Randomised Trial Finds Low-Impact Exercise and Yoga Effective for Managing Urinary Incontinence - Video

Older women struggling with urinary incontinence can benefit from regular, low-impact exercise, with yoga as well as stretching and strengthening showing benefits in a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The research, led by scientists at Stanford Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco, is part of a larger effort to identify low-risk, low-cost ways to treat one of the most common health problems women face as they age.

After 12 weeks of a low-impact yoga program, study participants had about 65% fewer episodes of incontinence. Women in a control group doing stretching and strengthening exercises experienced a similar benefit over the same time period. The benefits are on par with the effects of medications used to address incontinence, the researchers said.

“Our study was testing the kind of yoga that just about anyone can do, with modifications for different physical abilities,” said the study’s senior author, Leslee Subak, MD, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford Medicine. “What I love about it is that it’s safe, inexpensive, doesn’t require a doctor and accessible wherever you live.” Because the trial was conducted partly during the COVID-19 pandemic, many participants received their yoga or exercise instruction via online meetings, exercising in their own homes, she noted.

Urinary incontinence, which affects more than half of middle-aged women and up to 80% of 80-year-olds, can lead to a variety of other problems, from social isolation to bone fractures caused by falls. But there is help.

“Part of the problem is that incontinence is stigmatized; we don’t talk about it,” said Subak, “Or we hear folklore about this being normal when you get older. In fact, it’s very common but it’s not inevitable, and we have very effective ways of treating it.”

Reference: Huang, A. J., Chesney, M., Schembri, M., Raghunathan, H., Vittinghoff, E., Mendes, W. B., Pawlowsky, S., & Subak, L. L. (2024). Efficacy of a therapeutic pelvic yoga program versus a physical conditioning program on urinary incontinence in women: A randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.7326/M23-3