3 Types of Bladder Incontinence - Episode 4
In this episode, I discuss the 3 Types of Bladder Incontinence and things you can do to treat it.
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[00:00] Dr. Kari: You. Welcome to the Moron Pelvic Health Podcast. Hi, I'm your host, Dr. Kari Roberts. On this show, we will be discussing a variety of things regarding your pelvic health. These conversations will be a mix of education, personal experiences, and a blend of tips you can apply to have a healthier pelvis. The goal of this show is to normalize conversations around pelvic health and help women stop suffering in silence. Have you ever wondered what exactly is incontinence? And if you have it, what can you do to make it better? If yes, then pay attention to this episode because we're going to dig into it. Welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back to the podcast. I have had four episodes, right, a trailer, and three episodes go out, and I'm already getting really good feedback. I've gotten some text messages. I've gotten a couple of reviews. I even got an email this morning thanking me for the information that I'm sharing. So if you're enjoying the content, please let me know. And if there's anything you would like me to talk about specifically, please let me know because it's a one girl show over here and I would love to serve you in any way that I can. If you haven't watched my first or listened to my first episode where I talk about my interstitial cystitis journey, pause and go back. Because I definitely have some pelvic floor dysfunction that I've dealt with personally. And a lot of that presented with bladder issues. And so it just seemed right to talk about bladder issues, which is incontinence. That's what we're going to be talking about today. Did you know there are three types of incontinence? It's not just incontinence. It's divided up into three areas. And before we get any further into what those three different types of incontinence are, I feel like I would be remiss without explaining what incontinence is. And from speaking with my patients, a lot of people are having incontinence and they're saying they don't they don't really know that they're having incontinence. So the Carrie Roberts definition, basically, in my own words, it's when your bladder is expelling urine, when you don't want it to put blank, point blank, simple. It doesn't mean you have to change your panties. It doesn't mean you peed on yourself or wet your pants. But whenever urine is escaping the bladder at a time that you don't plan on it or you don't want it to, that is incontinence. And if you are experiencing that, I'm sorry to tell you, you might have bladder dysfunction. But the good news is, if you do have bladder dysfunction, pelvic floor physical therapists are all over this country, all over the world just waiting to help you. So we're going to dig into that just a little bit more. So there are three types of incontinence. There's stress incontinence. There is urge incontinence, and there is mixed incontinence. So stress incontinence, whenever the body expels urine, when there's a change in pressure or a change of stress in your abdominal cavity. So your abdominal cavity is in between the pelvic floor, which is in between your hips and the diaphragm, which you know is just underneath the lungs. So that space there is considered your abdominal cavity. So whenever you have changes there and you leak a little bit of urine or expel a little bit of urine, that is stress incontinence. So think about running, laughing, jumping, jumping on the trampoline. Believe it or not, fun fact, a lot of women come to physical therapy because they leak urine when they jump on the trampoline. I've had several people come through these doors, this door, I say these doors, like I have more than one. This door saying that they can't jump on the trampoline with their children or their grandchildren because they're leaking urine. That is a real thing, especially living here in the south where the weather is nice for a long period of time. Please don't suffer in silence if that is you. Coughing, sneezing. Some women might even notice it when they have a cold or the flu or they're really sick and they're just hacking, hacking, hacking. Those are examples of changes of stress. And those are examples when you have the change of stress and you leak a little bit of urine. It happens a lot with women after they've had babies. Cough, sneeze, lift the baby, really exert some energy lifting a bag of groceries. And I've had patients whose physicians have told them it's completely normal to leak a little bit after you've had a baby. It's a conversation that I'll get into in a later episode, but just know it's not necessarily normal and it is something that can be treated. But to stay on the topic with incontinence, those are examples of stress related incontinence. It's called stress incontinence. The second type of incontinence is called urge incontinence. And urge incontinence is when you feel the urge to go to the bathroom and you leak some a little, a drop or two or even the whole bladder depends on the person. But when you leak a little bit of urine and so think every time you pull in your driver, you're like, oh, I got to go to the bathroom. Or every time you go to the bathroom, you leak a little before you can pull your pants down. Or the thought of going to the bathroom makes you feel like you've got to go. Or anytime you feel the urge to go and you leak a little bit of urine when you don't want to, that is urge incontinence. So latch key is a big thing. Like I said, coming home or whatever your home is coming home and you feel like you've got to go and then you don't quite make it, or yeah, that's basically it. Yes, that's the best example I can't think of anymore. Mixed incontinence is when you have a combination of the two, which means you're leaking urine sometimes when the stress changes, but also you're leaking sometimes when you have urge. And I say sometimes because there's a lot of women who experience this sometime, but not all the time, and they think that they're fine or they think that they're normal and it's not the case. So those are your three different types of urinary incontinence, stress related, urge related, which is called stress incontinence, urge incontinence, or when you have the two at the same time, it's called mixed incontinence. And I am a physical therapist specializing in the pelvic floor, but I am not your specific pelvic floor physical therapist, so I cannot give you specific guidance or education without a thorough physical exam and medical history review. But what I can say is sometimes that happens because your muscles around the bladder might be too tight. Sometimes it happens because the muscles around your bladder might be too loose or too weak. Sometimes it happens because you just carry a lot of tension in your body. Sometimes your muscles are just not coordinated. And all of those things muscles that are too tight can get stretched. Muscles that are too weak can get strengthened. Muscles that are not coordinated can learn to coordinate. Those are all different things that we can do for you here in pelvic physical therapy. I do offer virtual visits, so if you're not local to Atlanta, Georgia, you can still reach out to me. I would love to have a conversation with you as your pelvic health physical therapist. And if you're looking for something local, you can reach out to me as well. I'm a part of a melanated pelvic floor physical therapist community, and I'm sure I can find you referrals elsewhere that's closer to you. But just know whenever you leak urine and you weren't planning on it and you don't want to, that is a form of incontinence. And Pelvic physical therapy can help you. Thank you for listening to this or watching this short episode, and I will be coming to you with another new episode next week. Thank you for listening to the Maroon Pelvic health Podcast. If you want to take the quiz to see if you would benefit from speaking to a pelvic health physical therapist, simply go to the link in the description or go to WW dot moronepelvichealth.com quiz. Again, thank you so much for listening to the podcast. And don't forget to tune in next week for another amazing episode.