CHARACTERIZATION OF URINARY CONTROL IN YOUNG FEMALE BASKETBALL AND VOLLEYBALL ATHLETES

P. Neves^1,2, S. Vicente^1,3

Background: Urinary incontinence is defined as an involuntary leakage of urine. This problem may have a multifactorial etiology and affects females predominantly. Stress incontinence is increasingly prevalent, especially in female high-impact sports athletes such as basketball and volleyball. These sports present an increased risk of poor bladder control of young athletes, due to the fact that they doing fast movements and repetitive jumps.

Purpose: Analyze the prevalence of urinary control in young female athletes which play basketball or volleyball.

Methods: 125 female athletes, basketball (n = 62) and volleyball (n = 63), aged between 15 and 30 years old (M = 19.7 and DP = 3.74), nulliparous and who have been practicing these sports for, at least, one year, at a high competition level. Athletes were recruited in teams of both modalities in Lisbon Counties, Oeiras and Vila Franca de Xira, between January and May 2019. Data was collected through a sample characterization questionnaire and urinary incontinence evaluation questionnaire (ICIQ-SF). Ethical approval was obtained and all subjects signed informed consent.

Results: 27.2% of the total sample, presented urine leakage, of which 23.2% presented mild urinary incontinence and 4% presented moderate urinary incontinence. Volleyball athletes had the highest percentage of urine leakage (30.2%), however, concerning severity, basketball athletes presented more moderate urine loss (6.5%) than volleyball athletes (1.6%). Older athletes were the ones who reported that urine leakage interfered more with their daily lives (p = 0.032). Body Mass Index (BMI) was proportionally related to all variables in the ICIQ-SF questionnaire (frequency, quantity, daily interference and total score).

Conclusion(s): With the present study it was possible to conclude that in this sample at young ages there were already urine losses in basketball and volleyball athletes.

Implications: It is important that physiotherapists that work with basketball or volleyball athletes do educational programs prevent stress urinary incontinence and reeducate muscles of the pelvic floor

Funding, acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge all athletes that participated in the study.

Keywords: Physiotherapy, urinary incontinence, Basketball or volleyball women players

Topic: Pelvic, sexual and reproductive health

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Alcoitão Superior Health School

Committee: Alcoitão Superior Health School ethics committee

Ethics number: ___