What could yoga poses (called "asanas") have to do with managing urinary incontinence? Quite a bit, according to a new study that found that both general physical conditioning and doing pelvic floor yoga (yes, that's a thing) reduce urinary leakage significantly.

Pelvic floor muscles control the flow of urine and the release of bowel movements (and gas). They’re what you squeeze when you do Kegel exercises.

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that doing a twice-a-week, 12-week program of Hatha yoga pelvic floor exercises or general skeletal muscle stretching and strengthening exercises both helped minimize urinary incontinence.

In fact, they did as good a job managing the condition as the usual medications used for treatment.

That's great news for the 50% of middle-age women who struggle with urinary urgency and leakage, and the more than 80% of very elderly women who do.

The researchers used 16 Hatha yoga poses that they modified to suit any ability. Standard pelvic strengthening poses can include:

• Downward Facing Dog

• Bridge Pose

• Happy Baby Pose

• Garland Pose

• Bound Angle Pose

• Low Lunge Pose

By the program's end, people who did low-impact yoga had about 65% fewer episodes of incontinence. Women in a control group doing stretching and strengthening exercises experienced just a little less improvement.