What Is Physiotherapy?

For all women, doing regular and consistent exercises of the pelvic floor muscles is very important as a woman's likelihood of developing incontinence is very high, and it's a major disruption to life and daily activities.

Urinary incontinence refers to the loss of urine from the bladder accidentally or involuntarily. Research shows that up to 60% of women experience urinary incontinence at some point in their lives.

What Are Some Causes?

Some of the factors associated with incontinence includes ageing, menopause, pregnancy, childbirth, childbirth-related pelvic pain, post trauma, stress, cysts and/or injuries.

Symptoms

People are determined to suffer from incontinence if they have two or more of the symptoms listed below:

1. Accidental or involuntary loss of urine or a continuous leakage of urine from the bladder
2. Frequent and urge to urinate
3. Feeling your bladder is always full or isn’t empty even after you have urinated
4. Difficulty urinating even when you have the urge to urinate
5. Releases of urine triggered by movement or by coughing, sneezing, or laughing
6. The need to get up repeatedly at night to urinate
7. A start-and-stop stream during urination

Types of Urinary Incontinence

Primarily there are two main types: stress incontinence and urge incontinence.

Stress Incontinence - this is most common that affects both men and women. The bladder leaks with stress-related activities, such as coughing, sneezing, laughing, or during activities that places strain on the bladder. This form is due to weakness of the pelvic floor muscles.

Urge Incontinence - this involves a strong, urgent need to urinate. Then the bladder will suddenly contract, causing urine to be expelled involuntarily. This type can affect both men and women.

Post Pregnancy Incontinence - women are more at risk of developing urinary incontinence following pregnancy and childbirth, when their pelvic floor muscles weaken. Most of the time, the problem will resolve by itself naturally a couple of weeks following childbirth, but for some women, trauma to the muscles and nerves of the pelvic floor during childbirth can aggravate the problem and cause the incontinence to persist for months following childbirth

Urinary incontinence following pregnancy and childbirth isn't exactly a favorite topic to discuss amongs pregnant women and happy husbands, but it is a very common problem. Because it is usually mild and not so frequent, people often ignore it, but on some occasions, it can be quite severe to the point of disruptive to lifestyles and schedules.

What are some treatments that our Singapore Physiotherapy professionals can do for you?

Most of the time, urinary incontinence can be rather embarrassing and sensitive, but it need not be so. It's treatable and in most cases it can be managed successfully with pelvic floor exercises. Our women physiotherapists will teach you how to do exercises that will strengthen the pelvic floor muscles (the pelvic floor muscles supports the vagina, urethra and bowel).

If the muscle strengthening exercises is not enough, we may need to use electrotherapy and biofeedback modalities to help activate and stimulate the muscles before we can strengthen it.

What else can you do in the meantime?

1. Avoid and reduce intake of caffeine
2. Avoid and reduce intake of alcohol and carbonated drinks as they can irritate your bladder
3. Drink at least 6 - 8 glasses of water a day. Don't restrict your fluid intake as that will serve only to avoid the problem and in the long run will make the pelvic muscles weaker
4. Add fibre to your diet if you have trouble with constipation
5. If you smoke, quit. Smoking can make you cough and/or wheeze, triggering urine leaks.
6. Make sure there’s a clear path to the bathroom. Wear clothes that you can take off easily.
7. Use absorbent pads for security, and change them regularly.
8. Keep a night light on to help you get to the toilet more easily at night.

If you do have incontinence, it is important for you to know that you should not suffer in silence. If you have this problem, book in for a patient, considerate and definitely confidential appointment with our physiotherapist who will examine, assess and treat you the best solution for your incontinence.

How can we help you? For a physiotherapy, hand therapy or occupational therapy appointment, please go here.

To see a list of physiotherapy, hand therapy and occupational therapy conditions we treat in Singapore, please go here.

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