Urinary incontinence refers to any type of bladder leaking.

Bladder leaking tends to be grouped into different categories:

Stress urinary incontinence – leaking with increased abdominal pressure (physical stress). Signs you might be experiencing this: leaking with jumping, laughing, coughing, sneezing, lifting or other movements.

Urge Urinary incontinence – sudden urge to pee (urgency) and then leaking before you make it to the toilet. Signs you might be experiencing this: whenever you get home from work you have the sudden urge to pee when you pull into the driveway or open the door; you always pee before you leave the house “just in case”; you are always on the look out for where bathrooms are when you go to new places.

Overactive Bladder – leaking that is not associated with stress or urge; increased frequency (going more often). Signs you might be experiencing this: you have urinary leaking without realizing you had to pee; you feel you have to pee all the time/more often than the average person.

The good news is that Pelvic Health Physiotherapy tends to address urinary incontinence very successfully, and is actually part of medical management guidelines as a first step to addressing incontinence.

Ways Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy can help:

• assess pelvic floor muscle response

• assess soft tissue integrity supporting the bladder which might suggest pelvic organ prolapse

• discuss and address whole-body factors that may be contributing to incontinence

• assess exercise postures and bracing strategies

• talk about the option of using a pessary for bladder support if needed

• advise if further medical management might be beneficial (medication, screening tests etc)

Things you can do now:

• monitor bladder habits – it should take about 10-12 seconds for you to pee, and most people can hold their bladder for 3-4 hours during the day. You can keep track for 2-3 days to see if you follow these norms or if this looks different for you

• Notice bladder irritants – caffeine, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, citrus, carbonated beverages, spicy food, and some medications (ask your pharmacist) irritate the bladder. This is different person to person, so if you think something is bothing your bladder you can cut out or decrease intake for a week or so and see if it helps your urgency or frequency.

• drink enough water – concentrated urine is a bladder irritant. Pee should be slightly yellow and smell like urine. If it is dark yellow or cloudy then it suggests you are not drinking enough water. It does not need to be completely clear and odorless – this might means you are drinking too much water and you are just filtering it out, which can be hard on the kidneys long term and make you pee more just due to the volume of fluid you are taking in. General suggestions are 30mL/kg body weight, or total weight in lbs/2 = oz of fluid needed. Usually 2-3L of fluid intake is enough for most people, but checking out your urine colour and noticing if you are thirsty are usually easy ways to drink appropriately.

• reduce stress levels

• avoid constipation – people who are constipated often have increased bladder sensations, so helping with consitpation can help with bladder symotoms, too!

  Ready to get started? Let’s set up an appointment to work towards your goals together!