Incontinence and Physical Therapy
Patient may experience leaking of urine when just living their everyday lives. It can cause stress, pain, embarrassment, and be inconvenient for their day to day.
But, it doesn’t have to and there is hope with specialized physical therapy.
Who’s at risk?
Anyone of any gender, activity level, or age can experience incontinence and for many reasons. Some of those reasons may be:
Surgeries such as hysterectomy, prostatectomy
Pregnancy and Childbirth
Over or under active pelvic floor muscles
Certain medication use
Obesity/ high body mass index (BMI)
Cognitive and mobility impairments
Smoking and COPD
Menopause
Age
And more
What are the types of incontinence that can be treated with pelvic health physical therapy?
Urinary Incontinence - Stress, Urge, and Mixed
Stress Incontinence is any loss of urine with movement such as standing, running, jumping, lifting objects, sneezing, coughing
Urge Urinary Incontinence is the overwhelming urge to void and the involuntary loss of urine of any amount. This can also be called an overactive bladder.
Mixed Incontinence is the combination of multiple types of incontinence and occurs as one ages and is often a more severe condition with longer rehabilitation
Fecal and Anal Incontinence
Fecal and Anal Incontinence is any loss of stool, mucus, gas, or liquid and can include a sudden urge and inability to suppress the urge to have a bowel movement.
How is incontinence treated with Pelvic Health Physical Therapy?
Here at Lystra Physical Therapy, we train you in a private setting away from the hustle and bustle of the clinic so you can feel as comfortable as possible.
We begin simply with an evaluation by our physical therapist, Robert Malone, primarily with questions regarding your condition and ultimately leading to a diagnosis and a plan of care. Our specially trained treating therapist, Joshlyne Villano, will then meet with you at your subsequent appointments and begin training and fine tuning various muscle groups that are difficult to connect to on your own.
Further, you will spend time:
learning about the condition you have
develop an understanding of the pelvic floor anatomy and how it works in concert with your transverse abdominals and diaphragm
how to improve daily activities in relation to your pelvic health
retrain bad habits into good ones that will help support your pelvic health
By the end, you’ll have improved pelvic strength and knowledge that should last a lifetime. You’ll have decreased to no incidences of incontinence, leading to freedom of life and confidence.
