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How Can Alkaline Water Affect Bladder Health?

Alkaline refers to the pH level of the water. The pH level measures how acidic or alkaline a substance is on a scale of 0-14. For example, lemon juice (pH 2) and vinegar (pH 3) are both very acidic, while baking soda (8-9 pH) and milk of magnesia (10-11 pH) are both very alkaline. At pH 8-9, alkaline water has a higher pH than regular drinking water, which is around 7. Alkaline water can have benefits such as:

  • Weight Loss
  • Better Hydration
  • Increased Athletic Performance
  • Increased Energy
  • Improved Clarity
  • Boosted Immune System
  • Promoted Healing and Longevity

There have been many studies that have found that alkaline water can be extremely effective in decreasing acid reflux by inactivating the enzyme pepsin. Alkaline water can also reduce the blood viscosity, allowing the blood to flow through the body with more ease after an intense workout.

Drinking more water, especially alkaline water, can help people who struggle with urinary incontinence. One source states,

“Drinking more water may actually help and does not exasperate the problem. Your body must have water to function properly and drinking less of it can irritate the bladder and increase urination frequency. Water is pure and your body uses it to flush out excess amounts of acid and bacteria. Sipping water all day long is a good habit that you can try to help your incontinence to improve.”

https://freedrinkingwater.com/water_health/incontinence-treatment-drinking-filtered-water.htm

Alkaline water can also accelerate the excretion of melamine, preventing the accumulation in the bladder that can cause stones. Low urine pH can indicate metabolic syndrome, manifesting in symptoms such as kidney stones, high cholesterol, unstable and high blood sugar, unstable and high blood pressure, weight problems, and more. Drinking alkaline water can keep you hydrated, increase the pH of your urine, and keep infection-causing bacteria low.

According to the National Association for Continence:

  • An estimated 12.2 million adults have urge incontinence
  • An estimated 17 million adults in the US have daily Urinary Incontinence, and a further 33 million also have the overlapping condition, Overactive Bladder
  • Approximately 1 out of 3 women over the age of 45, and 1 out of every 2 women over 65, have stress urinary incontinence, affecting 15 million women
  • OAB and UI are about twice as frequently occurring in women as in men.

At His Therapy Wellness Center, we want to help anyone suffering from urinary and bowel urgency and incontinence, and any other pelvic health issues. Please let us know how we can help improve your health concerns by giving us a call at 864-534-1780, emailing us at office@histherapy.net , or visiting resources on our website www.histherapy.net. We hope you have a blessed day!

Sources:

Pelvic Floor Issues During and After Pregnancy

To all expectant or postpartum mommies. 

Take care of your pelvic floor! Women who have had multiple births, instrumental births, severe perineal tearing or large babies are often at a greater risk for pelvic floor muscle damage. The pelvic floor muscles can sometimes become too loose and weak.  This is a common problem for women because of pregnancy and childbirth. Pelvic floor dysfunction due to pregnancy and delivery can cause stress incontinence, urge incontinence and/or lower back pain. Extra pressure on the pelvic floor muscles can effect proper function, elasticity and strength of these bands of muscle tissue. Pelvic floor muscles work to support your womb, bladder and bowel. Strain on these muscles can result in pelvic floor dysfunction, bladder leakage, constipation, and sexual dysfunction. However, they can be successfully restrengthened with pelvic floor muscle training. Julie Janes, a pelvic floor physical therapist in Arlington, Va, says, “In France, women receive ten sessions [with a physical therapist] starting in the hospital after every vaginal delivery.” Many women seek pelvic floor physical therapy throughout the duration of their pregnancy and many achieve easier deliveries, faster recovery, and less pelvic floor dysfunction symptoms. Check out the article linked below in the Washington Post. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/a-hidden-epidemic-millions-of-women-suffer-pelvic-floor-disorders-silently/2015/12/22/f5997966-a6d5-11e5-b53d-972e2751f433_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1ff44a6209c9

