According to statistics, there are over 13 million people experiencing urinary incontinence in the United States. Urinary incontinence is a condition where urine leaks involuntarily because of a weak sphincter and pelvic floor muscles. It is a very common condition in most women and less often in men. At Oklahoma Physical Therapy, we have helped many patients gain control over their bladder.
You don’t have to go through a surgical operation to overcome incontinence; physical therapy and exercises can help you out.
Types of Urinary Incontinence
There are four types of urinary incontinence:
- Urge incontinence – this occurs when you get a strong urge to urinate resulting in leakages
- Stress incontinence – this occurs when you put more pressure than required on the pelvic floor muscles during exercises, laughing, coughing or sneezing
- Mixed incontinence – this is a mixture of both urge and stress incontinence
- Functional incontinence – this occurs when you don’t get in time to the washroom
Causes of Urinary Incontinence
No one is immune to incontinence especially as a person progresses in age. As mentioned earlier, women are more prone to this condition than men. Nevertheless, the following are some of the major causes of urinary incontinence:
- Pregnancy
- Menopause
- Prostate surgery in men
- Prostate cancer
- Childbirth
- Chronic constipation
- Excess weight
- Infection
- Caffeine and alcohol consumption etc.
How Our Physical Therapists Help You
The goal of our therapists is to enable you to gain control over incontinence, help you avoid special undergarments, help you strengthen pelvic muscles, teach you the nutrition to take, and help you change some behaviors that can decrease chances of incontinence.
Our trained physical therapists at Oklahoma Physical Therapy usually assess your condition and offer treatments like biofeedback, kegel exercises, electrical stimulation, relaxation exercises, posture exercises, and other abdominal-related exercises. Book an appointment with us today by visiting our website at https://oklahomaphysicaltherapy.com/make-appointment.