Patients come to physical therapy for a variety of treatments from post-surgery rehabilitation to balance improvements. We at Therapydia Portland are happy to share a patient’s experience with postpartum incontinence on her behalf to educate our community on what this means and to eliminate any taboos around this issue.
First, what is incontinence? Here is a link that defines the basics about incontinence.
Understanding Postpartum Incontinence Treatment Methods
LK drove by our clinic one day and came in to inquire if we provided postpartum incontinence physical therapy. This category of physical therapy incorporates a lot of different solutions for healing and depending on the patients needs. Some patients just need proper hands-on interventions and exercises to improve their functional limitations while others need internal biofeedback and other internal techniques performed by pelvic floor specialists. For LK, she wanted to see if she could be treated without a non-invasive approach first and if required, we would refer her to the appropriate specialist to continue her care.
Living Accident-Free
Within two physical therapy sessions, LK’s associated low back pain and complaints of incontinence had decreased significantly. Being able to lift her two sons without experiencing accidents was a big improvement in just the first two sessions. LK was seeing improvements and was closer to reaching her ultimate goal of becoming physically active again and to play with her kids and being able to jog without incontinence accidents. We continued to see LK 1x/week for the next few weeks each time seeing marked improvements with pelvic floor control, decreased accidents and improved flexibility and strength. Within 1 month LK was able to squat, lunge, perform some agility drills and was able to jog on a treadmill up to 5 minutes without any accidents!
LK reports 80% return to her prior level of function and even states that she feels stronger than before having her two children. LK plans to come in for 1-2 more sessions to progress her functional mobility and strength and we will emphasize a proper home exercise program for her to keep moving towards 100%.
Thanks LK for letting us share your story! If you or someone you know is experiencing postpartum incontinence problems give us a call and let us help you get these issues back to normal.
For more information on what physical therapy can do for incontinence here is a great link defining the role of physical therapists in regards to incontinence.