While you might not be getting excited about “world continence week” like you would world donut day, you’ll be happy to learn that you can put an end to leaky bladder issues, of which 21% of moms deal with. Continence if you haven’t heard the word before is the ability to control urine or excretion, AKA bladder control for short!
Leaky Bladder Symptoms After Baby
I remember just after I had my first baby, a bunch of us moms were hanging out together at a friend’s house and we decided to do a PX90 workout. One of the moms said that every time she jumped she leaked a little pee. All the other moms unanimously agreed and then continued on with their leaking-pee-jumping-jack-exercises.
Hold up, wait a minute.
Yes they still continued their workout even with the leaking.
Maybe they thought this was the way their “new body” was after having a baby.
This leaking pee is not normal. Even if it’s just a little squirt. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s very common, but it’s not normal.
And no matter how many times you see the TV commercial with Marie Osmond wearing a sanitary pad making it look like rainbows and unicorns, wearing a pad Every.Single.Day for the rest of your life is NOT fun. Especially when you spend most of your days wearing tight leggings.
It’s not fun and no one wants to live with a leaky bladder for the rest of their life. So right now before you shrug it off like it’s not a big deal, you can fix it, you don’t have to live with it.
What Causes it?
It’s not just jumping jacks or high intensity exercise that can cause leakage. It can be laughing, sneezing, picking up heavy things like your baby. Even having a cold and blowing your nose a hundred times a day, or chronic coughing can also create unwanted leakage.
This is referred to stress urinary incontinence. The leakage of urine when the body has additional intra abdominal pressure. Pressure which might be too much for the pelvic floor that has been weakened by pregnancy, labour and delivery.
The Good News
This type of leakage responds well to postural alignment, breath work and pelvic floor exercises, aka core breathing exercises.
Here’s What You Can Do NOW:
- Core breathing exercises. This is not just a regular kegel exercise, because most people do kegel’s incorrectly. This is a pelvic floor contraction with coordinated breathing. See my video demonstrating how you can do it here.
- Check your posture.
Get your ribs over your hips, hips over ankles, ears over shoulders. Don’t let your chin jut out like a turtle. Poor alignment makes our body work less effectively and puts too much pressure on the pelvic floor and keeps your pelvic floor from relaxing and contracting naturally. See how these adjustments can dramatically reduce what your belly looks likes too. In the picture below my friend adjusted her hips, stopped “turtle necking” and lifted through the crown of her head diminishing the look of her belly, and making her look taller and more confident too!
- Get your diet in check. If you’re constipated and need to push to eliminate, add some fibre to your diet: green leafy veggies, whole grains, legumes, fruits and veggies, chia seeds. Need a quick fibre boost snack? You’ve gotta try my 2 minute Granola Bite Recipe to snack on.
- Use a squatty potty.When you have a bowel movement use the squatty potty to prop your feet up so that while you’re on the toilet your pelvis gets into proper position to eliminate without the need to push. If you haven’t seen it before, you’ve gotta see the video showing you how it actually works.
- See A Pelvic Health Physiotherapist to make sure you’re doing your core breathing or kegel exercises properly. She will do an internal assessment to make sure you’re muscles are working as they should (ie: contracting and relaxing as they should).
- Stop Sucking Your Belly Button to Your Spine. Sucking in all the time places more pressure on your pelvic floor making it become weaker overtime leading to leaks and even pelvic organ prolapse. Watch my YouTube video demonstrating why you need to stop sucking your belly in. Your body will thank you.
- See Your Doctor if you Cough a lot. Coughing caused by smoking, asthma, allergies, COPD etc can place a lot of pressure on the pelvic floor. Your doctor will be able to help you address and hopefully minimize what is causing the chronic coughing.
- Join a Fitness Class or Get a Personal Trainer like myself who is trained specifically in this area to help you minimize and eliminate leakage by giving you the RIGHT exercises for you and your body in whatever stage of life you are in. Get more info about group classes and 1×1 training at www.strongmom.ca
There are other types of incontinence that women deal with. Today I just discussed the most common one seen in postpartum women; stress incontinence. To learn more about what the other types are and how a pelvic health physiotherapist can help, see this YouTube video where Melissa Wong; pelvic health physiotherapist and owner of Markham Pelvic Health and I discuss it.
In Fitness & Nutrition
