Incontinence: Involuntary urine leakage.
Stress incontinence: leaking with cough, sneeze, laughter, lifting, activity.
Urgency: “Gotta go RIGHT NOW” syndrome AND Frequency; you know, when your friends notice that there is a bathroom and ask if you need it, as you go so often. “OAB” or Overactive bladder: is it really?? Or is a habit your bladder has learned?
Mixed Incontinence: a combination of stress with urge or frequency. We see this often when people are concerned that they will leak and begin to go “just in case”, as well as other issues.
Google Incontinence and the first thing that comes up is likely to be “Incontinence Products” (aka, diapers, pads, and incontinence underwear). The next listing that showed in my feed was medications. Now, don’t get me wrong, both of these things can be helpful at different times or for various reason (for instance, pads immediately after having a child), but to be the first thing we turn to and become reliant on? Next up on the feed “just do Kegels”. This information is not helpful! Too often, bladder leakage is thought of as an automatic result of having born children, urge and frequency as a result of menopause and life changes, and OAB, something that you take medications for.
Here are some facts:
- Of the 25 million adult Americans reporting a form of urinary incontinence, 75-80% are women.1
- Urinary Incontinence affects 200 million people worldwide.1
- One in four women over the age of 18 experience episodes of incontinence.1
- On average, women wait 6.5 years from the first time they experience symptoms until they obtain a diagnosis for their bladder control problem(s).1 (and often they report to their provider but are given the message that it is “normal”. Common, yes, normal, no!)
- Stress urinary incontinence is the most common type of incontinence among women, affecting an estimated 15 million adult women in the U.S.1
- About 17% of women and 16% men over 18 years old have overactive bladder (OAB) and an estimated 12.2 million adults have urge incontinence.1
- Urinary Incontinence is twice as common in women as in men.2
- Pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause are major reasons of the increased prevalence of incontinence in women as compared to men.2
- Between the ages of 18 and 44, approximately 24% of women experience a form of incontinence.
- Approximately 23% of women over the age of 60 experience and live with incontinence. Nafc.org
- Up to 20% of women stop doing physical activity because of incontinence (Nafc.org)
- Up to 70% + of woman with low back pain also have pelvic floor problems.
1 National Association for Incontinence, Facts and Statistics
2 WomensHealth.gov, Urinary incontinence fact sheet
3 American Medical Systems, Urinary incontinence
Incontinence is often an embarrassing topic. You may not mention it to your medical provider (or they might not ask!) as you believe that is a normal part of being female. You might have been told to “do kegels” and when that did not help, felt that you must just deal with it and wear pads. And too often, you might have been told or heard what “not to do” (ie, don’t jump, don’t lift, don’t run).
At Embody, we understand that incontinence is related to more than simply weakness in the pelvic floor musculature, “tightness” in the muscles, having a baby, or because of changes related to aging. We look at all of you, and how your trunk (aka “core”) and pelvic floor work together. We utilize RUSI (real time ultrasound imaging) to visualize your bladder, your trunk and musculature, and use this as a form of evaluation and feedback as we retrain your muscles. We educate you about anatomy, how your body works together, and how we can retrain.
We work with you to develop a program that addresses habits such as toileting, frequency, fluids, and possibly bladder irritants, as well as strength, breath, and posture. We create a program that meets your interests and time needs, and that helps you scale back up to the things that you need and want to do. We want you to be able to lift, laugh, jump, run. We want you to be able to be out with friends and NOT need to find a bathroom every 30 minutes! We want you to be able to get out of the car and into the house with leaking while opening the front door! We want you to be able to laugh and live without limiting activities due to fear of leaking!
Are you ready to “ditch the De___nds”?? Continence is possible! Tell us your concerns and frustrations, and ask how we can help.
Not in the Western PA area? Find a PT in your area (or contact us to ask):