Urinary/ Bowel Incontinence Programs
Empower care for urinary and/or bowel incontinence.
Urinary incontinence (UI) is any involuntary leakage of urine. It is a common and distressing problem, which may have a profound impact on everyday activities. Potential contributing factors in the development of UI are:
· Pelvic surgery
· Pelvic Organ Dysfunction such as enlarged prostate or ovarian fibroids
· Cancer (Ovarian and/or Cervical)
· Injuries of pelvic region or spinal cord
· Aging (causing muscle weakness and/or less elasticity of the surrounding tissues, so therefore, contents are not held up in the abdominal cavity)
· Neurological Conditions
· Hormonal Changes: Menopause or Pregnancy
There are 3 different types of UI:
1. Stress Incontinence is when leakage occurs with exertional activities, such as high impact exercise and/or an increase in abdominal pressure, as occurs with sneezing and coughing.
2. Urge incontinence is involuntary loss of urine occurring for no apparent reason while suddenly feeling the need or urge to urinate. Examples of this are when“water is running” or you are putting the “key in the door” and it makes you feel as though you need to urinate.
3. Overflow incontinence: Sometimes people find that they cannot stop their bladders from constantly dribbling, or continuing to dribble for some time after they have passed urine.
4. Mixed incontinence is a combination of stress and urge incontinence and sometimes can be complicated by urinary retention.
Empower Care of Fecal Incontinence:
Fecal incontinence is the loss of regular control of the bowels. Involuntary excretion and leaking are common occurrences for those affected. Patients affected with this condition feel embarrassed to talk about it, but there are many resources available through doctors, physical therapists and nutritionists.
Causes
1. Constipation: This is the most common cause of fecal incontinence. Constipation causes prolonged muscle stretching and leads to weakness of the intestinal muscles. After a certain point, the rectum will no longer close tightly enough to prevent stool loss, resulting in incontinence.
2. Muscle damage: Injury to one or both of the ring-like muscles at the end of the rectum called the internal and external anal sphincters can lead to fecal incontinence. During normal function, these sphincters help retain stool, however, they can become damaged with a difficult vaginal delivery or with hemorrhoidal surgeries.
3. Nerve Damage: Fecal incontinence can also be caused by damage to the nerves that control the anal sphincters or to the nerves that detect stool in the rectum. Damage to the nerves controlling the sphincter muscles may render the muscles unable to work effectively. If the sensory nerves are damaged, detection of stool in the rectum is disabled, and one will not feel the need to defecate until too late. Nerve damage can be caused by childbirth, neurological conditions and/or lumbar or pelvic surgery.
4. Loss of storage capacity: Normally, the rectum stretches to hold stool until it is voluntarily released. But after surgery, radiation or with certain gastrointestinal disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, the rectum can scar making it stiffer and less elastic which results in inability to stretch with a larger stool. Inflammatory bowel disease also can make rectal walls very irritated and thereby unable to contain stool.
5. Diarrhea: Diarrhea occurs more frequently with chronic conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, short bowel disease, or Crohn's disease.
6. Pelvic floor dysfunction: Abnormalities of the pelvic floor can lead to fecal incontinence. Examples include a weakness in the pelvic floor muscles, a dropping down of the rectum (rectal prolapse) or a protrusion of the rectum through the vagina (rectocele).
If you’re one of the millions of Americans who suffer from urinary or bowel incontinence, the staff at Empower Physical Therapy in Downingtown, Pennsylvania can help you better manage your incontinence.
Specialized exercises help you to find the pelvic floor muscles that may need to be strengthened. We use biofeedback to assist you in being able to locate these muscles, then advance to everyday activities that incorporate your pelvic floor.
Please visit our Patient Education Library to read more about urinary incontinence and treatments.
Call Empower Physical Therapy in Downingtown, Pennsylvania at 610.873.3076 or use our Online Appointment Request Form to learn more about how we can help with incontinence and pelvic floor-related issues. We welcome your questions and we appreciate and honor your referrals.