Incontinence Therapy |

What is Urinary Incontinence?
There are several types of urinary incontinence, but in general incontinence refers to the leakage of urine at inappropriate times.

Stress incontinence is leakage of small amounts of urine when there is increased pressure on the bladder. This can happen with exercise or with sneezing, coughing, lifting or other activities.
Urge incontinence is the leakage of medium to large amounts of urine when a person feels a sudden strong urge to urinate.
Mixed Incontinence includes symptoms of both stress and urge incontinence.
Functional Incontinence is urine leakage that occurs when a person can not get to the toilet in time.

How can physical therapy help?
Our specially trained physical therapists will evaluate and design a treatment program that is individualized for each patient.

Physical Therapy can:

Give you control over your life and your bladder
Save money and embarrassment by allowing less use of pads and undergarments
Reduce use of medications for incontinence
Possibly prevent the need for surgery

Physical Therapy Treatment may include

Education on diet and nutrition to avoid food and drinks that may irritate the bladder
Advice on how to change behaviors that make symptoms worse
Techniques to help you find the right muscles and learn to use them correctly
Pelvic floor exercises to strengthen the pelvic muscles
Exercises to stretch and strengthen other important muscles
Ways to decrease urinary urge and frequency
Biofeedback that shows you how your muscles are working

Who Should be Referred to a Women’s Health Physical Therapist?

Those with:

Trouble leaking urine during normal daily activities
Urine leakage with sneezing, coughing, or laughing
Trouble starting the urine stream
Trouble holding urine when feeling a strong urge to go
Trouble with frequent urination (more than every 3-4 hours during the day, up more than once to urinate at night)
Trouble getting to the bathroom because of other problems such as knee or hip pain or balance problems