Aims of Study
To determine the prevalence of genuine stress incontinence in nulliparous women during tennis and volleyball.

To determine factors that could provoke incontinence.

 

Methods
100 tennisplayers (mean age 21.8), 218 volleyballplayers (mean age 21.9) and 96 sedentary nulliparous control women (mean age 21.9) participated in the study.  They filled in, anonymously, a questionnaire regarding their age, weight, smoking habits, medication, frequency of sportactivity, and several questions on urinary incontinence.

 

Results

Four (4%) tennisplayers and 28 (13%) volleyballplayers complainted of incontinence during their sports.  In the sedentary group, five percent said that they had stress urinary incontinence.

No one was incontinent at the beginning of the sport activities : the 32 sportswomen that witnessed incontinence said that it only started after they had played for at least 30’.

Activities that provoced incontinence were : jumping and smashing in volleyball, serving in tennis.

 

Twenty-one sportswomen considered incontinence as troublesome but none wanted to stop with their sport.  Four of them were prepared to follow pelvic floor muscle exercises.  Of those who complained of incontinence (N=32), twenty emptied the bladder before starting to play, four avoided to drink before the match.  Three women had discussed the problem of incontinence with a physician or with a physiotherapist.

 

Conclusion

Even young nulliparous women can experience incontinence in association with physical exercises.

 

As in older, parous women, medical consumption concerning this problem was low.

Pelvic floor muscle exercises should be complementary option in the training of young sportswomen.