Yoga Treats Troublesome Bladders

By Tabbu Verma

Yoga is considered as one of the best remedies for any kind of health problem. Yoga surely does make you feel rejuvenated and regenerated. And some specific yoga programmes can treat a specific health problem that you might be suffering from quite a long time. Pelvic floor muscle excises also known as Kegel exercises are proved effective for Pelvic health and reducing mental stress in women. Researchers from the University of California, San Fransisco discovered a yoga training program that helps women gain more control over their urination and avoid accidental urine leakage.

The reasons why yoga is used for curing variety of health conditions like metabolic syndrome or pain syndromes are:


Yoga helps increase the mindful awareness
Yoga increases the relaxation
Relieves anxiety and stress


This is why, researchers feel that yoga could definitely help treat pelvic incontinence as well. As, the women who practiced the specific yoga-programme for 6 weeks experienced an overall 70 percent improvement of their pelvic incontinence. The frequency of their urine leakage decreased considerable when compared to the baseline.

      Read also : Transform the Approach of Living With Yoga

Most of the women observed improvement in stress incontinence or urine leakage brought by activities that increases abdominal pressure such as coughing, sneezing and bending over.

Incontinence is associated with anxiety and depression, therefore yoga is believed to improve urinary incontinence through more than one mechanism. Yoga indulges in mindful awareness, meditation and relaxation. Hence, these mind activities can help reduce stress and improve the problem in women. Almost, 80 percent of women in their 40's and 50's suffer from this common problem, many young women also suffer from it. And regular practice of yoga can help women strengthen the pelvic muscle to prevent any urinary leakage by supporting the bladder.

Yoga exercises are specifically developed to improve the incontinence in women. These exercises were developed keeping older women in mind, so that it would be safe for them as well to perform yoga "asanas." It is widely used in Iyengar (a type of Hatha) yoga that can be modified for women of all ages. Some of the asanas that help treat incontinence in women includes:

Tadasana or Mountain Pose: Tadasana helps improve the posture of the body by increasing the flexibility of ankles, knees and hip joints. Tadasna strengthens the pelvic muscles, thereby preventing them from pelvic incontinence. Tadasana is popularly known for controlling the muscular movements.

Utkatasana (chair pose): this asana help in toning, stretching and strengthening the muscles of the urinary sphincter.

Moola Bandha (perineal contraction): It is an another exercise that tone up the muscles of the region between the anus and the genitals by repeated contraction, resulting in their improved functionality in stopping the involuntary flow of urine from the urinary bladder.

Viparita Karani (legs up the Wall pose): Viparita Karani is a wonderful yoga exercise that improves blood flow to the genitals. This exercise can be easily performed by lying on the bed and raising your legs up against the wall and allowing the blood to flow into your genitals.

Savasana ( corpse pose): After every asana, relax your body for 10 seconds, this is called savasana. You lay down of the floor and keep your hands and feet relaxed, with your palms touching the ground.

All types for yoga does not help in urinary incontinence. The aforementioned asanas are some of the specific asanas that directly address the pelvic problems. Yoga is an inexpensive and effective way to treat Pelvic incontinence as compared to traditional costly and time-intensive rehabilitation therapy.

Article Source: Yoga Treats Troublesome Bladders