Ask The Experts 
How To Cure Urinary Incontinence After Birth
Why do women suffer from urinary incontinence after birth? We’ve all heard the stories from our mothers, friends and sisters.
“Oh you won’t be able to laugh like that after you’ve had a baby”
“I have to cross my legs when I sneeze these days”
“Trampoline exercise classes? You must be kidding.”
Urinary incontinence after birth is incredibly common and it can have a significant impact on the quality of your life. Adding restrictions to your activities and making you feel uncomfortable or self-conscious in social situations.
The symptoms of urinary incontinence after birth include:
- Needing to urinate more frequently
- Being unable to “hold it” when you need to urinate
- Waking in the night to go to the toilet more often
- Leaking urine without knowing it
- Leaking urine before you can get to the toilet
- Leaking urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh or put any pressure on your bladder
But what causes urinary incontinence after birth and is there a solution? It all comes down to the pelvic floor…
What Is The Pelvic Floor?
The pelvic floor is often spoken about when you talk about urinary incontinence after birth. But what is the pelvic floor?
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles in your pelvis. They run between your pubic bone in the front of your pelvis and your tailbone at the back. Their job is to support your uterus, bladder and bowel. And during pregnancy, your baby too.
Why Does The Pelvic Floor Suffer After Birth?
So why does the pelvic floor suffer so much after birth?
It all starts in pregnancy. During your pregnancy, a combination of factors including hormones, extra body weight and your growing uterus place extra stress on your pelvic floor. Causing it to stretch, weaken and lose its ability to do its job as well as it once could.
Certain hormones that are released during pregnancy cause your muscles to loosen and stretch. This can lead to your pelvic floor muscles losing some of their tone and strength.
As your weight increases, as it should during pregnancy, your pelvic floor muscles have to deal with the extra strain placed upon them. The added weight of your uterus, amniotic fluid and baby all compound to make your pelvic floor muscles work hard to support them.
This prolonged stress on the muscles can weaken them and stretch them. Making them less able to maintain good bladder control and contributing to urinary incontinence after birth.
And finally, the actual birth itself can stretch your pelvic floor as your baby heads through the birth canal and out into the world to meet you.
How To Cure Urinary Incontinence After Birth
So we know what causes urinary incontinence after birth – what can you do about it?
Medical professionals, such as your midwife or health visitor will advise you to start doing kegel exercises following the birth to help rebuild some strength and tone in your muscles.
What Are Kegel Exercises?
Kegel exercises, also known as pelvic floor exercises, are exercises you can do at home while you watch tv, while you drive or while you feed your baby.
The idea is simple. Just like any other exercise you contract and relax the muscles you want to strengthen in sets of 10 or 20, several times a day.
But the reality is that for many women, kegel exercises just don’t work like that.
If you have pelvic floor weakness, it’s highly likely that you won’t actually be able to contract the right muscles. So no matter how hard you try you won’t be able to do them correctly and you won’t get the desired results.
In fact, research shows that over 30% of women suffering from urinary incontinence (after birth or in older age) are unable to contract the Levator Ani muscles of the pelvic floor.
Instead, they mistakenly contract the abdominals, gluteal muscles or hip adductor muscles! Making the Kegels ineffective and prolonging the problem.
When Kegels Don’t Work…
So what can you do when Kegels don’t work for you?
It doesn’t matter if you’ve tried to do Kegels and failed, or you just don’t want to wait for the results, there is another solution that could help you.
You don’t have to give up and try to patch up your problem with careful social choices and incontinence pads.
Thanks to the huge technological advances over the last few decades, there are some exciting treatments available for urinary incontinence after birth.
Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor With BTL Emsella Chair
The BTL Emsella is a breakthrough treatment for urinary incontinence that harnesses the power of electromagnetic therapy to induce thousands of pelvic floor muscle contractions.
You just sit on the chair fully clothed, and because it works on a supramaximal level, you don’t have to consciously do any of the work. Making it ideal for those of you who struggle to contract the right muscles.
It’s fast and effective – in fact, 95% of people who tried the BTL Emsella Chair for urinary incontinence reported it had a positive impact on their symptoms and their life.
During a treatment, the pelvic floor muscles are given a workout equivalent to 11,000 kegel exercises per session! Strengthening pelvic floor, stimulating new muscle fibres to develop and resolving your urinary incontinence from the inside out.
Results have shown that it also improves the neuromuscular links between the brain and your bladder, giving you better bladder control and reducing the chance of unwanted accidents.
To find out more about BTL Emsella Chair check out this blog post here…
Rejuvenate Your Vagina With Ultra Femme 360
Another option for treatment is the Ultra Femme 360. This non-surgical treatment uses radiofrequency to rejuvenate the tissues in and around your pelvic region.
The treatment works by increasing blood flow to the area and stimulating the production of new, stronger collagen. These collagen cells are the building blocks of healthy tissue, giving you more muscle strength and helping to support the pelvic floor.
As an added bonus, Ultra Femme 360 doesn’t only help with urinary incontinence- it can help to improve muscle strength and laxity in the vagina, giving you a tighter, firmer vagina and increasing lubrication – all common problems post-childbirth too!
To find out more about Ultra Femme 360 check out this post here…
Don’t Be Embarrassed To Get Help
Here at Elite Aesthetics, we know that asking for help with a personal issue can feel a little bit uncomfortable.
But you don’t have to worry. We’re professional, experienced and dignified women’s health experts. We’ll make you feel comfortable and ensure you get the help you need without shame, fear or embarrassment.
