With female incontinence being brought to the forefront by companies whose sole purpose is to make money on their products – it’s no surprise we’re being fed a lie about it being a “normal” transition of life.
To make my point a little clearer, I’d like to draw an analogy between incontinence, and limping: Say you go on a hike with some friends, and on the way down the mountain, you roll your ankle, resulting in a sprain and subsequent “limp”. Now, how you deal with the injury and corresponding limitation (the limp) is up to you – you may go to the store and buy a brace for support, you may go to the doctor for some medical advice and perhaps an anti-inflammatory, and you may go to a physical therapist to have your mechanics, muscles, joint and function assessed. (The latter of course being the most preferred!) Similarly, we should be approaching our urinary incontinence in this manner as well. Just because “you’ve had a baby”, or are “getting older” doesn’t mean that you need to continue to live your life with urinary incontinence, it is like the limp – it’s a legitimate result from some “injury”, but ultimately it can be treated and likely improved.
Let’s look at some statistics:
Urinary Incontinence (UI) occurs world wide at a rate of 12.4% in women over the age of 18. When we narrow that age group a little, the number increases significantly: For women who are 40+ years in age, 30-60% of them experience UI, and of that 30-60% only 50% of them seek help from medical professionals.
Urge vs. Stress Incontinence:
Urge Incontinence is defined as a sudden and uncontrollable muscular contraction of the bladder resulting in an urgent and immediate need to void. Of the types of incontinence, this is the most prevalent, comprising somewhere between 40-80% of incontinent women.
Stress incontinence is defined as the unintentional loss of urine as a result of physical activity or movement, such as sneezing, coughing, standing up, or running. Stress incontinence accounts for approximately 10% of incontinent women.
PT’s treat incontinence?
Some PTs have been educated on how to effectively treat and manage symptoms of incontinence. It’s not as simple as doing your “kegels” – because guess what? Some people don’t know how to do kegels. Some people think they are doing kegels, but they aren’t. Some people really shouldn’t be doing them at all. And some people don’t even know what a kegal is…
Enter the physical therapist –
PT can help symptoms of UI by addressing muscular weaknesses and abnormalities. Manual treatment is utilized to perform trigger point release/massage, myofascial release and joint mobilization. Exercises used to strengthen and stabilize the core/pelvic musculature are often included in the rehabilitation process. Biofeedback can also be an effective tool used to improve relaxation/contractility of the pelvic floor, assisting patients in understanding how their pelvic floor works.
So, if you, or someone you know, is dealing with incontinence issues – don’t be on the wrong side of the 50% – talk to your doctor, get their opinion on pelvic floor rehabilitation and make an appointment with a physical therapist, we can help.
