Urinary Incontinence Treatment in Grand Rapids

We can help you Urinary Incontinence

If you are looking for urinary incontinence treatment in Grand Rapids, you have found the right place! We provide expert physical therapy rehabilitation, based in research proven methods to improve your urinary incontinence.

Coronavirus downtime, bladder control & Deconditioning… Oh My!

Summer in West Michigan is often a favorite time of year to experience everything our beautiful state has to offer! Our community offers many paths for walking and biking, parks to enjoy and rivers for kayaking and boating. But, let’s face the facts that with the coronavirus circulating, since March many of us have had much lower activity levels. Are you now deconditioned? Taking a day off here and there is no problem, but if you’ve been consistently missing your regular run, bike ride, or gym session or notice some aches and pains showing up, you might have deconditioning. Contact us today to learn more about a plan of care that can get you back to the things you like!

Is my urinary incontinence because my pelvic floor and bladder have gotten out of shape?

It is possible that deconditioning is worsening your bladder control. But, typically urinary incontinence occurs for more complex reasons beyond simply “I’m out of shape.” When the coronavirus shelter in place orders were lifted, we heard from more than one person who told us that they were having new problems with bladder control. Their comments sounded something like this “I think I was sitting at home all those months and never had to use my Kegel muscles.” And “I think I was just always near a bathroom for 3 months so I never really had to hold my urine, my bladder got lazy.” Or “I wasn’t walking and now that I am, I just leak urine with every step, it never was like this before.” If this sounds like you, we are here to help you recover your urinary continence! If you want to know more about how our physical therapy can help you contact us today!

We provide detailed evaluations to pinpoint the type of urinary incontinence you are having and to identify all of the things causing it, such as weakness, muscle shortness, muscle imbalance, muscle timing and coordination problems, misalignment of the pelvis, low back pain, muscle spasms, poor habits and more!

By asking the right questions and taking a detailed history we learned that some of these women were having stress urinary incontinence (involuntary loss of urine with things like laughing, coughing, sneezing, jumping) and other women were having urge urinary incontinence (inability to hold their urine because of a strong urge to urinate) and some of them were experiencing both problems. If this might be you, please know that physical therapy for urinary incontinence works! You aren’t stuck with this problem. And, doing Kegels isn’t typically the remedy. The control of continence involves a complex coordination of the deep core muscles with breathing, body mechanics and the rest of the core muscles. An overactive bladder, in particular, benefits from specific treatments to teach it to calm down. We are here to partner with you to provide you a step-by-step program to restore your bladder control. If you’d like to read more about pelvic floor dysfunction and the benefits of our Physical Therapy take a look at the guest blog post I wrote on for Revive Physical Therapy. Contact us to learn more about what makes our appointments more effective and talk with our knowledgeable staff and get your questions answered!

Reversing Urinary Incontinence with Effective Treatment in Grand Rapids

If you implement the suggestions in that AUGS brochure and you still have urinary incontinence, call us for professional help. Our urinary incontinence treatment program in Grand Rapids is comprehensive, personalized and detailed so you get results. You don’t need to live with embarrassing urinary incontinence. And kegels are often not the right approach for certain types of bladder control problems. We will evaluate you to determine exactly what you need to do to recover. We educate you on how to get this under control. We provide expert, hands-on treatments to your back, hips, abdomen and legs because these areas are often contributing to your urinary incontinence. Working together we can get you back to doing all the things you love! In Michigan a prescription is not required to see a physical therapist, so if you’d like to learn more about our urinary incontinence treatment program here in Grand Rapids, or our telehealth program, contact us today!

Peace,

Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT specializing in pelvic health, pelvic floor dysfunction, urinary, bowel and sexual health conditions