Pelvic Floor Therapy in Waterloo

The Relationship Between Your Pelvic Floor and Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence often makes you think about issues controlling your bladder, but really, your bladder may not be the culprit of your concerns. There is a muscle that supports your bladder—and many other important organs—known as the pelvic floor.

At SPRY Skin & Wellness, we don’t just treat the symptoms of urinary incontinence. Instead, we target the main cause. Here, we’ll talk about what the pelvic floor does for you and your options for pelvic floor therapy in Waterloo.

The Pelvic Floor

The pelvic floor is a grouping of muscles and connective tissues that work together to stabilize your core and support essential organs like your bladder, bowels, uterus, and prostate. These muscles stretch from the very front of your pubic bone to your tailbone and connect to the sitting bones on either side of your pelvis. The pelvic floor helps maintain the basic functions of your body, like urinating (or holding it), sexual intercourse, and defecating.

Your pelvic floor helps hold your organs in place while also allowing for the flexibility for them to function. It also should help you absorb pressure from impact (like lifting) while still protecting your organs and spine.

These muscles work like any other muscles would, and you should be able to flex and relax them automatically. However, pelvic floor muscles can become weak due to the natural aging process or major events, like giving birth.

 

Common Causes for a Weak Pelvic Floor

Many major events can cause trauma and weakness to the pelvic floor muscles, but here are the most common ones we see at SPRY.

Childbirth

Both pregnancy and childbirth put strain on the pelvic floor muscles. The weight of a growing uterus and the intense contractions that come with a vaginal delivery can over-stretch the muscles and connective tissue. And while it’s less likely, you can still experience pelvic floor dysfunction from either the development of scar tissue or muscle imbalance caused by a c-section.

Surgery

Any surgery that requires incisions in or around the pelvic floor can cause dysregulation of the muscles and connective tissue. Whether that be prostate surgery or any type of gynecological surgery, issues like scarring, muscle imbalance, and nerve damage can impact how your pelvic floor works.

Obesity

The excess fat that causes obesity can create strain on the pelvic floor by putting pressure on the supporting tissues and ligament. Over time, this can stretch the muscles that support your organs, causing issues like leaking.

Anatomical Predisposition

Some people are born with certain anatomical structures that make them more likely to develop a weak pelvic floor. These structures can include:

  • Pelvic bone structure variations
  • Ligament laxity
  • Muscle fiber composition
  • The angle of pubic symphysis
  • The attachment points of the pelvic floor muscles to the bony pelvis

Repeated Heavy Lifting

Like with childbirth or obesity, repeatedly lifting heavy equipment can put too much pressure on your pelvic floor muscles. Especially if you do not use proper lifting technique or already have a weakened pelvic floor, this can hasten the stretching of your pelvic floor muscles and worsen your urinary incontinence symptoms.

Regular High-Contact Sports

Strain from high contact sports can also stretch your pelvic floor by exerting significant pressure from regular impact. Activities like running, jumping, and tackling can impact your pelvic floor, especially if you don’t use proper muscle activation techniques.

Stress Incontinence vs. Urge Incontinence

While a weak pelvic floor can cause incontinence, other factors can contribute too. There are actually 2 types of incontinence: stress incontinence and urge incontinence.

Stress Incontinence

Stress incontinence is caused by a weekend pelvic floor. Whether it’s because of an external factor or just weakness caused by age, stress incontinence is most common amongst women, especially those who have had children. However, our options for pelvic floor therapy in Waterloo can help you address the issues and stop the symptoms of stress incontinence.

Urge Incontinence

Urge incontinence is more common in men, and it usually results from another underlying health condition. The best way to determine if you have stress or urge incontinence is to see a medical provider, but if you do not feel a need to go or experience leaks when doing things like laughing or jumping up and down, then you most likely have urge incontinence. While we have some treatments that can help improve the symptoms of urge incontinence, the best way to resolve your concerns is to treat the underlying condition.

 

Your Options for Pelvic Floor Therapy

Your provider will help you determine the best treatments for your specific needs, but here are the options we offer for pelvic floor therapy in Waterloo.

