Abstract

Introduction. To evaluate the prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI), as well as the function of pelvic floor muscles (PFM) in athletes. Methods. An exploratory study was carried out among a series of cases composed of 15 amateur athletes from the municipality of Araranguá, Brazil. International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire – Short Form (ICIQ-SF) was used to identify the presence of UI, the absorbent test to verify the amount of urine leakage, and the PERFECT scheme to assess the function of PFM. The level of significance was 5%. Results. In ICIQ-SF, 46.7% of the participants presented UI day by day and 6.7% (n = 1) during sports practice. This demonstrated that, although they were symptomatic in the everyday life, during sports practice there were no urinary losses. When urinary loss was objectively measured, only 1 of the 4 assessed athletes presented a difference in weight greater than 2 g. The strength of the PFM was shown to be optimal in all examined athletes (n = 3). Conclusions. We have demonstrated that despite UI symptoms during the day, sports practice of mild to moderate intensity may contribute to a protective measure of the pelvic muscles, that is, physical exercise increases the strength of the PFM, bringing benefits to the amateur athlete. However, another research should be performed to make this correlation evident.

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