Stress Incontinence

Body: 

Hello, I've been on the forum a while and have found reading the many, many posts very supportive and educational.

I was talking with a friend the other day and we found ourselves talking of issues with pelvic health - something we'd not done before (sadly, it's still a topic that causes embarrassment and fear).

I'd explained what I was doing with regards to posture and what I'd learned here and through the DVDs and she asked if it would help her stress incontinence.

I'm not sure if the posture work alone is going to be her answer as she explained that her incontinence is so severe that she constantly wears towels and leaks during intercourse. She has used various internal 'devices' which have helped 'a little' and she totally gets that Kegels are not the answer.

Have you got any advice I can pass on as this isn't something I know much / enough about as I'm still a newbie here and the last thing I want to do is pass on the wrong information.

Thank you.

The level of incontinence you describe is very common in the post-hysterectomy population, for which there are no easy answers. Such incontinence is rare in a woman who has her uterus, because the way in which the mature bladder naturally settles out is to bend toward the back, actually obstructing urine flow. Far more women who have a uterus eventually experience urine retention (and chronic UTIs) rather than frank incontinence, although that reality is not portrayed accurately in popular medical literature.

If your friend does have her uterus, the only reasonable response is to slowly and methodically work to draw the organs and their channels into a more natural alignment, which is what the posture and exercises are all about. WW posture alone is rarely enough to reverse significant prolapse in an older woman whose fascia is stretched out like a wool sweater. So we also spend a few minutes a day, preferably in the morning, exercising in the WW way.

Christine