The facts
Incontinence affects 4.8 Million Australian Adults, making it more prevalent than:
- Arthritis (3.1 million)
- Anxiety Disorders (2.3 million)
- Asthma (2 million)
- 2 in 5 woman experience incontinence
- 68% of woman leak when they sneeze
- 1 in 3 leak when they laugh
- 1 in 3 leak during exercise
- 7 out of 10 woman laugh off the issue of bladder leakage (results from a recent survey of 1000 woman with bladder leakage) Continence Foundation of Australia
What should you do? - Physio should always be the first port of call for treatment of incontinence
- Physio has an equally high success rate in approximately 3 months of treatment and is 16 times cheaper than surgery (not to mention less intrusive)
- Up to 84% of woman with stress urinary incontinence can become dry with physiotherapy input
Common Questions
- Isn’t it normal to be a little bit incontinent after childbirth? NO
- Is a small amount of bladder leakage normal as I get older? NO – no matter how light it is, it is not normal and in most cases can be cured or better managed
- If I ignore it will it just get better? NO – in most cases it will not improve without muscle training and it may worsen with successive births
What is Incontinence?
Incontinence is a term that describes any accidental or involuntary loss of urine from the bladder (urinary incontinence) or stool from the bowel (can be either flatus or faecal incontinence)
- Urgency/Urge Incontinence – A ‘sudden’ urge to empty the bladder, possibly leaking before reaching the toilet
- Stress Urinary Incontinence – leaking of urine with physical exertion, or on sneezing , coughing, laughing etc.
- Faecal Incontinence – involuntary loss of faeces or flatus/wind (flatal Incontinence)
Who is at Risk?
- Anyone at any age can develop some form of incontinence
- Some health conditions and life events can put you at increased risk
- Pregnancy (both pre & post-natal)
- Menopause
- Obesity
- UTI’s
- Constipation
- Specific types of surgery (hysterectomy – removal of all or part of the uterus and/or ovaries)
- Reduced mobility (preventing you from getting to or using the toilet)
- Chronic cough/asthma/respiratory conditions
- Neurological and MSK conditions (e.g. Multiple Sclerosis, arthritis)
Sign’s of Poorly Controlled Pelvic Floor Muscles
- Leaking urine when sneezing, coughing, running, laughing (or other sudden action)
- Not getting to the toilet in time
- Tampons don’t stay in place
- Vaginal or anal wind (flatus) that you cannot control
- Bulging felt at the vaginal opening (prolapse)
- Difficulty emptying bowel completely
What issues can Physiotherapy Assess/Treat
- Post-Natal Check (6 weeks)
- Check pelvic floor activation
- Check for prolapse
- Assess and treat any continence issues (bladder & bowel)/pelvic floor dysfunction
- Check for abdominal separation (diastasis rectus)
- Measure separation
- Provide safe exercises to increase core activation and strengthen abdominals
- Assess and treat any other musculoskeletal issues
- Back pain
- Sacro-illiac dysfunction
- Wrist/thumb pain/carpel tunnel syndrome
- Advice and exercise programs for safe return to previous activity levels
- Incontinence Issues
- Bladder
- Bowel
- Pelvic Organ Prolapse
- Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
- Constipation
- Pilates programmes and 1:1 reformer sessions
Useful Reference
Continence Foundation of Australia
1800 330066 – National Continence Helpline
Written by:
Laura Wickens
BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy
Woman’s Health, Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy, Clinical Pilates
