It’s a hard question but I’m going to ask it anyway. Have you had bladder leakage issues with laughing? You’re not alone.  1 in 3 women who’ve ever had a baby suffer from bladder leakage issues? Do you feel like it’s hard to hold your pee in? Or is it the urgency that bothers you? If the first thing you look for is the nearest toilet whenever you’re going out then you do need help missy. I know I know, it’s an embarrassing thing to talk about out loud. But you need to get soreted so you can get back to your life. 

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Why do bladder leakage issues happen?

Bladder leakage is most common after child birth. Yet I don’t understand why there’s not enough information for women to look after themsleves after pregnancy. Especially if you’ve gone through the public system. You may or may not see a physio before you leave. This is one of the major reasons in my opinion for bladder leakage problems after pregnancy. And then there’s the pressure on women to get back to their “pre pregnancy” weight as soon as the baby pops out. I mean come on! It can take upto 2 years for your hormones to normalise expecially if you’ve breastfed. So many women give into the pressure and start doing high intensity exercises to reduce weight. The result? You guessed it. Bladder leakage! It’s because there’s just so much pressure on the weak pelvic floor muscles. And of course all this is not explained to you in the hospital before you leave.

Here’s what you can do to prevent bladder leakage issues after pregnancy

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Please! please ! avoid high intensity exercises for at least 3 months after your pregnancy. This is so you can focus on first strengthening your pelvic floor muscles before you start doing jumping activities. Because pelvic floor weakness is the main reason for bladder leakage. Nothing against personal trainers or cross fit trainers but they don’t study the human body like we do. So they may not be able to guide you about what not to do to avoid undue pressure on your pelvic floor. It’s very important that you start with pelvic floor strengthening exercises as soon as possible after pregnancy. You need to stick to low impact exercises like reformer pilates that work on weak core muscles. As a physio I personally wouldn’t start any lady on reformer pialtes unless I’ve done a full body assessment on them. Because there’s just so much pressure on the spine during pregnancy that other joints can be easily affected. Once, that’s out of the way, it’s a matter of getting some tailored exercises to strengthen you up and off you go!

How we can help you with bladder leakage issues

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A lot of women with bladder leakage issues are also suffering from back pain post pregnancy. This is a double whammy because the deep core muslces of the back work very closely with your pelvic floor muscles to protect your back. So if there’s weakness in these 2 muslces groups, it can certainly have a long term impact on your body. So first thing’s first, we do a full body assessment to figure out what other issues may be lurking behind. Once, we know this we can either guide you towards a hands on treatment or a core and pelvic floor strengthening program with reformer pilates. Because it’s low impact on your joints, it’s the best way to strengthen your weak muscles. So please if you or anyone you know is suffering from bladder leakage and/or low back pain, don’t wait. Remember the quicker you get started on your journey to recovery the quicker you’ll get to your goal.