To Pee, or Not to Pee? That is The Question.
Urinary Frequency and Urgency
Are you always making sure to look for where the bathroom is when you go somewhere? Or even worse will you not go out somewhere if you know there isn’t a bathroom nearby. Do you feel like you are constantly rushing to the bathroom to pee, telling people that you have a “small bladder”? Well, you most likely don’t! And good news, your bladder is the most trainable muscle in the body, and pelvic floor physical therapy can help. You don’t have to be ball and chained to the bathroom everywhere you go. Free the bladder!! Can you tell we are excited? OK but in all seriousness urinary urgency and frequency can be real problems which impact our quality of life. Most often, these symptoms are a nervous system issue. Like do you know why people pee their pants from fear? That is the nervous system. It’s called your sympathetic nervous system (aka fight or flight response). When this system is heightened our pelvic floor responds and tenses up and the bladder may contract, which can increase the feeling that we have to go RIGHT NOW. This can be a scary feeling, causing even more anxiety which manifests in the body into stronger urgency. Some people will even have leaking or full bladder emptying with this strong urge.
Well as we always say, everyone is different and you should see a pelvic floor PT for a personalized plan BUT try this in the meantime:
When you feel a strong urge – freeze, breathe, and squeeze (or heel raise if you have pelvic pain, but that doesn’t rhyme).
So, what this means is you are going to stand or sit still, take 3-4 diaphragmatic breaths (breathing slowly in through the nose and out through the mouth, filling up entire abdomen and relaxing your pelvic floor muscles), and then perform 3-5 pelvic floor quick contractions (quick Kegels) OR do 3-5 heel raises (use this option especially if you have pelvic pain).
If this doesn’t work the first time, repeat the cycle one time through. After this, if you still feel the strong urge – calmly and slowly make your way to the bathroom while performing deep breaths all along. We want to break the cycle of fear surrounding the urgency.
In the end, the goal is to reach 2-3 hours between trips to urinate, when drinking your normal amounts of fluids. Start with an attainable goal, using this technique to maybe wait 15 minutes from your urge, and increase from there.
We hope this helps and reach out to us to schedule your pelvic floor physical therapy evaluation if you are still struggling with your symptoms. Cheers to a happy and healthy pelvic floor!
