Bladder And Bowel Incontinence

PROBLEMS WITH BLADDER AND BOWEL INCONTINENCE?

Bladder symptoms

Not able to get to the toilet in time?
Worried about going on a car journey or out for lunch with friends in case there isn’t a toilet available?
Leaking urine during an exercise class or whilst out walking or running?

You are not alone; these are some of the common bladder symptoms that affect approximately 40% of women and 10-20% of men. They are embarrassing symptoms that people are often reluctant to seek help for.

Poor bladder control can be caused by –

Pregnancy
Childbirth
Pelvic surgery (hysterectomy/ prolapse repair for women, prostate surgery in men)
Constipation
Being overweight (BMI >25)
Lack of physical exercise
Smoking
Menopause
Ageing

A neurological condition (MS, stroke, spinal injury)

There is good research evidence that pelvic floor muscle exercises and bladder training can help. Here at Park Physiotherapy, our Specialist Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, Gemma Barnes, will find out what is causing your bladder problem and start a treatment programme specifically for you.

Bowels symptoms

Leakage from the bowels is less frequent than from the bladder. It affects 1-10% of UK adults and can be more embarrassing and difficult to manage.

Bowel leakage can be associated with:

Ageing
Loose stools from any cause
Childbirth
Bowel conditions such as haemorrhoids (haemorrhoid surgery)
Fistulas
Irritable bowel syndrome
Inflammatory bowel disease
Diverticular disease
Bowel resection surgery
Constipation

As well as all the factors mentioned that affect the bladder. It is important to address constipation as this can worsen both bladder and bowel leakage.

A specialist Pelvic Health Physiotherapy assessment will find out what is causing your problems, start a management plan to improve bowel and bladder symptoms and make you feel confident about managing them. Gemma will also recognise if your problem needs to be seen by a doctor specialising in this field and refer you onwards if required.

Resources

Links to our pelvic floor muscle exercise sheets (men and women)

https://thepogp.co.uk/patient_information/womens_health.aspx

https://thepogp.co.uk/mens_health.aspx

https://www.bbuk.org.uk/adults/

https://www.bladderandbowel.org/

Nicola Vineyard qualified at Pinderfields College, Wakefield, West Yorkshire in 1985. After working in Mundesley Rehabilitation Hospital in Norfolk for a time, she moved back to her home in Essex.
She then started work in the East London area working for the NHS at Newham General Hospital and Barking Hospital. Here she gained a sound knowledge of all aspects of physiotherapy both inpatient and outpatients She also worked in the London Chest Hospital for a short period of time being involved with all respiratory treatments including post cardio- thoracic surgery rehab.

Nicola realised quite quickly in her career that she had a love of outpatient treatments as this enabled her to work closely with patients providing effective treatments and rehabilitation programmes. Due to her love of sports injuries she became involved with the Metropolitan Police sports Club in Essex treating the rugby and football teams. For several years she was involved with the London Youth Games, treating injuries sustained in the varied sports by the young athletes.

After working in a private hospital in London for several years she opened up her own practice in Essex in 1991 specialising in musculo-skeletal Physiotherapy and Acupuncture. The workload was varied; from sports injuries, biomechanical, muscle, joint, ligament and tendon problems to post-surgical orthopaedic treatments, treating both young and old.

She built up a close relationship with London Consultants in all orthopaedic specialisations sitting in on their clinics and attending surgery to observe operations at first hand. This enabled her to have a clearer understanding of the patients’ needs and therefore providing a more efficient and effective treatment programme.

Nicola feels a physiotherapist is like a detective. The body is wonderful, complicated and finely tuned. A physiotherapist must take a holistic approach to each individual. They must question and examine the patient thoroughly and then having all the clues in place come to a conclusion resulting in the best possible plan of treatment.
Nicola enjoys all aspect of physiotherapy but has a keen interest in acute sports injuries especially foot and knee injuries. She encourages her patients to use video imagery in clinic to help them understand good and bad postural habits and to have a record and clearer understanding of the exercises taught. She also uses taping techniques to offload injured areas as well using it to help reinforce correct postural positioning of the body both during activity or at rest.

Nicola moved to Norfolk and joined the Park Physiotherapy team in September 2016. As a member of Physio First, Nicola achieved Quality Assured Practitioner status in 2018 and continues to maintain this.