submitted by Morinville Physical Therapy
What is Urinary Incontinence?
There are many types of urinary incontinence, the main ones being: stress, urgency and mixed. People suffering with stress incontinence will describe their symptoms as a loss of urine after an increase in intra-abdominal pressure such as coughing, sneezing, laughing, lifting, and exercise. People suffering with urgency incontinence will describe their symptoms as loss of urine associated with a strong, uncontrollable need to void, or an inability to delay voiding. Mixed incontinence is when an individual suffers from both stress and urgency incontinence.
Other continence issues include: Overactive bladder (OAB) which is when people are voiding more than one time every three hours, and nocturia which is when people are getting up more than one time a night to void.
How Common Are These Conditions?
The prevalence of these conditions in Canada is as follows: 3.3 million Canadians have urinary incontinence; one out of every three women and one out of every nine men. Sadly, only one out of twelve patients will report these symptoms to their Doctor/Healthcare professional, due to being embarrassed or thinking it is an inevitable part of aging. It is NOT an inevitable part of aging and, like many conditions, can be improved with appropriate treatment.
What Can Make People More Susceptible for These Conditions?
There are risk factors which can make incontinence symptoms appear. Some of these are: female, post-menopausal, pregnancy, having more than one child (multiparous), use of forceps or suctioning during delivery, smoking, and constipation. Due to these risk factors, treatment takes a multi-faceted approach of investigating overall health and well-being.
Why Is This Relevant For Me?
Incontinence conditions have one of the largest financial and social burdens. In many cases they lead to decreased self-esteem, impaired emotional status, limited social activities, and decrease in physical activity. A 2005 study demonstrated that urgency incontinence conditions impacted quality of life more severely that other chronic pathologies such as diabetes.
A 2006 study out of Australia has demonstrated that disorders of breathing and continence have a stronger association with back pain than obesity and physical activity.
How Can Specialized Physical Therapy Help Me?
A 2013 study was able to effectively demonstrate that only 30% of women perform Kegel exercises properly. We now know that in order for the majority of individuals to properly learn to strengthen their pelvic floor, they need to see an individual with specialized training in assessment of this region. There is evidence of the strongest nature suggesting that physical therapists with specialized training for incontinence are the most effective first line treatment of these conditions, and that patients who undergo a supervised, feedback focused exercise program experience more significant improvements in their symptoms.
How Can Morinville Physical Therapy Help Me?
Locally, we do have a Physical Therapist named Lori Shupak who has become trained in this specialized treatment. She has completed her course work through Canada’s best training school, Pelvic Health Solution. Lori is treating patient 5 days a week at Morinville Physical Therapy and will be running in-services in the near future. Please visit their web-site morinvillephysio.com or contact them directly at 780-939-5150 for more information.
