Is Your Life Planned Around Your Bladder?

Urinary incontinence is a common problem that affects both men and women.

According to the Canadian Continence Foundation, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 9 men experience incontinence at some point in their lives.

It can be a distressing and embarrassing condition that affects many aspects of your life: work, social activities, recreation, travel and intimacy.

What is Incontinence?

Urinary incontinence means any involuntary loss of urine. There are different types of incontinence, including:

• Stress Incontinence, the most common, occurs when urine leaks from the bladder when pressure is applied to it suddenly. Activities such as coughing, laughing, running or sexual intercourse can put pressure on the pelvic floor muscles, which may be stressed by obesity and constipation.

• Urge Incontinence, is the inability to control urine leaking from the bladder when the “urge” to urinate occurs.

• Mixed Incontinence occurs when Stress and Urge Incontinence appear at the same time or in different circumstances.

How Can Physiotherapy Help Incontinence?

It is a misconception to assume that it is normal to have urinary leakage after childbirth or as you age. It is also a misconception that there is nothing you can do about urinary leakage.

It is imperative for both men and women to maintain the strength of their pelvic floor muscles. As a physical therapist with specialized training in this area, I can prescribe specific exercises for the pelvic floor. These exercises have numerous benefits including maintaining continence, helping the bladder to hold the urge to urinate and increased satisfaction in sexual relationships.

I will also work with you to design a personalized exercise program for your specific problem, involving muscle re-education, bladder retraining and strengthening the pelvic floor muscles. If the muscles are very weak, a physiotherapist may use EMG/Biofeedback or electrical stimulation of the pelvic floor muscles.

More About Incontinence for Women

Urinary incontinence in women usually occurs at two times in a woman’s life – at childbirth and then again at menopause. At child birth there may be overstretching or trauma to the floor. Meanwhile at menopause, the pelvic floor muscles change and may be weaken. As woman age, it is important to keep the pelvic floor muscles strong. A pelvic floor exercise routine helps minimize the effects of menopause on pelvic support and bladder control.

As a physiotherapist, I can teach strengthening exercises of the pelvic floor muscles, which can help to reverse the process. In addition, I will evaluate the strength of the pelvic floor muscles, severity of incontinence, identify treatment goals and lifestyle changes that will help your bladder be less irritable.

By tackling any issues you face with incontinence head on, you can go back to leading a normal, active life and stop worrying about your bladder.