Stress Incontinence: Don’t Stress Over Urinary Leakage

Are you stressed over your “stress urinary incontinence?” A better name for stress incontinence would be exertion or activity related incontinence. We are referring to the involuntary loss of urine during an increase in intra-abdominal pressure. Commonly, this occurs with laughing, coughing, sneezing, running, jumping, or simply getting up from the floor. It may be just a few drops or completely losing the contents of your bladder. No matter how much is leaking - any leaking is too much.

Just because it is COMMON to experiencing urinary leakage (1 in 3 women do in their childbearing years, and as many as 1 in 2 or more after menopause) does not mean it is NORMAL. Great news - we are here to help!

Many women are told to “just do your Kegels” and are not really given any actual instruction in how to perform these exercises. Also, maybe weakness of the pelvic floor isn’t the only problem? Oftentimes women DO need to be performing strengthening of the pelvic floor muscles, but it is important to be fully evaluated by a a pelvic floor physical therapist to determine if there are other factors that need to be addressed before you begin those strengthening exercises.

Pelvic floor physical therapists are trained to perform a comprehensive evaluation of the pelvic floor and surrounding muscles/joints. There may be muscles that are tight which are contributing to the symptoms you are experiencing. Or perhaps there is scar tissue which is binding down the tissues in your abdominal area making it nearly impossible to actually perform a pelvic floor contraction. It’s not always as simple as “just do your Kegels.” Your story matters! Every individual has their own unique story that contributes to their current symptoms. We have a safe and supportive environment to hear your story and understand what may be contributing to your symptoms.

So how long would you typically expect to see a pelvic floor physical therapist for incontinence? You would be surprised to learn that most women start to notice an improvement in their symptoms within 2-3 visits and report minimal to no leakage after completing their full plan of care. These women also report money savings due to not needing to buy pads or other absorptive products and have improved confidence during activities and in social situations.

If you are feeling stress over your own stress urinary incontinence symptoms, give us a call, send us an email, or Request an appointment. At Shift Physical Therapy and Wellness we are passionate about helping women to gain back CONTROL and CONFIDENCE in their bodies.

Written by: Renee Hancock, Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist