Is It Normal To Pee Yourself While Running?

Women with stress incontinence are often told to do Kegels, exercises that strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor. Trouble is, those work only if your problem stems from weakness, says Lauren Garges, P.T., a board certified women’s health physical therapist in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. That isn’t always the case.

First, a little anatomy. Your pelvic floor muscles stretch from your pubic bone in the front to your tailbone in the back and side to side between your hip bones—kind of like an internal trampoline. The stretchy shelf they form suspends organs like the bladder and uterus above the orifices below, Garges says.

For women, the strain of pregnancy and childbirth, hormonal shifts, and the force of gravity over time can weaken and stretch pelvic muscles and ligaments. The entire structure sags, squeezing the bladder and creating traction that pulls the urethra downward. Extra pressure from running—or coughing, laughing, or sneezing—can let loose anything from a dribble to a near deluge.

Chicago runner Tanya Kopke felt the full force of the matter at a neighborhood 5K, which she ran about six months after her daughter was born in 2009. “It was a terrible race because urine was just pouring out,” she says. As a nurse, Kopke, now 49, doesn’t normally flinch in the face of bodily functions. But that day, she wrapped her shirt around her waist and made a beeline for home.

While some women have a strength deficit, others possess plenty of pelvic power but lack the control or ability to release it, Garges says. Tension from injury or stress keeps their pelvic floor in a constant clench. Eventually, the muscles fatigue and give way, causing the same lack of support and leakage. If you have pain during intercourse or trouble inserting a tampon, that’s one indicator of tension rather than weakness, Gronski says.

Or, try this (up close and personal) self-test: Put two fingers in your vaginal opening and squeeze the muscles you use to hold in gas. You’ll feel a sensation like a circle closing, then an inward lift up. Relax, and you should experience a release. If nothing changes when you stop squeezing, your pelvic floor is probably overactive, Garges says.

If that’s the case, skip the Kegels and try deep breathing or other relaxation techniques instead. A therapist can help with biofeedback, which uses electronic monitors to help you learn to feel, control, and release your pelvic muscles. 

Men’s anatomy provides them with extra safeguards against stress incontinence—two rings of muscle squeeze off their bladder and urethra, and then there’s the longer tube. They’re less likely to leak unless they’ve had surgery on their prostate, Gronski says. Still, pelvic floor tension can cause discomfort and pain in the penis and groin, along with feeling a need to pee. Pressure from cycling or hours of sitting sedentary at a desk can worsen the problem. The same types of relaxation strategies that help women with incontinence can also ease men’s urinary urges, Gronski says.