What Can Physical Therapy do for...

What Can Physical Therapy do for:

Urinary Incontinence:

This can be a little leakage when a person coughs or sneezes or a lot of leakage with the urge to urinate.  Stress incontinence is often seen in young women during pregnancy and after delivery and also in postmenopausal women. By working on strength and coordination, the bladder can be controlled to only empty when the time is right.

Urinary Frequency:

This is characterized by urinating more than 7 times in a 24 hour period and may be accompanied by urinary leakage. If a person is urinating frequently enough that it is interrupting their daily lives, physical therapy can provide urgency suppression techniques  and  a progressive bladder training program to increase the amount of urine the bladder is able to hold and thus increase the duration between emptying episodes.

Urinary Urgency:

“Key in the door syndrome” falls into this category and is explained by the strong urge to empty your bladder just as you get to the door and begin fumbling with your keys.  If you find yourself knocking over women and children to get to the bathroom you have urgency of urination. Physical therapy works to improve the communication between the bladder, brain, and pelvic floor muscles to calm the bladder and allow a resumption of normal bladder contraction frequency.

Urinary Retention/ Hesitancy:

Incomplete emptying of the bladder can be corrected by training and coordination of the pelvic floor muscles and stimulating the nerves that are responsible for contracting the bladder.  Toilet posture training is an important part and taught by your physical therapist.  Bladder retention may be a neurological deficit, muscular in-coordination, or an actual physical obstruction.  

Pelvic Organ Prolapse:

The descent of the pelvic organs including the bladder, uterus, and rectum causes pressure and movement in the vaginal walls. This occurs as ligaments that support the organs become stretched out and the pelvic floor musculature is weakened. This often begins during delivery (frequently asymptomatic at this stage) and if untreated results in surgery later in life. Physical therapy should be performed by every woman with pelvic organ prolapse whether surgery is performed or not.  Physical therapy will increase strength and power of the pelvic floor muscles to increase support of the organs. In addition, protective techniques are taught to be applied to daily activities to protect a surgical procedure (to decrease chance of surgical failure), decrease feelings of pressure and discomfort, and prevent additional organ descent.