Importance of Post Partum Pelvic Floor Eval

Ok ladies, let’s talk pelvic floor. As women, we are often so busy taking care of everyone else- our husbands, children, elderly parents, Susie down the street- we often neglect ourselves and our bodies. Many of us haven’t given a second thought to our pelvic floor since we first learned about it.. You know, that group of muscles that hold our organs INSIDE our bodies and helps them function properly! So we have a baby, or two, or three or more, and we notice we don’t have control over our bladders like we did pre-baby (or babies), our abdominal muscles don’t work as they once did, or even something more significant like pelvic prolapse. We get our oil changed regularly in our cars, we take our kids to their wellness visits, why don’t we give our bodies that kind of special attention? There are many affects pregnancy and delivery may have on our body that we think may be just part of it all, but we DON’T have to live with them. So whether you had a baby a week ago or 10 years ago, it is important to have a pelvic health physical therapist evaluate your pelvic floor to determine whether you have weakness or damage to your pelvic floor that can lead to significant complications in the future.

Pelvic Floor Pain Support Group

When you are dealing with chronic pain, it is important to have a good support network. Studies show there was a direct, significant association between social support and pain. Even the most supportive family and friends can’t truly understand what you are going through, and you may feel all alone. His Therapy is offering a FREE pelvic floor pain support group meeting the last Monday of every month. Sabina Weaver, a licensed PT specializing in pelvic floor rehab will facilitate these sessions. With almost 20 years of experience in her field, she will be able to explain the science behind pelvic floor pain, provide tangible tools on helping you manage the pain, as well as compassionately offer emotional support. You will be amazed at how many people suffer from the same pain and related challenges as you do, and how refreshing it is to meet others in such similar situations. The group will meet at His Therapy from 6 to 8 every last Monday of each month. Join us for the first session on Monday Oct 30th.

Symptoms and Causes of Pelvic Floor Pain

In the US, approximately 15 percent of women report chronic pelvic pain. However, it is not a subject we feel comfortable talking about publicly, so often it can go undiagnosed and untreated. Chronic pelvic pain is pain in the area below your belly button and between your hips that lasts six months or longer. This can be severe and steady pain, intermittent pain, or pressure and cramping within your pelvis. Other symptoms may include pain during intercourse, pain while having a bowel movement or urinating, or pain when sitting for extended periods of time. Chronic pain can make it difficult to sleep, work, or enjoy life. It can also lead to depression and anxiety. Pelvic pain may stem from the musculoskeletal system, urinary tract, gastrointestinal tract, gynecological, or even psychological factors, so it is important to get evaluated to see what is causing your pain. Pelvic floor physical therapy is a huge component in the treatment of pelvic pain. During treatment, our specialized PT will address the muscular component of pain- teaching you to relax the muscles of the pelvic floor, may provide manual therapy of the pelvic floor muscles, as well perform myofascial release of painful trigger points of pelvic floor when necessary. There are several modalities that can assist in rehabilitation- biofeedback, electrical stimulation, and dilators, to name a few. Also during your visit, your PT will address the behavioral component of your pain- what you eat and drink, as well as bathroom and sleep habits. If you would also like emotional support, His Therapy offers a monthly women’s support group for chronic pelvic pain. Call our office today for more information and to reserve your spot. 864-534-1780.

Pelvic Floor Therapy

Pelvic floor therapy is a special type of physical therapy which specializes in the treatment of the pelvic floor.

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that attach from the front of the pelvis to the tailbone. They act like a hammock to our body by supporting the bladder, uterus and rectum. The support mechanism of these muscles is critical for men and women to understand and use for everyday function to occur normally.

Weakness and dysfunction in these muscles can occur from childbirth, pregnancy, poor postural control, constipation, organ prolapse, obesity, and lack of use and awareness. There are many problems that may arise with the pelvic floor including urinary or fecal incontinence, organ prolapse, pelvic pain, pain with intercourse. 

Physical therapist who specialize in the pelvic floor have special training and certification in this field. Physical therapy treatment can help strengthen the pelvic floor, allow improved tone and decrease pain in areas which are affected. Increased tension and tone can occur in the muscles and cause pain and pressure during exercise, intimacy and other activities of daily living. Manual physical therapy treatments can help reeducate these muscles and to patients to learn to relax these muscles and gain more optimum function. Biofeedback treatment is also used which allows reeducation of the pelvic floor muscles to work effectively. There are many other treatment options that are available through physical therapy that can help rehab the pelvic floor. Each treatment is created based on patient’s diagnoses and needs.  

