Postpartum Myth: Incontinence Is Unavoidable And Will Last A Lifetime

Is It True There’s Nothing You Can Do For Postpartum Incontinence?

Of course, like most myths, this myth is really just not true.

Firstly, not all women end up incontinent after a every pregnancy.

And, for those that do wind up with incontinence issues, the problem often goes away for many women.

Why Do Only Some Women Become Continent Again?

Postpartum incontinence can happen for a number of reasons.

And, in some cases, this can resolve on its own.

In other situations, such as where there is nerve damage, for whatever reason, recovery may never happen.

However, short of nerve issues and even tearing of tissues involved in urination, there is a change of a complete recovery.

What If I Do Nothing? Will I Stop Being Incontinent?

If you’re experiencing postpartum incontinence, and you choose to do nothing to help aid your own recovery, you may still recover.

However, the length of time it takes to recover, to what degree you recover, and whether you recover at all can be affected by doing nothing.

The body does heal itself, however, the ways that you can aid recovery only assist this process, anyway.

What Are My Choices When Dealing With Postpartum Incontinence?

If you choose to try to aid the healing process, know that there are many ways to approach this, from dietary to specific therapies.

Pelvic Floor Therapy provided by a physical therapist is the most popular modality for dealing with postpartum incontinence.

While most popular, there are no studies demonstrating that this is any more effective than Pelvic Floor Massage provided by a Licensed and trained Postpartum Massage Therapist. This modality involves stretches and exercises the patient performs, but also involves sticking a glass rod in the patient’s vagina. This is clearly not for everyone.

Pelvic Floor Massage is what some Postpartum LMTs also provide, when properly trained and certified.

This differs from the far more Pelvic Floor Therapy provided by a physical therapist. The Licensed Massage Therapist does not poke you in the vagina with a rod. This is all external work, which makes sense, since the pelvic floor muscles are accessible externally. This modality also involves guided movement and pelvic floor exercises that the postpartum person engages in.

Postpartum Massage, even without the Pelvic Floor Massage component specifically, may also help with postpartum incontinence.

Perinatal Massage Therapists focus on the abdomen and lower back as a matter of course. This can help immensely, however,  including Pelvic Floor Massage would be more helpful, in every instance. Even so, standard Postnatal Massage is well-documented as being helpful in many other ways, as well.

You can also consult with a Licensed Nutritionist to find out which foods may will help tissue re-growth and recovery.

Some nutritionists specialize in the postnatal population, but this isn’t really necessary. Any nutritionist should be able to help you. It’s just a matter of how unconventional you want to be; some nutritionists are more radical in their thinking, and believe food can heal all.

What If I Don’t Want To Address My Incontinence With A Health Care Professional?

There are some women who, for whatever reason, don’t wish to attempt resolving this issue with a license heath care provider, and instead want to proceed on their own.

And, some women may also get treatments from health care providers like Postpartum LMTs and Physical Therapists, and still want to just do their own thing, simultaneously.

That’s fine.

There are exercises you can do on your own, that can easily be found online, if you want to work on this on your own.

Some Hatha yoga poses can also help you.

You can learn a lot online just by searching on Google.

What If Nothing Else is Working?

If Pelvic Floor Therapy, Pelvic Floor Massage, and/or Postnatal Massage are not helping, you can seek the aid of a Urologist.

The urologist may ask you to do the same sort of exercises that you do with other Pelvic Therapies, including the most famous, the Kegel Exercise.

If you have a Pelvic Organ Prolapse, you may require a surgery.

The placement of a Urethral Sling and Coaptite Urethral Bulking Injections are outpatient procedures that are minimally invasive,  and may also help, if all else fails.