There are some things you’ll only know if you play netball, along with the approximately half a million other Australians who love the game.
That “here if you need” isn’t an offer to help carry someones groceries. That the position you play says A LOT about your personality. And that it’s entirely possible to pee yourself for seemingly no reason, decades after you said goodbye to nappies.
Thought you were the only one? Think again.
New research has found that one in three netball players have experienced urinary incontinence while playing Australia's most popular team sport for women - and it's not just those that have had children, either.
In her paper The prevalence of urinary incontinence in adult netball players in South Australia sponsored by the Continence Foundation of Australia, women's health and continence physiotherapist Naomi Gill found that one third of all players, and half of those who have had children, experience urine leakage during training or a game.
"Netball is a fast-paced high impact sport involving running, jumping and quick directional changes with repeated accelerations and decelerations which can stimulate urinary leakage," she explained.
What Gill found particularly concerning was that despite the large numbers of netballers who had experienced incontinence while playing the sport, only eight per cent had seen or spoken to a health professional about.
"This means that 82 percent of netballers are not seeking assistance from a health professional who can help them manage or cure their condition. This is particularly concerning considering incontinence has been given a reason women stop participating in exercise," she said in a statement.
Instead, 41 per cent of players chose to use urinary pads while 31 per cent undertook pelvic floor exercises. 14 per cent said they simply restricted their participation in the sport as a result.
