Does Jumping On a Trampoline Make You Pee? Not After This
Why do I pee myself when I jump on a trampoline? Even the most hard-core jumping enthusiasts have experienced a trampoline urine leak and know how embarrassing it can be. The main reason behind peeing when jumping is that our pelvic floor muscles aren’t strong enough. However, doing Kegel exercises sometimes might not be enough, as we shall see.
In the following lines, we will do our best to find possible solutions for this embarrassing problem. We’ll talk about the importance of Kegel exercises, how to use them to get better results and why it’s sometimes vital to reduce our physical activity until the problem is solved.
If the leakage persists, we advise consulting a physical therapist or a doctor, since there are maybe some other problems that have led to it.
Why Does a Trampoline Urine Leak Happen?
Leaking urine while jumping on a trampoline is, in fact, very common, especially in women who have gone through childbirth and those who are age forty-five and up. Unfortunately, most people ignore when this happens to them and just laugh off the whole problem. However, certain health conditions are known to cause urine leakage. Therefore, we should consult a specialist just in case.
Settling for a less active life isn’t the solution. At first, it may seem to be the easiest and the only thing we can do. But why restrain ourselves when we can continue enjoying all the activities that we used to, including jumping on a trampoline?
Let’s imagine our lower torso for a second. We have a six-pack, or rectus abdominis muscle, the oblique muscles on either side, and our back muscles that support us. Above those, we have our diaphragm, and down below are pelvic floor muscles, also known as the Kegel muscles.
Now, when we jump, a part of our body weight goes up. While we’re going down, the gravity does its thing, and the whole load forcefully falls on our pelvic floor muscles. If they aren’t strong enough, they won’t be able to handle the load, and some pee will come out.
How to Fix This Problem?
The experience is definitely unpleasant and can be really embarrassing, especially if there are people around. We don’t need to put up with it, though, and we should always address it accordingly. In fact, there are a few solutions that can help us — some of them have probably crossed our minds before!
Stop Using the Trampoline
This might seem easy at first, but ignoring the problem won’t solve it. Things can only get worse over time. However, if the leakage occurs during physical activity, we should slow down a bit until we find other solutions that may help us.
Using a Pantyliner
The amount of pee that comes out when we’re jumping on a trampoline isn’t always huge. Therefore, using a pantyliner can help to catch some of it. It can be a good quick fix, especially if we really have to jump or do other types of exercises for some reason.
However, the pee may still come through, with or without the pantyliner. Because of that, we should always approach this solution carefully. In the end, it may not even work.
Strengthening Our Pelvic Floor Muscles
Strengthening our pelvic floor muscles is crucial if we have already suffered a trampoline urine leak. However, it will take some time, effort, and patience in order to get the best results.
Kegel exercises are the only ones that can really help to strengthen our pelvic floor muscles. But we need to do them properly in order to see some improvement.
That’s why consulting with a physical therapist is always an imperative, since the root of this problem is always individual. How? There are multiple reasons why this problem may occur in the first place.
Some of us may have a weak pelvic floor, while others have poor posture. Bladder spasms, nerve damage, perineal tear scar tissue, and even psychological trauma can all lead to unexpected urine release, i.e., peeing our pants.
There are other reasons too, but the point is that all of those health conditions can minimize or cancel out the effectiveness of Kegel exercises.
How to Avoid Urine Leakage While Jumping On a Trampoline
Above all, if we experience pelvic floor muscle weakness, we need to work on two things:
- strength
- coordination
The strength of the muscles helps us tighten them while the load is coming down. Coordination, on the other hand, will help tighten them at the right time without us having to use our leg muscles.
So, what do we need to do in order to stop the leakage?
1. First of all, we need to tighten our pelvic floor without tightening our thighs. Tipping our pelvis backward is also not advisable, including holding our breath. We can practice this by lying on our side or on our back.
2. Secondly, our pelvic floor needs to be around 30% tight while standing. The 30% rule also applies when we’re doing squats.
3. Finally, we should practice keeping the muscles 30% tight when we’re jumping because light Kegel exercises might not be helpful in this case.
Final Thoughts
Peeing our pants while jumping on a trampoline can be really embarrassing and bothersome. Luckily, following the above steps will help us strengthen our pelvic floor muscles and prevent this from happening in the future.
A good piece of advice is that we should always try to contract our pelvic floor muscles with the least amount of effort in order to get the best results. Also, we should start slowly and strengthen them gradually, if we’re unable to do step three right away.
In most cases, we should consult a physical therapist first. That way, we’ll be able to get individual exercises that will work best for our condition.
Thank you for reading the article. If you found it helpful, please share it with others who might have experienced the same problem and are looking for a solution. Also, if you have any thoughts on the subject, feel free to share them in the comment section below.
