Try these THREE things to keep your pants dry!

Hey lady! 

If you are like me, then you MAY or MAY NOT have experienced peeing your pants since you’ve birthed a child?  

I mean I laughed, I peed myself.  

I coughed, oops, there is a little more pee.  

I jumped, and hello, more urine just came out.  

I seemed to have very little control of my bladder.

I even had increased urgency where I would turn on water to wash the dishes and all of the sudden I was sprinting to the bathroom.

The first time this happened to me, I was like, why did NO ONE tell me about this? Am I right??

I wished my BFF had mentioned the increased need to pee at least!  So that’s why I’m sharing this great information with you.

IF you are or have experienced peeing your pants, you may want to TRY to improve a few things in your life: 

1.     Posture: Girl, posture changes everything.  When you stand and sit, stack your ribs over your pelvis instead of sitting/ standing with poor posture.  This allows your pelvic floor to communicate with your diaphragm to correctly fire your pelvic floor when needed. 

2.     Breath Work: Holding your breath will get you nowhere but cleaning up pee off the ground.  And that’s embarrassing. I mean just this weekend, I had a full bladder and held my breathe to pick up my baby and whoops…gravity and increased pressure won over my full bladder and I literally had to change my underwear and pants. My husband, who was standing next to me at the time, was in shock. He says, “why did you not pee in the bathroom before picking him up if you had to go so bad”? Really?! Like I knew I was gonna pee my pants? Ha! So I am sharing with you so you don’t make the same mistake, “blow out” when you are lifting or picking up anything.  “Blow as you go” is what I say.  This will lessen the pressure on your bladder.

3.     Practice the next few exercises and let me know how they are going for you!

Click here to download exercises

Have any questions on the exercises? Send me an email and we can chat more!

Try these modifications out and let me know how your bladder and you are getting along.

Amanda

Bladder Chat

Bladder, bladder...what's the matter?  

I once did a community talk with that title (Bladder, Bladder What's the Matter?) and I loved it!  Huge turnout which was eye opening to so many women that they were experiencing similar bladder symptoms to the women sitting next to them-no matter their age!

Urinary incontinence, leaking urine with exertion (coughing, sneezing, laughing, lifting, exercise etc), happens to 1 in 3 women.  If you are in a public place today, look around.  That is quite a few women dealing with some sort of leaking.  Some of those women have been dealing with it since childbirth because maybe they were told it was normal at the age.  Some developed it closer to menopause when tissues and hormones started to change.  And some, well, they have been peeing a little bit with exercise since they were teenagers.  OR, maybe some of you don't leak (yet), but are experiencing the "gotta go pee" feeling BEFORE you leave for exercise class, when you get to the gym, during the class (fear of leaking) and then after the session.  Your bladder is owning you.  You fear of leaking is taking over your day and maybe that's why you are only wearing black workout pants anymore. 

No matter when your leaking or frequent urgency began, know this, it is a COMMON thing that happens BUT it is NOT NORMAL.  

You mean I can be fixed?  Sure thing. 

First, if you are having the urgency and frequency, it is possible your pelvic floor muscles are contracting (tightening) and you will want to see a pelvic floor physical therapist to learn how to control and calm them down to decrease your symptoms and take back your control of your bladder.  Think about all the time your will save from running back and forth to the bathroom.  It's worth it!! 

Same goes for leaking urine.  Not all women with urinary incontinence are dealing with just weakened muscles.  A lot of the time, other things are going on, like an imbalance within the muscle tissues.  I see this a lot in postpartum and menopausal women.  The muscles are not communicating to each other correctly and some develop tightness and some are working how they are suppose to.  With seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist, you are able to bring your awareness to those muscles and learn how to control and coordinate them again.  

So...this holiday season while spending time with people you love, why not ask a group of gals (maybe over some wine :) ) who has bladder issues going on and what they have done to improve them.  Maybe even suggest, you know what, this year, let's take back our health and improve these bothersome symptoms by seeing a pelvic floor PT :).