Tag: Overactive Bladder

Virtual Care & Pelvic Yoga at Home

~ jesspreale ~ Leave a comment

If you would have told me two weeks ago that I would have closed the doors to my clinic, Southern Pelvic Health, a week later, and shifted my practice to a virtual one, I would not have believed you. Maybe I was naive (yes, I probably was), but this change came quick to me. It almost happened overnight. And, here we are. I am moving into my second week of working with my patients online. While for many, that seems incredibly scary, I actually think that shifting to an online platform for a while is going to do a lot of good.

Last week, I worked with a few other colleagues to host a webinar on bringing pelvic health online– basically, how do pelvic floor PTs treat most effectively without actually touching their patients? It was a quick production–one built out of necessity–and it sold out in 24 hours because rehab professionals everywhere are trying to figure out how we can still be there for our patients and help them get better during this time. (For my colleagues out there, if you missed it, it’s still available as an on-demand purchase!) I brought together 5 experts from various corners of the country and the world, and we spoke for nearly 2 hours about how we assess the pelvic floor, evaluate patients, and actually help patients get better in a virtual setting. It was full of creative ideas, and also challenged some of the current practice patterns. As you know, I work hard to always question my own practice–learn more–do better– and I’m excited to see what this next period of time does for me as I learn to better and more effectively treat my patients, to be creative with self-care treatments and home strategies, and to use movement to help patients move when my hands are unable to. I will share what I learn with you here, of course.

Pelvic PTs are not the only professionals taking their skills online! Last week, my daughter and I joined a “Frozen Sing-A-long” through a local princess parties company. I have been thrilled to see some incredible resources for people with pelvic floor dysfunction hop online, and I am excited to share some of those with you today!

So, what can you join virtually this week? 

Yoga for Pelvic Health

My dear friend and colleague, Patty Schmidt with PLS Yoga, is incredible and specializes in therapeutic yoga for pelvic floor dysfunction. She is bringing several awesome classes online! AND, they are cheap– $15 per class (which honestly, is a HUGE value for the expertise she brings!) So, I do hope you’ll join in:

Patty also is teaching private sessions virtually at $30 for a 30-minute session. This is a steal, believe me!

I also need to share with you all of the FREE yoga resources through another friend and colleague, Shelly Prosko. Shelly has this incredible library of Yoga options for pelvic health, all available right here.

I hope you are able to partake of these awesome resources. Remember, we are in this together my friends! I’ll leave you with a quote from a much-loved movie in my house, Frozen II, “When one can see no future, all one can do is the next right thing.” Let’s all try to do the next right thing amidst this craziness!

Much love,

Jessica

PS- If you are struggling with pelvic floor problems at home, we’d love to help!! Schedule a virtual session or a complimentary phone consultation with us at SPH!

Urinary Urgency, Frequency, and Incontinence– What’s New in Research?

~ jesspreale ~ 3 Comments

I’m sort of nerdy (you already knew that though, didn’t you!)… so periodically, I like to go to my favorite medical search engines to find what is new in the literature regarding all things pelvic health. This helps me to keep aware of new treatments that are available, and helps me to constantly re-evaluate the treatments I provide for patients to make sure I am providing the best treatment I can!

Urinary urgency/frequency, urge incontinence, and overactive bladder problems are often not as frequently discussed in physical therapy circles as stress incontinence. Surprisingly, pelvic PTs actually treat these problems equally as often, if not more! A comprehensive PT program can be extremely effective for these types of problems! (So, if you are having urinary urgency, frequency or overactive bladder problems, and you live near Atlanta, give me a call! :))

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So, what’s new in the research to help with overactive bladder problems and urge-related incontinence?  

