Stress Urinary Incontinence

Stress Urinary Incontinence
Leakage of urine when you cough, run, jump, laugh or sneeze is called “Stress incontinence”. The pelvic floor muscle may become weakened by: pregnancy, childbirth, straining to empty bowels, repeated heavy lifting, menopausal changes, being overweight, chronic cough, lack of general fitness, long periods of inactivity (due to illness or surgery), high impact sport.
What Can Help?
Adequate fluid intake
It is important that you do not reduce your fluid intake as this may actually make your problem worse and cause constipation.
Performing Pelvic floor Exercises
The pelvic floor muscles are attached like a “hammock” between the pubic bone at the front and the base of the spine (coccyx) at the back and they provide support for the bladder, bowels and ladies the womb. They help maintain continence and assist in sexual function and facilitate childbirth.
Pelvic floor exercises strengthen the muscles and improve the support of the bladder, bowels and womb. This may assist in improving your bladder/ bowel control and decrease leakage of urine/faeces (poo), wind. Like any other muscle in the body, the more you use and exercise them the stronger the Pelvic floor muscles can become.
You may find pelvic floor exercises difficult at first, but you will need patience and perseverance in order to improve. All exercises needs to be repeated regularly in order to get a good result and the pelvic floor is no exception. You may notice an improvement in six to eight weeks if you perform exercises. The pelvic floor exercises will become much easier to perform as the muscle gets stronger.
Please find more details about how to perform Pelvic Floor Exercises tab on the right, or click. Here (Hyperlink).
Last updated27 Jul 2018