Listen up ladies. Peeing your pants is not normal. Anytime. It might be common, but it is not normal. Even after you have twins vaginally, you should be able to control your bladder. Even at the gym, you should be able to control your bladder. Even on the trampoline, you could get better at controlling your bladder. Even sneezing with a full bladder you should not leak. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is the involuntary, sudden loss of urine secondary to increased intraabdominal pressure that is bothersome or affecting the patient’s quality of life. Is this something you struggle with? Try these five steps and let us know how it goes!
1. Breathe.
As you breathe in, try to feel your pelvic floor relax, or stretch downward between your legs, just a tiny bit. As you breathe out, do a little pelvic floor muscle contraction (Kegel), or pull your pelvic floor muscles up between your legs. Keep your stomach relaxed as you exhale- try not to tighten your abs when you breathe out and kegel. For people who pee their pants, this usually feels backwards, but keep trying, you’ll get it. Do this 30 or 40 times per day.
2. Strengthen Your Butt Muscles
Do bridges, squats and step ups. Make sure you can feel your butt muscles working. Then make sure you are exhaling and contracting your pelvic floor WHILE you do your bridges and squat and step ups. It is definitely challenging at first, but go slow and you will start to get it.
3. Check Your Posture
A lot of women tuck their butts under and lift their chests after they have babies. This is bad news for pants-peers like yourself. Untuck your butt, relax your glutes and point the ladies straight ahead, instead of at the sky. Stretch yourself taller. Thank us later.
4. Do a Kegel While You Talk
Practice doing a kegel while you talk. Start with whispers and then move onto talking and then singing in the car.
5. Relax Your Pelvic Floor Muscles & Abs
We don’t do a bunch of bicep curls and then walk around with our elbows bent, keeping our biceps super tight, ready for action all day. Nor should we do this with our bottoms. If we strengthen our trunk muscles and then relax them, they will get stronger and thicker and more coordinated and will know how to do their job without you voluntarily holding everything so damn tight. “Let it gooooo, let it goooo!”
Trust an Expert Physical Therapist To Assist Your Stress Incontinence Relief
Do these simple steps seem not so simple? Need more help? Dunh dunh du da da! HELP IS AVAILABLE! Reach out to your local pelvic floor physical therapist serving Eastern Iowa communities such as North Liberty, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City. Or, contact us in West Des Moines, serving the Central Iowa area. In-person or virtual sessions are available! At Breathe. PTW, we create a safe, understanding environment where women of all backgrounds can receive the physical therapy, pregnancy, postpartum, and mental health resources they need to live a fruitful life.
Get in touch with our team and schedule an appointment to relieve your stress incontinence!