Incontinence Treatment

The team at Garner Pelvic Health offers incontinence treatment in Greensboro, NC. We are here to assess your health concerns and put together a plan that considers you as a whole person. 

What Are The Types of Incontinence of Bowel and Bladder?

There is more than one type of incontinence of the bowel and bladder. These are the different types you may deal with:

  • Urinary and Fecal Stress Incontinence: leaking occurs with cough and sneezing.
  • Urinary and Fecal Frequency: having to go to the bathroom more frequently than usual.
  • Urinary and Fecal Urgency: feeling like you have to go to the bathroom immediately and that you won’t be able to get to the bathroom in time to prevent an accident.
  • Urinary/Fecal Incontinence: uncontrolled leaking of urine or fecal matter.
  • Constipation: Having difficulty evacuating stool.
  • Mixed Incontinence: having more than one condition combined, which may include stress, frequency, and urge incontinence of the bladder or bowel.
  • Urinary Retention: not being able to empty the bladder fully.

What Are The Incontinence Statistics in The US? How Severe Is This Problem in Our Country?

Nearly 50% of all women and 38.5 percent of all individuals over the age of 65 are affected by some form of urinary incontinence. These figures can be higher for economically underprivileged persons who do not have access to health care.

What Are The Common Causes Of Incontinence For Women?

Here are the most common reasons a woman may deal with this health issue: 

  • Old birthing injuries cause weakness of the pelvic floor structures.
  • Pelvic floor weakness is secondary to increased body weight, a sedentary lifestyle, and hormonal changes post-menopause.
  • Surgical procedures: hysterectomy, laparoscopic abdominal,  back, and hip surgeries which indirectly affect the function of the pelvic floor muscle, scar tissue, and post-operative side effects from cancer resections and reconstructions of the pelvic floor.
  • Prolapse in women, dropping of the vaginal posterior vaginal wall (rectocele) bladder bulges into the vagina (cystocele). 
  • Pounding, or stress from sports-related activities, and intense heavy weight lifting.
  • Pregnancy, the force of the developing fetus pressing down on the bladder, increased ligamentous laxity.

What Are The Causes For Men?

These are the most common reasons that men experience incontinence: 

  • Pelvic floor weakness is secondary to increased body weight, a sedentary lifestyle, and hormonal changes with aging (male menopause).
  • Prostate enlargement (urinary retention, dribbling).
  • Associated abdominal/inguinal hernias.
  • Post-op side effects from prostate surgeries, or cancer treatments,  prolapse can occur after prostate removal.
  • Pounding, or stress from sports-related activities, and intense heavy weight lifting.

How And Why Does This Happen To Me?

Often incontinence or leaking occurs gradually over time. In women, if there was a birthing injury that was repaired, it could take 40 years to develop a significant problem regarding bowel or bladder function. An abrupt change in your urinary and bladder habits could indicate another medical problem, such as a severe compression of a nerve root in the spine, and may need immediate medical attention.

Both men’s and women’s bowel and bladder control can also be affected by diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, ALS, and Diabetes.

What Happens if Incontinence is Left Untreated?

If you do nothing, your bowel or bladder symptoms will most likely increase. This necessitates wearing protective pads. Another concern is that your risk of slips and falls increases. Also, your desire to go out in the community may diminish due to the need to wear pads.

Sexual activity may decrease due to leakage during sex in women, and difficulty with erections in men, partially due to weak pelvic floor muscles. Also, sleep may be interrupted due to having frequent urination at night.

What Can Be Done About These Problems?

At Garner Pelvic Health, we take a holistic approach to incontinence. When you choose our clinic, this is how we will evaluate your condition and address this problem:

  1. An initial assessment is 1.5 hours long.
  2. We thoroughly review your medical history.
  3. We evaluate all contributing factors that affect continence, including:
  • Posture
  • Walking pattern
  • Pelvic Girdle
  • Spine
  • Hip, knees, and ankles
  • Neck, shoulders, and arms
  • Breathing patterns
  • Strength
  • Flexibility
  1. We evaluate the pelvic floor muscles both externally and internally.
  • Assess for painful trigger points
  • Skin condition
  • Strength
  • Endurance
  • Coordination 
  • Observe muscle activity utilizing Rehab Ultrasound Imaging (a non-invasive method)
  • Symmetry

Types of Modalities We Use At Garner Pelvic Health

  • Medical Therapeutic Yoga, and Pilates
  • Strengthening the pelvic floor, utilizing RUSI, EMG Biofeedback, Electrical Stimulation 
  • Dietary recommendations
  • Stress Reduction
  • Diaphragmatic Breathing 
  • Urge Suppression Training
  • Home Safety/Fall Prevention
  • Functional activities integrating core and pelvic floor stabilization
  • Self Management of Bowel and Bladder (learning to change habits and dietary intake)
  • Postural Training
  • Additional exercises to correct orthopedic problems
  • Dry Needling, Cupping, soft tissue massage, visceral mobilization as needed
  • Biopsychosocial communication skills such as Motivational Interviewing

Contact Us Today For An Appointment

If you are looking for incontinence treatment, contact Garner Pelvic Health in Greensboro, NC, today. We provide a whole-body approach, focusing on the source of the problem. We work cooperatively with the patient to promote a lifelong solution to incontinence.

Book Now!