Why Do I Leak Water After Swimming?

If you Google this question, you’ll find many chat boards describing the same strange phenomenon. You go for a swim, dry off (so far, so good), and suddenly you feel an uncontrolled gush of water from your pelvic region.

On the same chat boards, it’s often people who have recently given birth citing this startling occurrence. And clearly, nobody has warned them that this might be a side effect. Here’s a typical account:  “I felt a small hush of very warm water come out of me. It didn’t feel like I was peeing, but it definitely wasn’t something I could control.”

If you’ve wandered here because you’ve experienced something similar, we’re going to try to clear up the mystery.

Be Sure You’re Leaking Water, Not Urine (& Not Amniotic Fluid)

Leaking water has a relatively straightforward explanation, but if you’re pregnant and experience this sensation, it could be your water breaking (that’s not water, that’s amniotic fluid.) 

When amniotic fluid leaks, it usually “gushes” for a sustained time. Any presence of white waxy or dark green substance also indicates it is amniotic fluid. So, if you’re pregnant, err on the side of caution and check in with your doctor to make sure your water hasn’t broken.

The other possible thing any woman can leak is urine. Learn more about all kinds of light bladder leaks here. They’re especially common in women who have given birth.

You’ll usually be able to tell the difference between water or amniotic fluid and pee by the smell. Amniotic fluid is odorless, while urine smells, well, like urine (an ammonia-like odor). It’s also possible that you might be confusing a water leak with vaginal discharge. However, most of us are familiar enough with our own discharge to recognize what’s ‘normal’ for our bodies.

It Can Happen With Any Water—From Swimming Pool Water to Bathwater

Keep note of when you’ve been swimming or bathing to see if there’s a temporal correspondence between leaking water and being submerged in water. This will help rule out other explanations. If you’ve been submerged in water (pool, ocean, or bathwater) and are leaking water, here’s your explanation:

It’s Called ‘Vaginal Entrapment’ of Water & Here’s Why This Happens

It’s pretty easy to identify vaginal entrapment of water because it will happen in close time correlation to some form of submersion (like being in a pool, bath, or swimming in the ocean.) As the term ‘vaginal entrapment’ suggests, 

According to a study published in the Canadian Urological Association Journal, “There is very little in the literature regarding whether fluid enters the vagina during bathing or swimming.” However, there are two cases cited in the same report (a prepubertal and a pre-menopausal female.)

Moreover, if those chat boards are anything to go by, this is an experience more common than the medical research might indicate. It’s highly possible that this is something many women do not report to their doctors. We already know, for example, that urinary incontinence is dramatically under-reported.

So, vaginal entrapment of water - where water becomes trapped in the vagina (usually when submerged, often horizontally) - is something that can happen. And it seems to be gravity that causes the release of it later (either gradually or in a sudden burst.)

The same study also mentioned that the pre-menopausal woman, who had experienced vaginal childbirth, managed her occurrence of vaginal entrapment by manually evacuating the water from her vagina. “This is done by inserting a digit [i.e., finger] in the vagina and pulling laterally.”

However, before you consider taking matters into your own hands (so to speak), we do recommend talking with your doctor about this experience. Self-diagnosis and treatment based on reading an internet article is not always the best course of action!

It Seems Common After Childbirth

The study cited above explored two patients—a prepubertal and a pre-menopausal female. However, on the chat boards we researched, more people noted that this was something that only happened to them after childbirth and may indeed have self-resolved over time.

Childbirth can definitely cause weakened pelvic floor muscles (this is also one reason why women can experience temporary stress urinary incontinence after childbirth.) So it is possible that there’s a connection between weakened pelvic floor muscles and vaginal entrapment of water.

Allowing the pelvic floor muscles to recover and doing pelvic floor exercises should help.

What Are the Pelvic Floor Muscles?

