Urinary Incontinence: there is more than one type!

One of the many diagnoses that can be treated with pelvic floor physical therapy is incontinence. If you are not familiar with what pelvic floor physical therapy is, click here to learn!

While you may have heard of the term urinary incontinence (UI) as the involuntary loss of urine, did you know that there are many different types of incontinence?

Two of the most common that I see in the clinic are stress UI and urge UI. Stress UI is the loss of urine with effort or physical exertion. For example: sneezing, coughing, laughing, lifting heavy weights, running or jumping. Urge UI is the loss of urine associated with urgency - as in I have to pee NOW. This can sometimes come on unknowingly or with triggers such as getting to your front door or running water. 

Mixed incontinence is another common diagnosis that I see which is a mix of both stress and urge UI. 

Other types that are less common with the populations that I see include: nocturnal enuresis (involuntary loss of urine during sleep), continuous UI (continuous involuntary loss of urine), insensible UI (loss of urine when the person is unaware of how the leakage occurred), coital UI (loss of urine during intercourse) and postural UI (loss of urine with change in body position). 

The most common UI (urge, stress and mixed) have shown to have good success with pelvic floor physical therapy treatment. The pelvic floor plays an important role with our ability to retain urine as do our muscles surrounding the pelvis.

The root cause of UI can vary depending on each person. In some cases leaking can happen due to an increase in tension of the pelvic floor, decreased strength of the pelvic floor and/or weakness of the abdominal and hip muscles. It is important to be evaluated to get to the underlying cause of your UI. 

Keep in mind, leaking may be common among you and your friends, but it is not normal! Contact Jaclyn (at 203-520-4101 or jaclyn@q4pt.com) to set up a free phone consultation to see if pelvic floor physical therapy is right for you!