squeeeeeeze

Squeeze and draw in the muscles around the urethra and anus. You should have a sense of ‘lift’ when squeezing. You should hold them strong and tight as you count to 8 after which you should let go.

Relax

At this point you should have a distinct feeling of letting go.
This schedule should be repeated between 8-12 times per day.
If you initially cannot hold the pelvic floor for 8 seconds you should hold as long as you can.

Note that training your pelvic floor muscle is a matter of how long you can hold and squeeze rather than the number repetitions.

Tips to fitting pelvic floor training into your daily life

It is important to get into a daily routine and the easiest way to accomplish this is to link the training to something that you do on a daily basis.
You can do them:

• Lying in bed before you sleep
• After meals
• Before or after undressing yourself in the evening
• Sitting in your car on your way to or from work
• Every time you are waiting in line somewhere
• When travelling – on the plane or train, at the airport, at your hotel

It is not important where you do it - but that you get to do it on a daily basis. Therefore you should find the everyday situation that fits you the best.