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Stress urinary incontinence is the involuntary leakage of urine when there’s an increase in intra-abdominal pressure from actions like coughing, sneezing, laughing, lifting, and jumping. When any of these occur, tension is created in the system or the core, and our muscles cannot hold that back.

 

What is the true core?

The true core is made up of the following muscles:

  1. The respiratory diaphragm at the top, or our breathing muscle
  2. The pelvic floor at the bottom (these are the muscles that wrap around the urethra, the vagina,
  3. The anus deep transversus abdominis -the innermost layer of the abdominals), 
  4. The multifidus in the back. 

These muscles all work beautifully together to stabilize the spine and pelvis, support our organs, and prevent us from leakage. However, there are times when those muscles become weak, uncoordinated, tense, or tight. This is when a little bit of leakage or urine can come out beyond your control.  

 

How do you minimize the chances of leakage from happening? Below is a series of five exercises that will strengthen your pelvic muscles to help reduce that.

Diaphragmatic Breathing

When exercising, most incontinents hold their breath, so the pressure comes out below, along with a bit of urine. This is why it’s important to master diaphragmatic breathing, which is the most basic exercise to help you manage the intra-abdominal pressure from exercising, laughing, jumping, etc.

How to do it:

  1. Lie down with your knees bent and your back comfortably supported. 
  2. Place one hand on the belly and the other hand on the chest. 
  3. Inhale through your nose, imagining that you’re filling up your belly with air. Your belly should get big, while your chest should move only slightly.  
  4. Exhale slowly. Ideally, your breath should be audible, so you’ll know that the air is going out of your body.

Do this exercise for two minutes. It will calm your nervous system and help you focus on your pelvis. It’s also the foundation for the next item on this list, the co-contracting exercise.

 

Pelvic floor exercise

In this exercise, you’re going to pair an exhale, but you’re going to start firing up the transversus abdominis and the pelvic floor.  

 

Remain in position as in exercise number 1.

 

Here’s how to do it:

 

  1. Place your hands in front of your hip bones.  
  2. Inhale.
  3. As you exhale, find the deep abdominals by gently drawing the belly button in towards the spine. You should feel the lower abdominal contract with that exhale. Imagine pushing your hip bones together. 
  4. Release as you inhale again.

Do this exercise for two minutes. You can also pair this exercise with any activity that requires increased intra-abdominal pressure, like lifting and jumping.

 

Note: The pelvic floor is inside the body. Thus, you won’t see any external movement on the thighs or the buttocks. If these muscles are moving, then you are doing it wrong.

 

Glute Bridge

Here’s how to do this exercise:

  1. Lie facing the ceiling with your knees bent.
  2. Inhale.
  3. Feel your deep abdominal muscles tighten as you exhale.
  4. Lift the pelvic floor as if you’re holding back gas or urine.
  5. Lift your hips off the floor, making sure the pelvic floor is engaged.
  6. Lower your hips.
  7. Repeat.

Quadruped

Your core needs to be challenged, so a variety of positions is recommended. In this exercise, you will need to be in the tabletop or quadruped position. Make sure you don’t arch your back while doing this exercise.

This exercise also involves stretching the opposite arm and leg, which will help stabilize the core.

 

  1. Inhale, taking care not to move the spine.
  2. As you exhale, pull your belly button towards the spine,
  3. Lift the pelvic floor, hold, and release.
  4. Raise your left arm and right leg. 
  5. Hold for 3 seconds. Release.
  6. Repeat five times.

 

Single-Leg Stance

For this last exercise in this series, you will be introducing some real strain to the core. 

 

  1. Stand upright on your left leg, making sure that your ribs are over your pelvis to avoid rounding your back.
  2. Inhale, pushing your belly button tightly towards the spine and lifting the pelvic floor.
  3. As you exhale, lower your left leg and bounce to the right leg.
  4. Repeat five times.

 

These are five exercises you can do daily to strengthen your core and pelvic floor, which will help prevent leakage as you do your day-to-day tasks.

 

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