Stress urinary incontinence (SUI)
What is SUI?
Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is the leakage of small amounts of urine during activities that cause a rise in intra-abdominal pressure like; coughing, sneezing, laughing, or exercising (jumping or lifting).
SUI is most common in women after childbirth or pregnancy but can affect women of all ages and it can also affect men, particularly those who have had prostate surgery or cancers.
There is a common misconception that SUI is caused by a weakness in the pelvic floor musculature, which impacts the body’s ability to combat intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) during these activities. Although this can be true for some people, there are also several other factors that can contribute to SUI. In fact, having an overly active pelvic floor can also contribute to SUI.
Our bladder, urethra, pelvic organs, surrounding musculature and fascia all play a significant role in controlling urine output. Therefore, a weakness or dysfunction in any of these areas can all potentially contribute to urine leakage and SUI.
How can an Exercise Physiologist help?
Depending on where the dysfunction is, there are a number of ways exercise physiologists can assist in SUI.
These include:
- Helping you learn how to properly activate and relax your pelvic floor. Work on exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor through targeted and more functional movements.
- Fine-tuning breathing patterns to reduce IAP and fostering a better connection between breathing and pelvic floor activation.
- Making sure they provide you with an individual program with specific modifications to suit your needs and providing pelvic floor safe exercises to reduce the risk of further complications.
- The main aim of these methods is to build a better understanding of how the pelvic floor works with the rest of the body, help better regulate IAP, and reduce symptoms such as leakage.
Below are some great resources about SUI and pelvic floor safe exercises:
