If you are an avid runner, you probably want to get right back to it after you give birth. However, when you give birth, the muscles that control your pelvic floor and keep urine from dribbling out are weakened. This means that any shock to those muscles could cause you to have a little bit of urine come out each time. Unfortunately, there are a lot of these shocks while you are running. This can take away your favorite hobby or form of exercise.
Luckily, there are some things that you can do to deal with incontinence while running.
1. Try Physical Therapy
You might know about doing kegels on your own in order to strengthen the muscles that control your pelvic floor. You might be doing them religiously while you are driving to work or breastfeeding your baby. However, that's not the only exercise that you can do to resolve your incontinence while running. Talk to your doctor about possibly seeing a physical therapist.
You will likely be able to get your insurance company to pay for a few sessions with a physical therapist if you can prove that the incontinence is causing you physical issues. He or she will then help you develop an exercise program that will allow you to strengthen the muscles that you need to hold the urine in while you are running.
2. Learn to Activate Your Stabilizing Muscles
There are a variety of small, stabilizing muscles that are weakened by pregnancy. You need to learn how to feel those muscles activate while you are doing the physical therapy exercises recommended by your therapist. This will help those exercises be much more effective. This will translate to you being able to activate these muscles while you are running and ensure that they are engaged enough to hold the urine back.
3. Run Slowly—For Now
This one isn't fun, but you might need to start by running a little bit more slowly. This will help you focus on running smoothly, without an awkward, bouncing gait. By running more slowly, you can reduce the number of small shocks your body goes through and therefore reduce the amount of urine that your body accidentally allows to pass. This will help you continue to enjoy running while your muscles build up again.
For more information, talk to companies like Advanced Urology Associates that specializes in incontinence treatments. They might be able to provide a treatment medically to assist you.
