White Paper – EVB Sport Research Urinary incontinence affects up to one in three women (1) causing considerable morbidity and reducing quality of life. Running as a leisure activity is growing in popularity, and exercise is known to exacerbate symptoms (2)(3). Current therapeutic approaches for stress incontinence include lifestyle modification, biofeedback, pharmacological and surgery. In terms of sustained symptom control, or acceptable levels of complications, successive surgical developments have been disappointing (4). A safe, effective conservative option would be a welcome management tool in this difficult area. The concept of a garment with pelvic floor support is relatively new, and it is postulated that the additional positive pressure provided would reduce leakage. Research on ‘Shaper’ underwear in Japan demonstrated significant bladder neck elevation on MRI in women with stress urinary incontinence (5) : a subsequent comparative study of this product demonstrated a comparable effect to pelvic floor muscle training (6). In 2013 EVB Sport garment was custom designed using engineering principles for female runners with urinary leakage: its varying elasticity provides compression to gluteal muscles and thighs while providing nonelastic compression uplift and support to pelvic floor muscles. This is achieved mechanically by suspending the central section of the garment from the high waistband, resulting in a hammock or sling effect secured during motion. The mix, panelling and layering of the fabrics act together to encourage the pelvis into a neutral, aligned position and this impacts posture positively. EVB Sport garments/shorts have been used and promoted for urinary leakage and prolapse by physiotherapists, gynaecologists and urologists, with over 15,000 sold to date. We present the current scientific evidence on EVB shorts, acquired in four crossover studies conducted in Irish academic centres. The first three focus on urinary leakage. Sixteen women in their forties with urinary incontinence following pregnancy were tested for leakage at the School of Health and Human Performance at UCD (7). Wearing either EVB or normal shorts, they ran on a treadmill: the subjects’ pulse, blood pressure, and oxygen uptake were not affected, but both the confidence ratings and the number of women reporting no leakage were significantly higher in those wearing EVB shorts. Enjoyment scores also tended to be higher following exercise in EVB shorts users. A study conducted in the School of Physiotherapy, RCSI, evaluated 7 middle-aged women with stress incontinence during exercise, wearing either EVB, or normal running shorts (8). The volume of urinary leakage was halved with EVB shorts, but the number of women was too small for results to be significant. In the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin a survey identifying women with urinary leakage who exercised regularly between 3-12 months following delivery of their first baby was performed (9). Thirty-four of these women of were randomised in a double-blind cross-over trial of EVB shorts, and another commercially available ‘support shorts’ and reported in the PLEASE Directors Yvonne Brady & Brian Hughes VAT No. 01112303FH Company Reg No. 518123
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