It is not just older women who experience incontinence, young women and teenagers do too. 

Incontinence problems in young women and teenagers are often related to sports injuries. Pamela Moalli, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Magee-Womens Research Institute, says: ‘About 20% of college athletes report leakage of urine during sports activities.’

Moalli continues: ‘Women in high-impact sports are at highest risk — parachuters, gymnasts, runners. In these sports, you’re hitting the ground hard, which can damage pelvic muscles and connective tissue that support the bladder.’

But Niall Galloway, a professor of urology, says that many young women have pre-existing biological reasons putting them at higher risk of having incontinence.

‘It runs in families. Just as bad eyesight runs in families, so can weak pelvic muscles. It’s not that they’ve been overdoing it with exercise. It’s just that they’ve reached the tolerance of their own tissues.’

Galloway believes a good solution for young women and girls experiencing incontinence, is to simply wear a tampon or pessary, (a device similar to a diaphragm) during exercise. He says: ‘They just need a little something to support those pelvic tissues, something to put pressure on the urethra.’

Here at Allanda we provide incontinence pads and pants to suit every lifestyle.