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Recreational female runners report diverse pelvic health symptoms beyond urinary incontinence: sport-specific screening matters

Review written by Dr Sandy Hilton info

Key Points

  1. There is no validated questionnaire of sport-specific pelvic disorders. General pelvic disorder questionnaires have been used as proxy to assess athletes for pelvic disorders.
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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Pelvic health dysfunction affects all ages and fitness levels, including athletes. Despite the prevalence, less than 50% of health professionals and only 6.3% of athletic trainers who responded to a survey asked about stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in pre-participation screening questionnaires (1,2).

The current questionnaires on pelvic health and incontinence do not ask sport specific or activity specific questions. The questions are about cough, laugh, or sneeze rather than running, kicking, lifting heavy weights, or jumping. The lack of quality validated sports-specific pelvic health questionnaires limits or delays proper referrals to care.

Athletes tend to stop participating in sport if pelvic floor disorders (PFD) persist. In a study by Cook et al, 41% stopped participating and 38% modified participation due to urinary incontinence (3). The authors of this study aimed to:

  1. Identify the prevalence of a range of PFD-related symptoms in recreational female runners using a validated pelvic health outcomes measure.
  2. Compare the results with the prevalence of PFD-related symptoms reported by the group during running.

Determining the prevalence of PFD symptoms in runners with a validated questionnaire would be helpful in identifying those in need of appropriate treatment in order to improve the ability of athletes to continue their sport with confidence and reduce or eliminate symptoms.

Despite the prevalence, less than 50% of health professionals and only 6.3% of athletic trainers asked about stress urinary incontinence in pre-participation screening questionnaires.
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Using general questionnaires have overestimated the incidence of symptoms and have been used as rationale to discourage activities like running, lifting heavy, and other plyometric or speed activities.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study recruited through advertising for a biomechanical treadmill study of runners. 88 recreational runners were invited to complete three pelvic health surveys. 66 met the inclusion criteria and completed the studies.

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