Sandrine Nail-Billaud is in a way the French version of Wonder Woman! A pharmacist by day, she puts on her marathon runner’s outfit by night (so to speak), and she also writes for specialist magazines such as Running pour Elles (and she still has a thousand other things going on alongside all that! Not bad at all).
Oh yes, I almost forgot! Sandrine has 3 children and a husband with whom she shares her passion for running! (We’re still wondering whether she sleeps at night…)
But, like 1 in 10 French women, Sandrine suffers from urinary incontinence, which affects her every day. That was without counting the arrival of the Emy Trainer pelvic floor trainer in her life, which helped her get back to a more relaxed sporting life!
The key points of Sandrine’s journey:
- The onset of leaks after pregnancies: Sandrine saw her first incontinence symptoms appear after her pregnancies, due to pelvic floor rehabilitation that was not carried out optimally to completion.
- The practical impact on sport: high-intensity running turned her sporting routine into an obstacle course, dominated by managing timing, terrain, and protective products.
- Relief thanks to an active routine: using an at-home pelvic floor training technology called Emy Trainer helped her strengthen her pelvic floor quickly and regain control of her training sessions.
Living with urinary leaks when you exercise
How do you experience your urinary leaks?
My urinary leaks didn’t start when I was very young, but when I got pregnant for the first time pregnancy, and then a little while after. But since there was a second child and then a third, the pelvic floor training probably didn’t happen properly.
When did you notice that you had urinary leaks?
When I started running, urinary leak issues became a REAL problem, especially during running sessions and then when I sneezed, during big bursts of laughter, when I was skipping rope, etc.
How can you combine sport and urinary leaks?
First of all, for training sessions, I choose the sport I’m going to do. There’s no question of doing skipping rope or trampoline, which completely stop me from controlling my leaks.
When it comes to running, the time of day I go out makes all the difference. If it’s early in the morning, I know I won’t have too many problems. If I run on a softer surface, I can manage my leaks, unlike running on the road or on a track (that’s a disaster).
From 5 p.m. onwards, I know the leaks will be much more significant, and it’s also linked to my period, with a uterus that I think, being a little heavier during my period, puts pressure on the bladder.
In short, I plan my training sessions ahead. I tried everything; I was told to try tampons, which were supposed to help me stop peeing while running. I also tried specific incontinence products, but on a long-distance run, the protection eventually becomes soaked and that’s not very pleasant; it causes chafing.
What is the most restrictive aspect of urinary leaks?
When you do a training session, the worst thing about urinary leaks is at the end of the session, with the smell. It’s a terrible smell.
Especially when you finish a run and have to take public transport home, or when you’re in the car with someone and have to protect the car seat. So it’s true that I changed my training sessions so I could do them alone in the end.
What’s your verdict since you started using Emy Trainer?
I was lucky enough to use the Emy Trainer pelvic floor trainer, which is something exceptional and fun, with a great deal of freedom of use and very few constraints in the end.
I use it for 5 minutes, 3 times a week, and since then my training sessions have changed radically! Much fewer urinary leaks, much less stress when it comes to running with others, knowing I’ll have to get in a car afterwards.
Things have really changed, even if I still feel a little apprehensive. I think about drinking a little less, I still keep an eye on things, but overall things have changed, that’s for sure!
What to take away from Sandrine’s testimonial:
- The social and psychological discomfort caused by odours: The heaviest burden for Sandrine was the fear of bad smells after exercise, which led her to isolate herself and avoid shared rides home after sport.
- The discomfort of traditional stopgap solutions: Standard incontinence products or using tampons showed their limits over long distances, eventually becoming saturated and causing painful chafing.
- The importance of a regular, accessible routine: doing exercises for 5 minutes, 3 times a week with the Emy Trainer pelvic floor trainer helped Sandrine reduce her stress, lessen her exercise-related leaks, and rediscover the joy of running in a group.
