Does Yoga Help Bladder Leaks?What a Pelvic Yoga Trial Found
Bladder & Pelvic FloorArticlePelvic floor yoga is often suggested for bladder leaks. In a 2024 trial of 240 women aged 45 to 90 with daily leaks, 12 weeks of pelvic yoga cut leaks by about 2.3 a day, but a general stretching and strengthening program cut them by 1.9, about the same. Both groups improved a lot. Here is what that means, what the trial didn't test, and how to use movement alongside proven treatments.
In this article
Yoga for the pelvic floor turns up in plenty of bladder advice. A large US trial put it to a fair test.
The trial
At three sites in California, 240 women aged 45 to 90 with daily leaks, whether from coughing, urgency or both, were split into two groups for 12 weeks:1
- Pelvic yoga: twice-weekly classes plus one home session, focused on the pelvic floor.1
- Physical conditioning: the same time spent on general stretching and strengthening.1
Leaks were counted with 3-day bladder diaries. At the start, women averaged about 3.4 leaks a day.1
What happened
| Pelvic yoga | Physical conditioning | |
|---|---|---|
| Drop in leaks per day | 2.31 | 1.91 |
The difference between groups was small, and yoga wasn’t better than general exercise.1 Stress leaks fell about the same in both.1 Later analyses found no extra benefit from yoga for sleep or sexual function either.23
How to read this
Both groups improved a lot, cutting leaks by more than half. But the trial had no group without exercise, so it can’t say how much came from the exercise itself, from time, or from keeping a diary.1 Classes also moved online during COVID.1
What it does suggest: if you enjoy yoga, it’s a reasonable way to stay active, and a structured general exercise program did about as well.
Where yoga fits
- Pelvic floor muscle training has the strongest evidence for stress leaks; see can pelvic floor exercises help?
- Bladder training helps urge leaks; see bladder training.
- Yoga or general exercise can sit alongside these.
- Night-time trips were common in the trial and went with worse sleep.2 See waking up at night to pee.
If you leak both ways, see mixed incontinence.
Try: “I’ve started a pelvic yoga class for my bladder leaks. Should I also be doing pelvic floor exercises or bladder training, and could you check I’m squeezing correctly?”
Laugh, Sneeze, Jump covers training the pelvic floor in Chapter 5, “The Squeeze You Can’t See.” Its Three-Day Read, the same kind of bladder diary the trial used, shows whether any new routine is changing your leaks. See the book.
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It isn't a substitute for diagnosis or treatment from a qualified healthcare professional who knows your health history. Check with a clinician before starting new exercise if you have joint, heart or balance problems. See a clinician for leaks with burning, blood in your urine, pelvic pain, a bulge in the vagina, or trouble emptying your bladder. Girl Playbook does not endorse any specific product, test, or provider.
Girl Playbook sells this book. It provides education and worksheets, not individualized medical care.
Sources
The research behind this article, in the order it’s cited. How we source our articles.
- Annals of Internal Medicine (via PubMed Central), 2024Efficacy of a Therapeutic Pelvic Yoga Program Versus a Physical Conditioning Program on Urinary Incontinence in Women: A Randomized Trial (opens in a new tab)abcdefghij
- JAMA Network Open (via PubMed Central), 2025Effects of Hatha Yoga vs Physical Conditioning on Sleep in Women With Urinary Incontinence: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial (opens in a new tab)ab
- Urogynecology journal (via PubMed Central), 2026Sexual Function in a Randomized Trial of Pelvic Yoga for Urinary Incontinence (opens in a new tab)↩
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