Women 'put off sport by' incontinence
One in ten women questioned by the research team said they had been forced to give up sport because of urinary stress incontinence
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Thursday, 25, Sep 2008 09:05
Women are being deterred from playing non-competitive sports by their weak bladders, research conducted in Italy has suggested.
One in ten women questioned by the research team said they had been forced to give up sport because of urinary stress incontinence.
Background research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine says that up to one in two women suffer from the condition at some point in their lives.
Almost 700 Italian women were involved in the study, with one in seven revealing they suffered from incontinence.
The study's authors noted that the figures would be much higher if women going through the menopause were included in the results.
Of the sports that women were forced to give up because of the condition, basketball, athletics, tennis and squash ranked the highest.
Researchers conclude 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 should be given information and offered diagnostic and conservative therapeutic options," they write.