If you have any questions on this type of therapy you can contact me and I will be happy to discuss your treatment options and where and how you may seek help.

Sabina Weaver, MSPT
Sabina@histherapy.net 

A Pelvic Floor PT Can Help with Voiding Problems in Children

His Therapy is offering pediatric pelvic floor PT.  This post is dedicated to explaining both the voiding problems that lead children to pelvic floor PT and how PT can help.

Many children suffer from bladder/bowel voiding dysfunction. In fact, 20% of all pediatric visits are for incontinence problems. The umbrella term for difficulty with bladder/bowel control in children is “dysfunctional voiding.” Below is a list of different diagnoses that fall under dysfunctional voiding:
Nighttime bedwetting (nocturnal enuresis)
Daytime wetting
Stress incontinence
Overactive bladder
Urinary urgency/frequency
Urinary retention
Frequent Urinary Tract Infections
Constipation
Bowel incontinence and/or inability to empty bowel
Fecal Frequency/Urgency  

Bladder Voiding Dysfunction
Accomplishing brain and nervous system control over the bladder is not always fully realized by the time a child is toilet trained. Often, even after toilet training a child’s bladder will continue to act in the hyperactive/hypersensitive way of the automatic bladder of infancy. Couple this with the fact that toilet training takes place at a time when children are developing interests. In order not to interrupt the good time they’re having playing with friends or toys they may begin to hold their urine as long as possible.
This “holding” pattern results in contraction of the pelvic floor muscles and external urinary sphincter, which ultimately can lead to dysfunction, such as a chronic abnormal pattern of urinary voiding. For example, some kids will experience difficulty sensing bladder fullness, which will lead to daytime leaking or nighttime bedwetting. Some children will experience urinary urgency and frequency.  Some will face frequent bladder infections. All of these problems can lead to children avoiding social activities as well as problems making it through school.

Constipation/Bowel problems
As with bladder voiding dysfunction, bowel-voiding dysfunction is also a common problem for kids. The main issue surrounding bowel-voiding dysfunction is constipation. Constipation is the infrequent and difficult passage of stool. As with adults, the frequency of bowel movements varies from child to child. That said, we encourage patients to try to have at least one bowel movement per day with management of physical activity and diet. Anything less than three per week is considered constipation.

Several different things can cause constipation, including avoidance of bowel movements because of pain caused by cracked skin known as “fissures,” illness, travel, or generally poor bowel habits. For instance, as with urinary voiding, children can ignore the urge to have a bowel movement because they don’t want to interrupt what they’re doing. Children will “hold it in” by forcefully tightening the external sphincter and suppressing the urge to have a bowel movement.
A habit of doing this may ultimately causes children to stop feeling the urge to go resulting in constipation. In addition, fecal soiling can occur. This happens when the rectal muscles and the external sphincter relax after growing fatigued with the effort to hold in a bowel movement. As a result, liquid stool from high up in the colon leaks out around the mass of stool held in the rectum. This may cause some children to have no control over this leakage.
Typically, if children have bladder-voiding dysfunction, they may also have constipation, as the two tend to go hand and hand.

How PT Can Help
When it comes to voiding dysfunction, a pelvic floor PT helps in a myriad of ways.
For one thing PT will help the child with the pelvic floor muscle control side of things.

In adults, urinary incontinence may be due to muscle weakness, muscle tightness, or behavioral issues. However, when it comes to childhood urinary incontinence, while behavioral issues may contribute to the problem, poor muscle control will almost always be at the heart of the issue. For instance, when the child jumps off of the monkey bars or laughs too hard, his or her brain may simply not get the message to squeeze the pelvic floor to combat leaking.

The pelvic floor PT will treat the child’s poor pelvic floor muscle control with Biofeedback. The patient will be connected to the biofeedback monitor via two stickers placed on him or her externally. Then the PT will ask them to “contract,” “relax,” and “bulge” their pelvic floor using the biofeedback screen results for feedback. This helps the child to regain control of his or her pelvic floor.
When it comes to constipation, biofeedback can help teach the child how to push and lengthen the pelvic floor because sometimes they simply aren’t doing it correctly.
In addition, the PT will teach the child to use his or her breath to assist with pelvic floor motor control. Oftentimes, bubbles are used for this exercise.

