The Impact of Yoga on Stress Incontinence: A Case Study of Three Young Women

Abstract

Background: The International Incontinence Society (ICS) define the symptoms of urinary incontinence as the “complain of involuntary loss of urine”.1 However, there is limited evidence from randomized control trials (RCT’s) regarding the use of Yoga for the management of urinary incontinence in women. The aim of this study is to assess and explore the effectiveness and safety of yoga for the treatment of UI in young woman with focus on patient symptoms and quality of life. Case description: Three women were referred to Physical Rehabilitation department by the Family Medicine physician. The first participant is 34 years old of age presented with a history of two years “stress incontinence”, had two children, normal delivery, second informant was a 30 years old had a history of six months stress incontinence after normal delivery of the first baby, the last participant was 50 years old with a history of four years of stress incontinence, after four normal deliveries. Management and outcomes: Three participants received yoga training once per week for four weeks, followed by unsupervised Yoga home exercises program for six weeks (total of 5 sessions). After the completion of six weeks they were seen at the clinic for reassessment and discharge. Outcomes as suggested by the International Incontinence Society (ICS), which included observation, quantification of the woman’s symptoms, the clinician’s observations, and the women’s quality of life. Result: Significant effects in urinary incontinence were reported following supported Yoga training by the three participants with significant improvement from the baseline to week 10. Conclusion: Yoga poses intended to address the pelvic floor and core muscles were found to have better outcomes in terms of improving stress incontinence.