Bladder Concerns
Bladder symptoms can affect daily life in many different ways. At Pathway, we provide bladder physical therapy in Boca Raton for people experiencing urinary leakage, urgency, frequency, painful bladder symptoms, difficulty emptying, and other related concerns. Treatment begins by looking at the individual factors that may be contributing to your symptoms rather than assuming the problem is simply pelvic floor weakness.
Urinary Leakage
Urinary leakage is more common than you may think and can occur at any point during the life cycle. It can affect women and men and may come from causes other than weakness. This may be one reason Kegels haven’t helped if you’ve tried them in the past.
Stress urinary incontinence: leakage that occurs with exertional activities such as coughing, laughing, sneezing, exercise, or sexual activity.
Urge urinary incontinence: leakage that occurs with a strong, sudden urge to void. This may be associated with triggers such as hearing running water, arriving home and opening the door, or leakage just before reaching the toilet.
Many patients experience a combination of both patterns, which is often referred to as mixed urinary incontinence.
Frequent Urination
Frequent urination can disrupt sleep, daily routines, and overall well-being by making it feel like your day revolves around trips to the bathroom. Common symptoms may include voiding less than two hours apart, feeling the need to urinate again shortly after using the restroom, going several times before bed, difficulty fully emptying, hesitancy when starting the stream, or waking multiple times during the night. Frequent urination may occur with an overactive bladder diagnosis, but not always.
Painful Bladder Syndrome
The bladder has a highly concentrated network of pain-sensitive tissue, which can make painful bladder syndrome especially disruptive and difficult to live with. Symptoms may include pain with bladder filling, emptying, after voiding, or a combination of these patterns. Painful bladder symptoms may also occur alongside diagnoses such as interstitial cystitis, endometriosis, chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS), pudendal neuralgia, or overactive bladder.
How Physical Therapy Can Help With Bladder Symptoms
Bladder dysfunction is often multifactorial, which is why a detailed history and comprehensive evaluation are so important. Your history may include discussion of bladder and bowel habits, possible dietary triggers, medical and surgical history, autoimmune history, stress, and lifestyle factors.
Your physical therapy evaluation may include assessment of the pelvic floor muscles, abdominal and pelvic structures, fascial and ligamentous connections, neurological function, strength, posture, breathing patterns, and other special tests when appropriate.
Treatment may also include strategies commonly used in pelvic floor physical therapy , depending on your symptoms, goals, and comfort level.
Once we understand how these factors may be contributing to your symptoms, we can build a treatment plan together.