Emsella

Emsella is a revolutionary and non-invasive treatment that targets the pelvic floor using HIFEM (high-intensity focused electromagnetic energy) to stimulate contractions within your pelvic floor muscles—roughly 11,000 contractions in each 28-minute session. This builds up your muscle tone, strengthening your pelvic floor. The increased strength helps restore the support to your bladder, stopping leaks from occurring.

While Emsella can treat incontinence in both men and women, it can only reverse stress incontinence. If you suffer from urge incontinence, Emsella could help improve your symptoms, but you will have to pair other treatments with pelvic floor therapy in Waterloo to fully treat your incontinence.

Emfemme

Emfemme uses radiofrequency to treat vaginal laxity in women, but it can also help tighten the pelvic floor. Emfemme generates a gentle heat using radiofrequency, which stimulates your body’s healing response without actually causing any wound. This response increases your body’s production of collagen and elastin, the proteins responsible for making your skin, tissues, and muscles “stretchy.”

With that additional collagen and elastin, your pelvic floor and vaginal walls can heal and become tighter to support your organs better.

If you have concerns about intimate health and urinary incontinence, we may recommend combining Emfemme and Emsella. Emfemme works better for mild-to-moderate stress incontinence, because while it can help with incontinence symptoms, it is mostly used to treat vaginal laxity.

The Treatment Process

The process will look slightly different for every patient, but this is what you can expect when you visit our SPRY team for pelvic floor therapy in Waterloo.

Consultation

Your first appointment with our team will be a one-on-one consultation. You’ll meet directly with one of our expert providers, and they will listen to your concerns, understand your goals, and learn about your medical history. Once they’ve formed a view of your bigger picture needs, they’ll talk with you about your options for treatment and help you create a care plan personalized for you.

Treatment

No matter which treatment you receive for pelvic floor therapy in Waterloo, you can trust that your provider will make sure you are confident in treatment. They will check in with you regularly to keep you calm and comfortable. Once you are finished receiving treatment, they will help you schedule your next session as needed.

Results

You will notice initial results within 1 to 2 weeks of treatment, whether you receive Emsella or Emfemme. However, your symptoms should continue to improve after each session. Once you have finished your full treatment series, you can achieve ideal results in about 4 weeks.

 

Why SPRY?

Our team at SPRY is dedicated to the care of our patients. That is why we take the time to cater treatment to every patient’s individual needs, ensuring they can achieve their unique goals.

When you walk into SPRY, you’ll be greeted by a staff that does everything they can to make you feel at home. No matter if your goals are more focused on aesthetics, wellness, or both, our expert providers can curate a customized care plan that helps you feel confident in your body.

Treatments to Pair

Your provider can help you determine which combination of treatments would work best for you depending on your needs. However, these are the most common procedures we like to pair with our treatments for pelvic floor therapy in Waterloo.

Emsculpt NEO

Emsculpt NEO combines the same HIFEM energy Emsella uses with radiofrequency energy. This pairing simultaneously stimulates muscle contractions and melts stubborn fat, helping to sculpt and tone the body to your desired appearance.

This treatment is also FDA-approved to help with certain medical conditions, like muscle atrophy, lacking range of motion, muscle spasms, poor circulation, and more. When trying to balance wellness with aesthetics, you can achieve some of the best results when you pair Emsculpt NEO with pelvic floor therapy in Waterloo.

Emtone

Emtone targets the dimpling of cellulite. Cellulite is caused by excess fat that pushes up against the skin in pockets between the skin’s connective tissue. To smooth out that dimpling, Emtone combines radiofrequency with mechanical energy to generate heat. This heat targets the pockets of stubborn fat that push up against the skin, creating smoother, younger-looking skin.

Morpheus8 Body

By combining microneedling and radiofrequency, Morpheus8 Body increases collagen and elastin production through controlled damage and heat. While the microneedles create small channels in the surface of your skin, radiofrequency pushes heat into those microchannels, penetrating deeper into the dermis where collagen and elastin are created. The additional collagen and elastin it stimulates help to create smoother, tighter skin all around the body, and the heat targets stubborn fat for a slimmer figure.

 

It’s Time to Strengthen Your Core

Strengthening your pelvic floor will help improve your core strength and support your basic bodily functions. You can either use our treatment planning tool to get personalized recommendations or schedule a consultation with one of our expert providers to find your ideal pelvic floor treatment.

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