Pelvic floor issues like urgency, frequency and stress incontinence are all complex, and can stem from many different causes. Believe it or not, more women pee while sneezing, picking up their kids, and laughing than you might think. You are not alone.
- About 17% of women over 18 years old have overactive bladder (OAB) and an estimated 12.2 million adults have urge incontinence.
- In women between the ages of 20 and 45, the prevalence of overactive bladder was found to be 36.8%.
- 29% of individuals ages 60-70 experience leakage when coughing, sneezing, or laughing compared to 17% of men and women ages 30-39. A portion of these individuals also experience urge incontinence.
- Approximately, 1 out of 3 women over the age of 45, and 1 out of every 2 women over 65 have stress urinary incontinence.
- In 2010, 211,000 women had some type of surgery for stress urinary incontinence.
In order to heal from these issues, the pelvic floor tissues, pelvic alignment and nervous system must ALL be addressed. There are two ways this healing can and should be addressed.
The first is self-care. Self-care activities are things that we can do ourselves to help heal our pelvic floor. It is important for us to realize that we must be willing to do the work if we want to heal.
The next form is health care. Health care is teaming up with professionals that are well versed in women’s health and the pelvic floor. Understand that everyone is different and the appropriate professional for you may be different from your sister, neighbor, or friend.
The foundational self-care element we need to learn in order to address our pelvic floor health is how to breathe properly. We breathe 22,000 times a day! Every breath can bring us either closer or further from healing. Proper diaphragmatic breathing activates the pelvic floor by allowing it to both contract and relax with different phases of the breath.
To see if you are breathing properly, take a few deep breaths now. Is your chest moving more than your abdomen? Do the lower ribs stay still when you breathe? Does your belly expand forward but not sideways or backwards? A yes to any of these questions is an indication of a dysfunctional breathing pattern.
Once you’ve mastered diaphragmatic breathing, the next step is learning how to brace your core when confronted with a load. You should be able to expand your belly, sides, and back in 360 degrees with an appropriate amount of pressure to match the load you are bearing. If you are picking up your baby, doing the laundry, loading and unloading dishes, or lifting heavy weight, you should be able to meet that load with the appropriate outward pressure in your core.
The next step is addressing your pelvic alignment. Our pelvis can become misaligned through everyday poor posture, crossing our legs, sitting on a wallet or phone, small trips and falls, as well as through life’s bigger events of pregnancy, childbirth and traumas like car accidents and major sports injuries. In order for our pelvic floor muscles to be able to work properly, we need to address our pelvic alignment. Look at the bottom of your shoes. Are they wearing unevenly? This is a good indication that your pelvis is misaligned. Teaming up with a women’s health chiropractor is the best way to address any structural misalignment in your pelvis.
After addressing your pelvic alignment, the next step is getting your neurological wiring functioning optimally. Your brain and nervous system are in control of every function of your body. In order for you to be able heal from any urinary or pelvic floor issues, your brain needs to be able to recognize that there is an issue and respond appropriately. If your nerves are not able to communicate with the pelvic floor tissues properly, it does not matter what you do to try and address your issues because your brain won’t know that there is a problem in the first place and your body won’t be able to sustain changes long term. Again, seeing a women’s health chiropractor will help ensure your brain to pelvic floor connection is top notch.
Once you have the breath, bracing, alignment, and nerve supply, you can address the musculature of the pelvic floor directly. There are two ways of going about this. The first (and recommended) is making an appointment with a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist. They will do an exam and be able to tell you exactly which muscles and tissues need be relaxed and which ones need to be strengthened and help guide you through the process. The second is to go about healing your pelvic floor through targeted stretches and exercises on your own.
While pelvic floor issues are very common, they are not normal. If you have been experiencing these symptoms for just a few days or many years, take the time to evaluate what steps you can take to move your healing forward.
**all statistics from The National Association for Continence
