Stress incontinence treatment options available to females include behavioral therapies, medicines and surgery.
Before choosing an effective therapy option, it is imperative that a precise diagnosis be established. This process should involve gathering detailed historical and physical examination data as well as conducting further investigations.
Pelvic Floor Exercises
Pelvic floor exercises strengthen and enlarge your pelvic muscles to support the bladder and urethra. By strengthening and expanding these muscles, pelvic floor exercises help improve bowel control while also helping prevent incontinence or prolapse-even if symptoms haven’t surfaced yet.
These exercises can be done either lying down, sitting up, or standing and should be practiced three times every day. Once you understand how to perform them correctly, they should take no time at all to complete.
For these exercises, insert your finger into your vagina, bladder or anus (muscle at the base of your rectum). Tighten these muscles as though you were holding in urine; release them slowly afterwards. If they don’t tighten as desired, try changing positions or muscles you are compressing if they do.
Men: Squeeze the muscles at the base of your rectum as though trying to prevent passing gas; your muscles should contract inward and upward, tightening to squeeze your anus as you tighten them.
Once a squeeze has been performed, rest for 3 or 4 seconds before repeating this exercise five to 10 times; gradually increasing its frequency.
Kegel exercises are one of the most widely practiced forms of pelvic floor exercise, consisting of repeatedly contracting and relaxing your pelvic muscles. They can be performed alone or with guidance from a physical therapist who specializes in pelvic floor disorders.
Those uncertain how to perform this exercise should consult their physician or pelvic health physiotherapist for step-by-step instructions, some may use biofeedback technology as well. In order to locate and relax appropriate muscles.
As well as squeezing and contracting your pelvic floor muscles, stretching and releasing exercises may also be useful in strengthening and relaxing them. One popular example is the Happy Baby Pose which stretches both your uterus and pelvic floor while simultaneously lowering your back onto the floor.
Bridge is another effective exercise that targets your gluteal muscles, strengthening them while relieving pressure from the sphincter – which controls bladder opening – in your pelvic floor and relieving any stress on it.
As part of these exercises, it is essential not to strain during these exercises as strain will increase abdominal pressure and further compound any problem. Furthermore, performing such exercises while emptying your bladder increases the risk of urinary tract infections and causes incomplete bladder emptying – neither are ideal circumstances!
Urinary Incontinence Devices
Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a condition in which physical activities cause leakage of urine, most frequently among women. To manage it effectively, pelvic floor exercises or using an insertable pessary device such as Pessaries may help.
Urinary incontinence can be caused by various factors, including age, health problems and genetics. Female patients tend to be affected more than their male counterparts; it can be particularly painful.
Urgency incontinence can be more challenging to manage and treat; you may require help from a doctor or continence nurse for guidance.
There are various treatments available to address stress incontinence, including pelvic floor exercises, bladder training programs and artificial urinary sphincter devices. All these therapies may help improve symptoms while giving more control of bladder functions.
Kegel exercises, a form of pelvic floor exercise, can improve urinary control and decrease stress incontinence. When performed regularly and correctly, they can even help stop further worsening of incontinence symptoms.
Pelvic floor exercises can also be combined with other therapies, like pessaries or biofeedback to teach your pelvic muscles how to relax and contract more easily. While such treatments may help manage urinary incontinence symptoms, they should not be relied upon as the only remedy.
Small trials conducted using vaginal support devices showed promising results to alleviate some symptoms associated with stress incontinence; however, these were insufficient for widespread recommendation among all patients.
Other devices to treat urinary incontinence include pads and liners made of materials similar to baby nappies, worn under underwear as absorbent pads that can treat mild as well as heavy incontinence.
Some of these products can be found on the NHS, though you should always seek guidance from a physician or continence nurse prior to using them. Misusing some of these products could prove harmful.
Stress incontinence treatments also include using an artificial urinary cuff and chemical injections into the bladder; however, these should only be utilized in cases of severe, unresponsive stress incontinence that has failed to respond to other therapies.
Injections
Stress incontinence affects one in three adult women. It can be embarrassing and disrupt daily activities.
There are various treatments that may help alleviate symptoms of stress incontinence, with injections being one option available to individuals suffering from it.
This treatment works by filling the urethra with a material to increase its size and help retain urine in the bladder. This approach is less invasive than surgery as no cuts need to be made for this procedure.
Bulkamid (r) – Bulkamid is an injectable substance designed to reduce leakage of urine through your urinary tract and can help avoid urinary tract infections and other associated problems related to needing the toilet more often. It’s non-invasive, minimally invasive treatment for stress incontinence that could help you avoid urinary tract infections as well.
An anesthesia injection will be given in your doctor’s office under either local anesthetics or sleep anesthetics, using a medical device known as a cystoscope to insert material directly into the urethra.
Pelvic floor exercises can help strengthen and decrease leakage of fluid from your pelvic area. They can also reduce urges to urinate.
Biofeedback may provide another effective solution to this issue by leading you through specific exercises that strengthen pelvic floor muscles and can identify any underlying issues causing leakage.
Antidepressant medications may also help relieve stress incontinence; however, these may have unwanted side effects such as nausea and vomiting.
Urethral bulking agents may also be used to reduce leakage. These non-surgical treatments for stress incontinence offer less invasive solutions without cutting into the body, making this option less invasive than surgical options.
Some medications for stress incontinence can be purchased over-the-counter as supplements or in pill or patch form, although evidence shows they’re no more effective than other forms of treatment.
Botulinum toxin A is another alternative treatment, and may be administered through injection directly into the urethra. While less invasive than bulking agents, this solution does not stop leakage completely.
There are other things you can do to improve bladder control and avoid leakage, including making diet changes or cutting back on certain beverages; creating a regular fluid schedule; or altering other habits. While these changes could prove helpful in improving leakage, they should first be discussed with your healthcare provider so they can make an informed decision if these options are right for you.
Surgery
Surgery may be performed for females suffering from stress incontinence in order to retrain the muscles supporting the bladder and urethra. Surgery should only be considered if medication, behavioral therapies and pelvic floor exercises have failed in managing your condition effectively.
Pelvic muscle exercises, commonly referred to as Kegels, can play an instrumental role in relieving incontinence symptoms and preventing further worsening. Kegels strengthen the muscles responsible for opening and closing your bladder as well as other organs located within your pelvic area.
Injecting a substance directly into the urethra can help strengthen its wall, making it harder for urine to leak out of your urethra and out. This treatment method for stress incontinence requires no incisions or recovery time and provides less-invasive solutions than some surgical approaches.
Vaginal mesh surgery may also provide relief; it involves attaching synthetic mesh strips to the back of your urethra for support, making this less invasive than surgery to insert a urethra sling and often preferred when this option would not work well or is impossible.
Under spinal or general anesthesia, this procedure entails two small cuts made by your surgeon inside your vagina and one just above the pubic hair line or in your groin.
A doctor will then insert and tighten a tape behind the urethra to secure it and help prevent urine leakage. However, it may need to be removed or replaced later on as needed.
Urethral bulking injections are an in-office procedure that may prove more successful in relieving stress incontinence than surgical approaches; however, multiple injections may be required before results become noticeable. Over time, however, their effectiveness decreases so it’s best to receive them as soon as you notice an improvement in symptoms.
If you decide to have surgery for your incontinence, be sure to discuss with both your health care provider and surgeon the risks involved in this procedure. These could include complications post-surgery, infections or complications caused by mesh tape used during anesthesia procedures or complications caused by mesh tape used during operation or anesthesia administration.
