Leaking Urine? How Physical Therapy Can Help.
Leaking urine?
I meet many women who think that it’s normal to leak because they just had a baby or that they are getting older. Even the idea that their bladder is “nervous”. While these are common reasons leaking might start, it doesn’t need to be normal. Leaking can get better.
Here are 5 ways physical therapy can help.
Figure out why you are leaking. There are different reasons that a woman might leak urine: prolapse, weak pelvic floor, tight pelvic floor, constipation, pain, habit, food or drink… physical therapy can help decide what the reason is for the leaking.
Teach you how to do kegels. About 50% of the population does kegels incorrectly! Sometimes it’s hard to contract a muscle when you can’t see it. There are different visualizations and cuing that physical therapists use to help you most effectively and efficiently contract your pelvic floor.
Teach you how to put your Kegel back down. The pelvic floor has to be able to contract up and down. Sometimes tightness is confused with strength. A tight pelvic floor has a difficult time working correctly to keep continence.
Food and drink modifications. Looking at common irritants and what we can do to help decrease how they irritate your bladder is an important step in getting leaking under control. Good news: these changes don’t always need to be permanent.
Behavior modifications. Our bladder is connected to our nervous system and is very much connected to our brain. The brain and bladder work together to decide when to go to the bathroom and when not to. When the trust between the two is broken, leaking can happen. Physical therapists can help you talk to your bladder so that your brain and bladder can trust each other again.
You don’t need to leak and physical therapists are here to help! Your physical therapist can walk you through all these strategies and more in order to design a plan to get you off pads and able to leave your house without fear of leaking.
