Urinary Incontinence
Leaking is common, but it's not something you have to live with. Supervised pelvic floor training resolves or greatly improves symptoms for most people.
What is urinary incontinence?
Urinary incontinence means any involuntary loss of urine. Stress incontinence happens when pressure rises — coughing, sneezing, laughing, lifting, running or jumping — and the pelvic floor can't hold the seal. Urge incontinence is a sudden, overwhelming need to go, often with leakage before you reach the toilet. Many people have a mix of both.
It affects roughly one in three women at some point, and men after prostate surgery. Common as it is, it is not a normal consequence of childbirth or ageing, and it responds very well to treatment.
Common symptoms
- Leaking with coughing, sneezing, laughing or exercise
- Rushing to the toilet and not always making it
- Passing urine more than about eight times a day
- Waking more than once a night to pass urine
- Wearing pads or dark clothing 'just in case'
- Avoiding trampolines, running or classes because of leaking
What causes it
- Weak, poorly coordinated or overactive pelvic floor muscles
- Pregnancy and vaginal or caesarean birth
- Menopause and reduced oestrogen
- Chronic coughing, constipation or heavy lifting
- High-impact sport without matched pelvic floor capacity
- Prostate surgery in men
- Bladder irritants and habitual 'just in case' toileting
How physiotherapy helps
Supervised pelvic floor muscle training is recommended internationally as the first-line treatment for stress incontinence, and it's markedly more effective when a physiotherapist checks your technique than when you follow a leaflet.
For urgency, bladder retraining teaches your bladder to hold more comfortably again, using urge-suppression techniques and gradual deferral rather than restricting fluids.
- Assessment of pelvic floor strength, endurance and coordination
- Individually progressed pelvic floor strengthening
- Biofeedback and technique correction
- Bladder retraining and urge-suppression strategies
- Fluid, caffeine and bowel-habit advice
- Pressure management during lifting and impact
- Return-to-running and jumping progressions
When to seek treatment
- Any leaking at all — earlier treatment is easier treatment
- Leaking that stops you exercising
- Urgency that dictates your day
- New leaking after childbirth or surgery
- Blood in urine or pain when passing urine — see a doctor first
Frequently asked questions
Let's get you moving again
If this sounds like what you're dealing with, an assessment is the quickest way to understand it properly. Urinary Incontinence responds well to the right plan.