  1. Myofascial release techniques can be very helpful for patients with urinary urgency and frequency. I was pretty excited to see this study come out in the Journal of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery. Pelvic PTs have noticed for quite a while that many men and women with urinary urgency  and frequency actually tend to have hypervigilant overactive pelvic floor muscles rather than the traditional weak and stretched out muscles people like to think they have. Manual therapy, included within a comprehensive rehabilitation approach, can be very effective for helping this population, and I’m excited to see a recent study supporting the same thing!
  2. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) seems promising in helping to reduce symptoms of overactive bladder and urge incontinence.    I didn’t find this surprising at all, but was again, excited to see this coming out in the literature. If you see in my first note above, many people with urinary urgency and frequency actually have a “hypervigilant” or “overactive” pelvic floor muscles. Stress reduction and mindfulness techniques help to calm the whole body–pelvic floor included! Along with this, we often find that people with urgency/frequency problems tend to live in a more sympathetic nervous system dominated state (basically, the “fight or flight” response is in overdrive!). Calming this system can be very helpful in calming the bladder.
  3. Pelvic floor muscle training continues to be recommended as a first line treatment for stress, urge or mixed incontinence.  It’s true, the most updated Cochrane Review published in 2014 continued to recommend pelvic floor muscle training to assist in improving all bladder symptoms. Their review showed close to a 55% cure rate–which is pretty good, considering this was just retraining the muscles in isolation. Imagine what could happen when the right retraining of the pelvic floor muscle is combined with behavioral retraining, dietary training and retraining the pelvic floor within the body as a whole? I bet the results would be much much better.
  4. Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation may help to reduce urinary frequency and urge-related incontinence. This started becoming popular a few years ago, and honestly, there needs to be more higher quality studies in order for us to really see how effective this treatment is or isn’t. But, that being said, some of the initial results seem promising. If you are not familiar with this technique, it utilizes a very thin needle which is placed near the ankle to stimulate the posterior tibial nerve with a low electrical current. The thought is that this nerve comes from the same level in the spinal cord that the nerves to the bladder originate, so stimulation could possibly help modulate an overactive bladder. (Similar concept to the Interstim treatment which stimulates at the sacral nerves, but less invasive) Looking forward to what the research shows on this treatment in the future!
  5. Losing weight can help improve bladder symptoms.  This is true for both urge related incontinence and stress incontinence (although, seems to help stress incontinence a bit more). In this particular study, 46% of the participants in the weight loss program achieved more than a 70% reduction in their incontinence symptoms. So, if you are overweight or obese, beginning a weight loss program may be a great first step toward improving your bladder function.

The great news is that we continue to learn more and advance in our understanding of helping men and women with these problems every day! What new research have you seen that is promising? As always, I’d love to hear from you!

**Note: I didn’t include medication in this list… not because I don’t think it’s effective or that the research is exciting, it really is! Mostly, because this is where my search took me this time around. The right medication can be a significant helper to many people having these problems– perhaps a future blog can talk about that! 🙂 

 

TBT: If you can’t drink coffee…try Barley coffee!

~ jesspreale ~ Leave a comment

Yes, I realize it’s Friday and I am one day behind on my throw-back. I’m sorry. Anyways, today’s post was published here in 2013 after I presented at the Greenville Interstitial Cystitis Support Group. I always love working with local support groups, and I am excited to be presenting to and learning with the Atlanta Area Interstitial Cystitis Support Group next month!  I had such a wonderful time with those ladies and I was introduced for the first time to Barley coffee–yes, you heard me right–coffee made from Barley. For many people with bladder problems including Overactive Bladder, Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome, and Urinary Incontinence, regular coffee is not tolerated well and can exacerbate symptoms. Barley coffee is a great alternative that packs a great taste (I was skeptical too, but it’s true!) but doesn’t have the acid and caffeine which irritate. Check out my post, and give it a try! 

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In April 2014,  I was fortunate enough to meet with a lovely group of ladies at their support group for people who have been diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome.  (For those of you who are not familiar with this condition, you can read about it here) This is a fantastic group started by Martha Fowler, RN back in 2010. Since then, I can tell you that Martha has been an amazing support for several of my patients! So many times, people feel alone when struggling with pelvic pain conditions, and it’s nice to talk with others who understand first hand what you are going through. For those of you reading this who live in other areas (such as Atlanta, like me!) there are tons of other support groups out there for people with IC/PBS. The Interstitial Cystitis Association (ICA) has a great list here.

Anyways, before we got started, Martha introduced us to Barley coffee—I know what you’re thinking—weird, nasty, gross—but I was shocked that I actually enjoyed this concoction! When I first tasted it, I will admit, I poured myself approximately ¼ cup (assuming I would hate it), but I quickly went back, filled it all the way up and drank the entire thing!  SERIOUSLY! I actually think I may keep this on hand to drink on a regular basis. I have long wanted to cut back on my caffeine intake, and really, this may be the ticket!

Why the need for Barley Coffee?

For people with Interstitial Cystitis (and other bladder/bowel problems), coffee can be quite irritating to the bladder. Coffee is a double-whammy of irritation—not only does it have caffeine, but it is also highly acidic. Mix this together, and you get a very unhappy bladder—and if you have IC/PBS, that equals pain and strong urges to urinate.

What is Barley?

Barley is a grain and a member of the grass-family. You may recognize it from being used as animal food as well as in beer, bread, soups and stews.  The Whole Grain Council (yes, it exists) has listed several health benefits of eating barley including lowering blood sugar, decreasing cholesterol, and possibly with weight loss. And what about drinking it? Well, I will admit it’s not quite the same since you are not actually consuming the grain—but, it seems like a good option for your bladder! And it tastes pretty darn good.

barley

Check out the recipe!

Martha’s Barley Coffee

Ingredients:

1 bag of barley (dry—looks like rice)

Water

Directions:

1. Roast barley over medium heat, stirring constantly until browned.  (WARNING: Per Martha, this may cause some smoke, so make sure your kitchen is ventilated! Stirring constantly reduces likelihood of burning). Best to roast slowly as this decreases the likelihood of burning

2. Allow to cool completely. Store in airtight container until ready to use.

3. Add a few tablespoons of roasted barley to a pot of water and heat over medium. The longer you heat the water/barley the “darker” your coffee.

