How I bounced my way out of a wee problem



Exercising on a trampoline can prevent stress incontinence



HOLLY WHELAN was in the park, chasing her little boys down a hill, when she suddenly had a horrific realisation.

 

“It must have been the first time since the boys had been born that I’d broken into a proper run,” she remembers. “I quickly realised my pelvic floor couldn’t cope. It was really awful,” she says, cringing at the memory. “I thought I’d got away with the whole birth thing but in that moment I realised I had a problem and it was terribly upsetting.”

Holly, now 46, who has two sons, Jamie and Jake, aged nine and seven, was suffering from stress incontinence – the most common form of the problem. It can occur when pressure on the bladder is increased through coughing or sneezing, or during exercise.

 

As with an estimated one-third of postpartum women, pregnancy had taken its toll on Holly’s pelvic floor – the group of muscles and ligaments that surrounds and supports all the organs in the pelvis.

When the pelvic floor is strong, it prevents problems such as incontinence but during pregnancy, muscle-relaxing hormones combined with the pressure of a growing baby can cause the ligaments to weaken.

 

Holly suffered from stress incontinence

“It happened a lot after that,” Holly recalls. “Whenever I ran for a bus, coughed, sneezed – even when I laughed. I found it very depressing and very embarrassing too.” Self-help treatment involves strengthening the muscles with pelvic floor exercises. Surgery may be offered if the problem is significant.

I thought I’d got away with the whole birth thing but in that moment I realised I had a problem and it was terribly upsetting

Medication may be prescribed for those who are not suitable for surgery. “I did lots of Kegel exercises (repeatedly contracting and relaxing the pelvic floor muscles) which did improve things a bit.” But Holly was still far from her pre-birth self.

After some online research she discovered that using a rebounder (mini trampoline) could help to strengthen a weak pelvic floor, so she ordered her new Bellicon rebounder (bellicon.com) and workout DVD. “By the fourth week I’d worked up to the hardest level and couldn’t believe it happened so quickly. I haven’t had a single issue since,” she says.

 

Self-help treatment involves strengthening the muscles with pelvic floor exercises

 

Mini trampolines could help to strengthen a weak pelvic floor

Harley Streetbased pelvic-floor specialist Jenni Russell says: “A bungee trampoline has a lot of give so you have to activate your muscles to bounce back up again. It works your pelvic floor and all the muscles such as the buttocks and abdominals, which is really important. By recruiting more ‘fast-twitch’ fibres you build up strength quickly.”

Holly adds: “Not only have I dealt with an embarrassing problem but I’m really fit again.”