Are you often experiencing uncontrollable urges or panic to urinate?

Are frequent visits to the bathroom filling up your daily routine?

Is your sleep being interrupted at night by a few trips to the toilet?

If your answer is yes to any of these questions, you may be experiencing symptoms of an overactive bladder.

What is an Overactive Bladder?

An overactive bladder is a urinary condition characterised by a sudden, uncontrollable urge to urinate. In simple terms, the overactive bladder sends excessive signals to the brain that it needs to be emptied, which leads to a frequent and/or urgent need to urinate.

Symptoms you may experience include:

• Frequent and/or sudden uncontrollable urge to urinate.
• Needing to urinate more than normal during the day (e.g. greater than 6-8x per day or more than every once every 2 hours).
• Needing to urinate more than normal during the night (e.g. more than 1x per night).
• Minimal volume of urine output compared to the urge or bladder ‘fullness’ sensation.

In extreme cases, an overactive bladder may lead to urinary incontinence, which is an involuntary leakage of urine when experiencing the urge sensation to visit the toilet.

An overactive bladder can have a negative impact on quality of life. You may be experiencing poor sleep with frequent trips to the bathroom at night. Your everyday activities may be planned according to where there are toilets readily available, rather than activities that are more important to you.

At UniquePhysio, we hear you and we want to help!

So How Can Physiotherapy Help With An Overactive Bladder?

Pelvic Floor Retraining

A qualified physiotherapist can help guide both men and women through retraining or exercising of the pelvic floor muscles.

These muscles are responsible for controlling when we empty the bladder and it does this by contracting when the bladder is full and we need to control the urge sensation, as well as relaxing when we are ready to empty the bladder.

Particularly for an overactive bladder, a physiotherapist will help train you to not only activate and strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, but to build on its endurance so that you can hold in the urge sensation for a longer period.

At UniquePhysio, our qualified physiotherapists also incorporate real-time ultrasound technology, which is a device that allows us to accurately view and measure how well your pelvic floor muscles are working.

It is important to remember that exercise gains do not happen overnight, and the pelvic floor muscles can be some of the most challenging muscles of the body to rehabilitate correctly. Most people may start to see improvements after 6-8 weeks of consistent pelvic floor retraining, however if done incorrectly it can take longer. Therefore, we strongly recommend guidance from a Women’s Health or qualified Physiotherapist.

Lifestyle Strategies and Modifications

A physiotherapist can assist you with introducing specific lifestyle and behavioural strategies to manage an overactive bladder. This can include urge control strategies, which are designed to help reduce or distract you from the urge sensation so that your trip to the bathroom can be postponed to a more appropriate time. This can be as simple as performing some toe curls, deep breathing, or mental distraction techniques. Finding the best technique will be different from person to person.

Your physiotherapist may also provide simple tips in dietary management to help settle an overactive bladder, such as minimising coffee or tea intake throughout the day and particularly before bed, or ensuring you are drinking the recommended amount of water. (Please note that for a more comprehensive dietary assessment and management plan, you may need to review with a dietitian).

Bladder Diary

Your physiotherapist may also encourage you to start recording a bladder diary. This is a simple chart of your urinary habits that includes information such as when you feel the urge to urinate, what time of the day/night you urinate, the volume of urine passed, any leakage occurrences, and your fluid intake habits. This can be an extremely helpful tool for both you and your physiotherapist to understand your urinary habits and accurately track improvements over time.

Do you think you may be experiencing an overactive bladder or urinary incontinence? Do not suffer in silence any longer! Book with our qualified Pelvic Health Physiotherapist and start your recovery journey today.