4. Strain out barley & save for later use! Serve in your best coffee pot with cream/milk & sugar.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful coffee substitute! What other substitutes have you used for dietary intolerances? 

Have a great weekend! ~ Jessica

How should urgency suppression strategies be modified for the tender or “hypervigilant” pelvic floor muscles?

~ jesspreale ~ Leave a comment

Urinary urgency, frequency and incontinence are complex and involve the interactions of multiple systems (somatic, visceral and neurological). These three problems are treated commonly in pelvic physical therapy and women’s health physical therapy practices. Urgency suppression strategies were initially developed based on these systems- with the understanding that the pelvic floor muscles were not contributing their part to the system.  In my opinion, this was largely based on the understanding the incontinence/urgency occurred when the pelvic floor muscles were not strong enough to properly hold back urine. But, over time we have learned that this is not always the case. (See my recent post here).

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So, do the same urgency suppression techniques apply for a tender pelvic floor muscle group? Hhow should urgency suppression techniques be modified for the overactive, shortened or hypervigilant pelvic floor?

To understand this, I first need to introduce you to the standard urgency suppression techniques.

UST Traditional

Now, please don’t take this as “Jessica doesn’t think urgency suppression techniques work,” because that is simply not true. I use these in the clinic all the time—for my patients who are experiencing urgency or urge incontinence and have weak, under-functioning pelvic floor muscles. These techniques work for this population a few different ways:

  • Deep breathing facilitates the parasympathetic nervous system which helps to keep the walls of the bladder relaxed thus allowing the bladder to fill and decreasing urgency. This breathing also helps to decrease the emotional fear that a person may feel (“Ahh, I hope I make it to the bathroom!”) which also will calm urgency due to the impact this has on the brain.
  • Strong, quick, contractions are thought to stimulate the neurological connection between the pelvic floor muscles and the bladder. Basically, quick contractions tell the bladder “it is not yet time to empty” and the bladder relaxes its contractions (which make us feel the strong urge) helping to calm urgency.
  • Distraction/Visualization are ways to get the mind off of the bladder and on to something else. Remember when you needed to go to the restroom, but got busy and forgot you needed to go? This aims to utilize that same mechanism to calm urgency and allow postponement of the urge.

Sounds great, right? And it is—really great for people who are experiencing urgency and have weak, underactive pelvic floor muscles. But what about for the people having overactive/shortened/hypervigilant pelvic floor muscles?

My thought process is that these techniques have to be modified to allow them to be effective for this population. First, we will keep a few steps and here’s why:

Deep breathing & Distraction/Visualization: I actually love these (especially the calm breathing) for my patients with difficulty relaxing the pelvic floor muscles. I often find that people with overactive pelvic floor muscles tend to be in a sympathetic-drive state for their nervous systems. Remember, the sympathetic nervous system is the “fight-or-flight” response. People who have chronic pain or chronic urgency/frequency often will have a significant amount of stress and fear, and I find that this state of their system often facilitates poor breathing patterns and overall increased tension and poor force modulation (meaning, choosing the right amount of muscle activity for the current task at hand). My colleague, Seth Oberst, wrote an amazing post about this very thing recently (I could write an entire post applying all of that to the pelvic floor!). So, we’ll keep these steps—with an emphasis on slow, calm breathing, utilizing the diaphragm and emphasizing relaxation of the pelvic floor with the inhale and returning to baseline with the exhale.

But here’s where we modify:

Quick, strong, pelvic floor contractions: My issue with this component for the overactive or hypervigilant or shortened pelvic floor muscles stems from a few key points. Traditional “kegels” or pelvic floor strengthening exercises are contraindicated for people with pelvic pain (or in my mind, anyone who has a tender, hypervigilant or overactive pelvic floor). Performing quick contractions for this population often will create pain, worsen the patient’s symptoms and actually increase urgency. You heard that right. Did you know that the pelvic floor muscles can actually refer to the bladder? I have had many instances when examining a person’s pelvic floor muscles that he/she reported that even lightly pressing on certain muscles made him/her feel urgency. And we know that somatovisceral convergence (a muscle impacting an organ) is real, and does occur.  So, what do we do about this step?

We use this relationship in our favor.

Instead of quick, hard contractions, the person can perform deep breathing and pelvic floor drops (emphasizing complete pelvic floor relaxation). Although initially, some of my clients will worry that relaxing the pelvic floor muscles will “open the flood gates” this does not typically occur. Instead, relaxation of the pelvic floor combined with breathing will often calm down the detrusor (bladder muscle) activity and allow them to feel decreased urgency.

So, what do these new urgency suppression strategies look like?

 New UST

 What do you think? If you have a tender pelvic floor and/or pelvic pain, I encourage you to give it a try! Let me know what you think! As always, I would love to hear from  you!

~ Jessica