A new study led by scientists at Stanford Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco, has found that yoga may be as effective as low-impact exercise, stretching, and strengthening exercises in reducing urinary incontinence (UI) episodes in older women. The results, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, show that a 12-week yoga program targeting pelvic floor strengthening reduced UI episodes by 65 percent, comparable to a control group that performed nonspecific stretching and strengthening exercises.
Urinary incontinence is a problem that affects more than half of middle-aged women and up to 80% of women over 80 years of age. Despite its prevalence, it remains a taboo subject, as many women avoid going to a specialist or seeking treatment out of embarrassment. However, this condition not only affects the quality of daily life, but also increases the risk of serious problems, such as fractures due to falls during the urge to go to the bathroom, especially at night.
“Part of the problem is that incontinence is stigmatized; we don’t talk about it,” the doctor pointed out Leslee Subakdirector of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford Medicine and senior author of the study. “Or we hear the popular belief that this is normal as you get older. In fact, it is very common, but it is not inevitable, and we have very effective ways to treat it.”
Incontinence deserves good treatment because of the many ways it interferes with people’s lives. “Incontinence takes away people’s independence,” Subak said. “My patients say, ‘I can’t stay with my children or grandchildren because I’m afraid of wetting the bed, and I can’t talk about it; it’s too embarrassing.’” It’s a problem that can lead to social isolation, affect self-esteem and interfere with daily life. But it’s treatable, and this study shows that yoga is a safe and accessible option for many women.
Yoga vs. general physical exercise: comparable results
The study, which involved 240 women aged 45 to 90 with daily urinary incontinence, with a mean age of 62, compared two 12-week exercise programs: One group of 121 participants practiced 16 Hatha yoga poses designed to strengthen the pelvic floor, while the control group of 119 women did general stretching and strengthening exercises that did not involve the pelvic floor. Both interventions included two 90-minute sessions per week, plus a weekly one-hour self-directed practice. Because the trial was conducted in part during the COVID-19 pandemic, many participants received yoga or exercise instruction through online meetings, and exercised in their own homes, she noted.
Participants recorded when they leaked urine and classified each episode as either urge incontinence — when an overactive bladder causes a person to feel the need to urinate more often than usual — or stress incontinence — in response to pressure on the abdomen, such as when coughing or sneezing. They also answered standard questionnaires about their bladder function. At the start of the study, participants had an average of 3.4 episodes of urinary incontinence per day, including 1.9 urge-type episodes and 1.4 stress-type episodes.
At the end of the 12-week programs, lThe results were promising: women who practiced yoga experienced an average reduction of 2.3 episodes of incontinence per day, compared with 1.9 fewer episodes reported by the general exercise group. Both treatments were shown to be almost equally effectivereducing UI symptoms by approximately 60%, which is comparable to the results of drug treatments without the side effects of these.
Yoga: an accessible and safe solution
Yoga’s success in managing urinary incontinence lies not only in its effectiveness, but also in its safety and accessibility. “This is a type of yoga that almost anyone can do, with modifications for different physical abilities,” Subak said. During the study, many participants did the yoga sessions from home via video conferencing due to pandemic restrictions, underscoring the flexibility of this approach.
Yoga not only helps strengthen the pelvic floor, but also offers benefits for overall well-being. “It is a great option for women looking for a non-invasive and low-cost way to manage their incontinence,” Subak added.
Staying active: the key to controlling incontinence
One of the key messages to emerge from this study is the importance of staying physically active to manage urinary incontinence. According to Subak, both yoga and general exercise were found to be effective tools for improving symptoms, giving women several options to choose from based on their personal preferences.
“Exercise has been shown to be an effective treatment for incontinence, and yoga has worked surprisingly well,” Subak concluded. “My advice to patients is that if they are interested, they should try yoga. It has very low risk and the potential to improve not only their incontinence, but also their overall health.”
This study highlights the importance of noninvasive and accessible approaches to treating common health problems in older women, providing patients with more tools to improve their quality of life.