The pelvic floor muscles do an important job; they support the bladder, bowels, and reproductive organs. Especially as we age, these organs can exert increasing downward pressure on our bodies. This can be caused by things like:

• Childbirth: For women who have had children, childbirth can weaken the pelvic floor muscles or cause injury. Later in life, this can make incontinence and even prolapse more likely.
• Surgery: Any abdominal surgery (e.g., hysterectomy) can disrupt how the organs sit together and support each other, putting more strain on your pelvic floor muscles.
• Constipation/straining: Regular straining on the toilet caused by constipation can put stress on the pelvic floor muscles too.
• Aging/gravity: As we age, our skin thins and muscles weaken. The effects of gravity can start to show. Pure and simple, gravity pulls things downwards over time and if muscles are not strong enough to provide support.

So in order to prevent incontinence or organ prolapse, your pelvic floor muscles must be strong.

Who Should Do Kegel Exercises?

Doctors will often start talking to women about Kegel exercises during pregnancy or later in life. This is because these events are most associated with an increased risk of incontinence and prolapse.

However, women of all ages can benefit from doing Kegel exercises. They don’t just help prevent (or manage) urinary incontinence; they also are good for your general wellbeing.

Kegel exercises can also enhance your sexual health by helping you control your vaginal muscles, which allows your vagina to be more open (this is also helpful during pelvic exams). Moreover, the exercises increase blood circulation in the pelvic area, which can increase arousal.

Doing them when healthy can have myriad benefits, both present and preventative:

• Helps prevent urinary incontinence
• Preventing involuntary gas or fecal incontinence
• Improve symptoms of prolapse
• Orgasm improvement
• Maintaining overall pelvic floor strength

How to Do Pelvic Floor Exercises

If you’re unsure how to do pelvic floor muscle exercises (or Kegel exercises), your doctor or physiotherapist can help you. But basically, it’s like pretending you have to urinate and then holding it. You relax and tighten the muscles that control urine flow.

One way to learn the pelvic floor muscles you should activate is to pay attention when you pee: Start to pee and then stop. You should feel the muscles in your vagina, bladder, and anus get tight and move up. These are the pelvic floor muscles. 

If Vaginal Entrapment Is Connected With Childbirth, You Should Recover…

Good news: After childbirth, the body generally recovers. So if vaginal entrapment of water is connected with childbirth. Just like postpartum incontinence, these issues related to pregnancy in women usually resolve about 6 weeks after you give birth. You should track your experience of vaginal entrapment and/or incontinence after childbirth and chat with your doctor if the condition worsens or shows no signs of abating in that time period.

What If It Has Nothing to Do With Childbirth?

Beyond childbirth, the pelvic floor muscles can be weakened by:

• Surgery
• Constipation/straining
• Aging/gravity

It’s also possible that the shape of your vulva and vagina just allows water to enter more easily. It’s definitely worth talking to your doctor to better understand what’s happening. 

Should You Avoid Swimming Pools Altogether?

If water is easily entering your vagina, your doctor may advise you to shower rather than take baths, for example (dirty bathwater entering the vagina may lead to infections, including yeast infections.) They may also guide you to try wearing a tampon while swimming to see if that helps prevent water from being trapped inside the vaginal wall.

Remember there are also many benefits to exercise like swimming. So they may also give you common-sense advice like to:

• Carefully dry the vaginal area (no rough scrubbing, though)
• Not hang out too long in your wet swimsuit
• Shower after swimming to wash chlorine away that may interfere with the pH balance of your vagina
• Try period swimwear

But these are all potential conversations to have with your doctor. So don’t be embarrassed to book that appointment and seek a full explanation and solution.

We hope you found this post informative — but remember: we’re not doctors and this post is not medical advice! While all posts are fact-checked and well researched, we always recommend you chat with your doctor about any questions or concerns you might have regarding a medical condition. We’re here to support and educate, but never with the aim of disregarding professional medical advice you’ve been given. Phew, now that that’s out of the way, you can go on living unapologetically free.