Author: Dr. Alyssa Boyer, DC, DNCert
What is incontinence? Incontinence “is the loss of bladder control, or being unable to control urination. It is a common condition. It can range from being a minor problem to something that greatly affects your daily life. In any case, it can get better with proper treatment.” There are several different types of incontinence and those are as follows: stress incontinence, overflow incontinence, urgency incontinence, mixed incontinence functional incontinence, transient incontinence, and bed wetting incontinence.
Stress incontinence typically refers to stress being on the bladder. This could be coughing, sneezing, or anything that builds pressure in the abdomen and pelvic floor. This typically reflects a weak pelvic floor or the bladder being in an abnormal position. Urgency incontinence usually occurs when someone has a strong urge to urinate, and some urine leaks out before they can make it to the toilet. It is commonly related to an overactive bladder. Urge incontinence is the most common type of incontinence that occurs in older people. It can be a symptom of some neurological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries.
Overflow happens when the bladder does not empty itself all the way. This most commonly occurs in men and can be indicative of kidney stones, some tumors, and potentially diabetes. Mixed means that a combination of these symptoms are occurring at the same time. Transient just means that the incontinence is temporary and isn’t something that a patient is dealing with on a daily basis, it could be occurring due to an infection or new medication that someone is on. Bedwetting is most common in children and isn’t normally seen as a major issue if it’s occurring before the age of 5.
Can chiropractic care help with incontinence?
Chiropractic care is an effective methodology that can be used to treat urinary incontinence. This is because some of the muscle dysfunction can actually be caused by lower back or sacral joint dysfunction. Chiropractors are able to treat these dysfunctions directly by influencing the muscular system, which then in turn influences the tendons and joints as well.
“For example, a small 2012 case series found that eight people with bladder dysfunction responded positively to chiropractic care. Another small 2012 study followed 21 individuals with urinary incontinence. Eight of them also reported lower back issues. Following chiropractic manipulation, researchers found that symptoms of urinary incontinence:
- completely resolved in 10 people
- considerably improved in 7 people
- slightly improved in 4 people
Researchers also found these improvements remained stable over time.”
Citation: Cuthbert SC, Rosner AL. Conservative chiropractic management of urinary incontinence using applied kinesiology: a retrospective case-series report. J Chiropr Med. 2012 Mar;11(1):49-57. doi: 10.1016/j.jcm.2011.10.002. PMID: 22942842; PMCID: PMC3315873.
