Incontinence – No laughing matter, you don’t need to accept it!

This year’s World Continence Week (June 19th-25th) theme is ‘Incontinence: No laughing matter’, and tackles a common response by people to laugh off incontinence, accepting it as an inevitable part of childbirth or ageing, not a health issue requiring specialist treatment.

Did you know:

• 8 million Australians are affected by incontinence
• It affects both men and women, regardless of age or background
• 70% are women and 1 in 3 have had a baby
• It can be treated, managed and in many cases cured

Incontinence is not uncommon, but most suffer in silence and don’t seek help. What is good to know is that it is curable and does not need to be accepted as normal!

So, what is normal?

Normal voiding is 7-8 times per day and 1 or less times per night.

Types of incontinence

There are 2 main types of incontinence namely stress incontinence and urge incontinence. Stress incontinence occurs when there is involuntary weakness with a cough, sneeze or other types of physical exertion. Urge incontinence involves the sudden and compelling need to urinate.

Other issues can also be involved with incontinence or pelvic floor dysfunction such as pelvic organ prolapse; pelvic pain; sexual pain and back pain.

Who’s at risk?

Those that are at risk of pelvic floor dysfunction are those involved in high impact or heavy lifting sports, those that have chronic lung disease, are overweight, deconditioned, have constipation and of course, pregnant!

How to effectively manage

According to research, pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) has the best evidence for effectiveness in treating incontinence and should be offered as the first line of therapy.

However self-help has been found to be unhelpful and demotivating, instead it is important to have a trained health professional to assist in the prescription of the PFMT programme.

If you think that things down there can be better or your bowel or bladder movements are not as they should be get some advice from one of our Physios or Exercise Physiologist at Coast Sport, don’t suffer in silence, we can help!

Get your continence back! Contact us today on (02) 4356 2588 or book online at www.coastsport.com.au