Congratulations on the birth of your baby - Welcome to the world of bladder leaks.
Before my first child was born, my husband and I took “natural childbirth” classes with the naïve expectation that everything would go just fine without medical intervention, thank you very much. Nothing went according to plan, but after a long labor, an episiotomy, a pair of forceps, and a broken tail bone, I delivered a healthy baby girl. We left the hospital the next day with our beautiful baby and that strange euphoria that a lot of women feel after childbirth no matter how difficult the delivery. (Who in their right mind would do this again otherwise, right?) The visiting nurse dropped by a few times with instructions for healing, breastfeeding, and baby care. She might have even left me a flyer on how to do Kegels. Then I was on my own.
At first, the bladder leaks were a minor annoyance. I leaked when I sneezed, coughed, or jumped on the neighbor’s trampoline. The leaks didn’t become a major annoyance until after I hit menopause and started seriously training for my new passion, sprint triathlons. For a long time, I tolerated it in silence. After all, bladder leaks are a normal part of childbirth, menopause, and aging, and you can’t do anything about it anyway, right?
Nope. Nope. Nope.
While common, bladder leaks are not normal no matter our age, fitness level, or whether we’ve borne children, and up to half of us will experience urinary leakage during our lifetime. Over 40% of elite female athletes (kick-ass women out there blasting stereotypes) experience bladder leakage during athletic activity. Worst of all, about 20% of us give up doing what we love to do because of the embarrassment.
So, who’s most likely to be affected?
If you leak when you exercise you are more likely than not to be middle-aged or post-menopausal and to have borne children (more common with vaginal or forceps delivery vs. C-section.) Other risk factors include excess body weight (increases pressure on the abdominal and pelvic organs), illness or smoking behavior that causes chronic coughing, or prolonged engagement in high-impact activities like gymnastics or track. Previous pelvic surgery, like a hysterectomy, can weaken the surrounding structures and increase the risk as well.
That means many, many women are dealing with this, most of them in silence. Are you among them? If so, take heart! Even if you’ve been leaking for a long time, it isn’t too late to get some relief.
Now, back to Kegels. In the late 1980s when my kids were born, Kegel exercises were the standard of care. I’m not sure there was even such a thing as pelvic floor physical therapy back then. Today, Kegels still have their place, but they are just one tool in the larger pelvic floor health and rehabilitation toolbox. Judging from their growing presence on social media, pelvic floor physical therapists and urogynecologists have a thriving practice of grateful patients who are regaining health, function, and a return to normal physical activity free from bladder leaks. Pelvic floor PTs and urogyns are experts in the evaluation and treatment of pelvic floor disorders. Through education, behavior modification techniques, strengthening exercises, stretching, biofeedback, electrical stimulation, and other techniques according to individual need, they can help you get your pee-free life back.
Here are the facts:
· Bladder leaks affect up to half of all women in their lifetimes
· 40% of elite women athletes have experienced bladder leakage during exercise
· About 20% of those affected stop engaging in activities they love due to this condition
· THERE IS HELP! You do not have to be held hostage by a leaky bladder, no matter how long you’ve put up with it. We encourage you to explore treatment approaches that are designed to help women lead full, active, healthy, leak-free lives.
Curious about what an initial pelvic floor consultation would entail? Jessica Reale, DPT, owner of Southern Pelvic Health in Marietta, GA, shared with me a letter she has written to reassure and inform prospective patients ahead of that first evaluation. Jessica is an internationally recognized expert and frequent speaker on all things pelvic-health-related. She welcomes inquiries from practitioners and patients alike, no matter where you practice or receive care. Here’s the link:
As always, we’d love to hear from you. Comments welcome!