How Pelvic Floor Therapy Can Help Manage Female Incontinence
As a female, suffering from incontinence can be upsetting. Up to 45% of women of all ages nationwide suffer from female incontinence. Ultimate Health Clinic wants you to understand you are not alone. Weak pelvic floor muscles are one of the leading causes of female incontinence. Your pelvic floor is responsible for prevention of stool and urine leakage and it additionally provides support for your internal organs. If the muscles of your pelvic floor spasm, it can cause pain and incontinence.
Types of Incontinence
There are several types of incontinence, each with a varied range of severity, they are:
Stress Incontinence – This is the unintentional loss of urine when laughing, coughing, sneezing or some other form of physical activity. When the pelvic floor is weak, the muscles are unable to stop urine from leaking.
Urge Incontinence – This is when there is a sudden desire to urinate that results in an unintentional loss of more copious quantities of urine. In most cases, this strong desire is caused by an oversensitive bladder.
Mixed Incontinence – This condition consists of a mixture of both urge based incontinence and stress based incontinence.
Fecal Based Incontinence – This form of incontinence is often the result of weak pelvic floor muscles and a weakened external anal sphincter. This is usually only seen in women after childbirth or in elderly patients. This condition is reversible with pelvic floor retraining.
Physiotherapy as a Treatment for Female Incontinence
There is no need to suffer from female incontinence when physical therapy can prove beneficial. Physical therapy will help increase your general quality of life as well as offer a sense of peace that will restore your happiness.
Initially, you will be evaluated by our pelvic floor physiotherapist. This will help confirm the extent and the type of incontinence you have. This will also help our physiotherapist to recognize how much strength you currently possess in pelvic floor muscles. In some cases, we will be able to identify if there may be other musculoskeletal issues that are causing issues with your pelvis. Our physiotherapist will create a customized treatment program that has exercises tailored to your body specifically. This will help you avoid the need for surgery or medication if the program is followed properly.
Some of the methods our physiotherapist use to treat incontinence include:
Bladder Training – Our therapist will help you to learn how to create a bathroom schedule, how to lengthen the time between toilet visits, and how to decrease the urge to urinate.
Kegel Exercises – We will work with you to help tone and tighten your pelvic floor. This will strengthen the muscles that have become weak for whatever reason. Toning these muscles and learning to utilize them to prevent leaks will help you gain success.
Biofeedback – This will encourage you to become more in tune with the functions of your body. In turn, you will be able to better suppress your urges and control your muscles.
How We Can Help
Female incontinence is a treatable condition that can be corrected through dedicated pelvic floor physiotherapy treatment. Our therapist is here to assist you with muscle re-education and bladder training to help you regain control of your life. Give Ultimate Health Clinic a call at 905-251-0162 today to find out we can help.
