Women commonly come into the clinic telling me about how they pee when the run, do jumping jacks, or when they sneeze, and say “but I’ve had children, so it’s normal”, or “I’ve always leaked a little with activity”. Or, women come into the clinic and tell me about how they pee every hour or so because they have urgency to do so, or they “pre-pee” before leaving the house.
When you leak when you do any type of exertional force (cough, laugh, sneeze, exercise, etc.), this is called stress incontinence. This is not normal, or because you have had children. This is because you have a core strength dysfunction, specifically a weakness of the levator ani musculature, commonly known as the “kegel” muscle.
When you feel like you have to pee all the time, or leak on route to the bathroom due to this urgency, this is called urge incontinence. This is due to a combination of poor bladder habits (peeing just in case), as well as a weakness of your levator ani muscle.
Both these types of incontinence are not normal, and are treatable. A women’s health physiotherapist will assess you by taking an in depth history of your concerns, delivery type, fluid intake, bowel habits, bladder habits, etc, and then will perform an internal assessment to determine if you have a pelvic floor weakness or dysfunction, as well as any other reasons you may be having the leakage issues you are having.
Treatment involves bladder training, levator ani strength training, core and postural training, increasing fluids, decreasing caffeine, etc. But, the point is, you don’t have to leak! Come see me for an assessment and treatment at REP Physio asap and we’ll start you on the road to recovery!
