Bladder Pain, Leakage, & Urgency.
Have you been told you have interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome? Do you leak urine when sneezing, coughing, or laughing? Do you feel like you have to pee all the time and the urge to urinate feels really urgent?
These symptoms are common, but not normal.
Skilled pelvic floor physical therapy can help!
Why do I have bladder pain, urinary incontinence, and urinary urgency?
The pelvic floor muscles support your bladder and help to control the sphincters the eliminate urine (the urethra). If these muscles are too tight (and therefore also weak), they have a hard time controlling the flow of urine. This can cause stress urinary incontinence and urge urinary incontinence. Tight pelvic floor muscles can also pull on the urethra and irritate it, creating false sensations of the urge to urinate and even creating false feelings of a UTI. Tight muscles decrease blood flow, which irritates nerves. This is why you may also experience bladder pain and/or urethral irritation.
Work with a pelvic floor specialist.
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Learn to coordinate your pelvic floor muscles.
In order to heal your urinary symptoms, you will need to learn how to coordinate your pelvic floor muscles. Healthy pelvic floor muscles have the ability to both contract and relax. At Bodyful, we focus on downtraining first, and then you are able to strengthen.
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Experience pelvic floor manual therapy.
With consent and when indicated, pelvic floor therapists can perform an internal pelvic exam. Unlike an OBGYN, no speculum or stirrups are used. With one gloved finger, the pelvic PT can assess each pelvic floor muscle individually.
Most clients begin to experience changes in their symptoms as early as 2-4 visits at Bodyful Physical Therapy.
FAQ
What is urinary incontinence?
Urinary incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine. Any loss, whether is it full bladder leakage or “just dribbles” is considered incontinence. Any involuntary loss of urine is not normal and may signal pelvic floor dysfunction. You can have stress urinary incontinence (SUI) which is leakage with increased intra-abdominal pressure (sneezing, coughing, laughing, jumping, lifting, pushing). Many folks who are pregnant and postpartum struggle with SUI, but you do not have to have a history of pregnancy to have stress incontinence. You also do not have to be vulva-bodied to have stress incontinence. Another form of urinary incontinence is urge incontinence, where you feel the urge to pee suddenly and strongly, and then you are unable to make it to the bathroom on time. Both of these types of leakage are common and treatable with quality pelvic floor physical therapy.