Also, the PT will educate the child about the bladder and bowel systems so that they come to understand that their voiding problems are not “just something that happens,” but that there’s a reason behind it. This further gives the child a sense of ownership and control over the issue. Games, books, and pictures are used to teach the child about the anatomy.

PT also helps pediatric patients with whatever behavioral issues are involved in their voiding dysfunction. For example, when it comes to bedwetting, the PT will involve the parents in the treatment process. Parents might be asked to put the child on a program for a few weeks where they check the child at certain intervals during the night to make sure he or she is dry and doesn’t have to go to the bathroom. Or they will be asked to put the child on a voiding schedule to make sure he or she is not holding too much during the day. There are a slew of tools, voiding charts, and activities that the PT will be able to share with the child and parents to help with treatment progress.

And oftentimes, a PT will work with a nutritionist  or dietician to pinpoint and correct any dietary issues that might be contributing to the voiding dysfunction, especially when constipation is involved.
Typically, it takes the PT about two visits to get a full picture of what is behind the patient’s voiding dysfunction. More often than not there’s a combination of muscle control and behavioral issues to treat. The initial evaluation will be an hour-long appointment; the appointments will range from thirty minutes to one hour. A guardian is in the room during each appointment and a child is generally seen from six to eight visits.

If you have any questions about our pediatric PT services, please feel free to contact me at Sabina@histherapy.net

www.histherapy.net
864-534-1780

Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

The pelvic floor consists of several layers of muscles that cover the bottom of the pelvic cavity. These muscles have 3 distinct roles:

1) To support the pelvic organs, the bladder, uterus and colon within the pelvis
2) To assist in stopping and starting the flow of urine or passage of gas or stool
3) To aid in sexual appreciation.

When performing a proper contraction of the pelvic floor muscles, you should feel a sensation of pulling up and in. A functional stop test can be done to know if you are contracting the right muscles. This is done by trying to stop the flow of urine during flow. Attempt to completely stop the flow of urine by contracting these muscles. You should not hold your breath or contract the abdominals or other hip and leg musculature while contracting the pelvic floor. Take note of whether you can completely stop the flow of urine stream.

What can make the pelvic floor muscles weak:

*Childbirth
*Constipation
*Sustained coughing or sneezing
*Heavy incorrect lifting
*Obesity
*Hormones associated with menopause

Types of Dysfunction:
* Stress or Urge Urinary Incontinence
* Constipation or Bowel leakage
* Prolapse
* Painful intercourse or penetration
* Pelvic Pain
* Coccydynia

Pelvic floor therapy can help to provide conservative treatment options for both men and women who are experiencing any type of pelvic floor dysfunction and laxity. Appropriate exercise, muscle awareness, electrical stimulation, biofeedback and massage can reduce the symptoms that may occur with pelvic floor dysfunction.

For more information please contact His Therapy at 864-534-1780 or email at sabina@histherapy.net

Pelvic Floor Therapy and Prostate Cancer

Men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer or have other medical problems related to their prostate may have some symptoms that a pelvic floor therapists can help them with. Many men suffer from urinary incontinence, urgency and retention issues and many more things that affect their way of life and every day function. Both pre and post therapy is very beneficial to these patients. Treatment may include:

1) Education on the anatomy of the pelvic floor and physiology of micturition process

2) Bladder retraining including assisting patients with proper bladder voiding schedules and avoiding bladder irritants

3) Education on proper posture and body mechanics

4) Manual cueing and biofeedback training on proper pelvic floor contractions

5) Biofeedback for pelvic floor training

6) Core stabilization exercises

Outcomes are fantastic! Patients gain the control they need of their bladder. Many men decrease the amount of pads they have to use secondary to leakage, wake up less at night to void, have less urgency and overall feel better with a more active daily lifestyle!

Please call His Therapy for more information. 864-534-1780 or visit our website for more information     www.histherapy.net