Hello Friends!
I wanted to talk today about a topic that 1 in 3 women experience, INCONTINENCE.
I know it’s a word that conjures up images of old ladies wearing adult diapers, or little ladies in the grocery store hiding their box of Poise.
That is not what I’m speaking about, or at least not entirely. I’m speaking about that moment when your best friend says something so funny that you burst out laughing, and have to cross your legs, and squeeze your eyes shut, hoping and praying that you can hold everything in, just to find that, yep, you peed.
Or when your kids ask you to play with them on the trampoline, and you don’t want to disappoint them, so you get on, begin to jump, and then have to slowly climb off because, yep, you peed.
Or when you're walking through the grocery store and God forbid you sneeze and, yep, you peed.
I am a health care provider and in a field where this is often a topic of conversation, but I can’t tell you the number of times this comes up, just in my everyday life. It is sort of the inside joke, “you’ve had kids, of course, you pee on yourself.”
I used to have to stop walking, cross my legs and pray if I had to sneeze. After I had my first baby and I started running again, I had to wear pads or my pants would be soaked when I was done. And just a note, period pads are not as absorbent of urine as pads made specifically for incontinence.
One time I was at a restaurant with my sister shortly after the birth of my first baby, I was so excited to be out, she said something funny and, yep, I peed, all over the chair and ground. Talk about embarrassing.
None of these experiences were proud moments, most of them I laughed off, but in reality, I laughed so I wouldn’t cry.
What I know now, is that it doesn’t have to happen. We don’t have to settle for “Oh, I’ve had babies, of course, I leak.” We can do more.
Physical Therapy is an amazing, conservative way to solve this annoying and embarrassing issue.
There are several forms of incontinence, but the one I have described above is called Stress Incontinence.
Stress incontinence occurs when there is an increase in pressure on the bladder resulting in the loss of urine. Activities such as laughing, coughing, sneezing, lifting or jumping can cause an increase in intraabdominal pressure that can result in leaking.
Think of squeezing a balloon from the center. The pressure inside the balloon increases as you squeeze and the bottom of the balloon bulges out. This is what can happen when your intraabdominal pressure increases.
Your breath plays a role in how your pelvic floor functions to prevent leaking. Your respiratory diaphragm and your pelvic floor work together in a type of “piston” action.
Posture is another thing to consider when looking at urinary leakage. Proper posture is important so that your pelvic floor can function properly, and is in the optimal relationship to the diaphragm to reduce the risk of leaking.
Pelvic floor muscle weakness can also contribute to stress incontinence.
Physical Therapy is a very effective way to treat urinary stress incontinence. Educating patients on how to manage their intraabdominal pressure, strengthening their pelvic floor musculature during functional activities and postural education are just a few things that can be greatly helpful in reducing the occurrence of stress urinary incontinence.
If you can relate to my story, if you have stopped activities that you love out of fear of leaking, if you also have to pray every time your going to sneeze, that you wont leak, and would like more information regarding stress urinary incontinence,
Please contact us at 248-318-9722, or email us at dannansiano@vivapt.com
