Pregnancy And Bladder Control Problems

If you are a woman and you are pregnant then you may have experienced bladder control problems. The leaking of urine when you sneeze or cough during pregnancy will usually go away after you give birth.  For those that continue to have problems after child birth there is hope.

During pregnancy a great deal of stress is being placed on your internal organs and muscles.   Internal muscles and other support tissues for your bladder has been stretched and weakened.  Your bladder is not being supported as it should be and problems will result.  Incontinence, bladder infections, skin irritations and urine that smell bad are some of the problems associated with poor bladder support.

Poor bladder support is not just limited to women that have given birth to children.  This type of problem can also be the result of age, accident, abdominal surgery, poor posture, being over weight, improperly performed exercise routines and being just out of shape.  So the question is what can you do about bladder control problems? What if you do not want to take medications is there anything that you can do? Well the answer is yes there is, you can do bladder control exercises.

Bladder control exercises are also called Kegal exercises. These exercises help to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, which supports your bladder and urethra. Your bladder is the place in your body that stores urine.  Your urethra is like a little tube that is attached to your bladder and this is where your urine comes out of your body.  In women the urethra is much shorter than men so infections are much more prevalent.

Your bladder control issues may be what are considered incontinence. This is when you leak urine sometimes like when you sneeze, cough or are doing strenuous or physical activity. If you are having trouble controlling your bladder during pregnancy or after child birth, you should give kegal exercises a try. They are easy to do and you can do them just about anywhere.

For Women the first step in the Kegel Exercise is to determine which muscle that needs to be exercised.  You can tell which muscles to use by squeezing the muscles in your genital area by pretending that you are trying to stop the flow of urine.  This is the pubococcygeal muscle.  Those are the muscles that you are going to squeeze.

For Men the Kegel exercise is done by contracting the anal sphincter instead of the urinary sphincter as in the woman's exercise, this is because the pubococcygeal muscle begins around the anus and travels to the urinary sphincter muscle.

Now that you know what the muscles are now you can do this exercise anywhere and they are so easy to do and no one will really know that you are doing them. You can do them while sitting down at your desk at work, or while shopping at the mall. It does not matter where you are doing them all that matters, is that you are helping your bladder control problem.

By strengthening these muscles you are really helping your problems of bladder control. If you still are having problems and have to use adult diapers then you need to see your doctor and your doctor can help you with these issues. Tell your doctor that you have tried kegal exercises and tell him for how long you have suffered with this problem. Maybe it is not a bladder control issue and it may be something more serious and only your doctor can tell you.

Always consult your doctor before using this information.

This Article is nutritional in nature and is not to be construed as medical advice.