Post Natal Incontinence

Pregnancy and childbirth bring incredible changes—but they can also take a toll on your body. From hormone shifts to stretched pelvic floor muscles, many women experience issues like incontinence or bladder leaks, both during and after pregnancy.

The effects of childbirth on the body.

The effects that pregnancy and childbirth can have on the body are varied and can have a huge impact on your life, both while you’re pregnant and after you’ve given birth. These changes range from weight gain and changes to your body shape, to psychological differences and changes in the thyroid, skin and hair. For example, different areas of the brain actually grow and shrink during pregnancy and childbirth, and many women find they have skin breakouts after giving birth because of the dramatic changes in hormone levels! Pregnancy and childbirth affect everyone differently, but the vast majority of women will experience incontinence or urinary leakage to some degree during pregnancy or after childbirth.

During pregnancy, the weight of the baby pressing on the bladder can actually disrupt the way your bladder and pelvic floor muscles (which are the muscles responsible for holding and controlling the uterus and urethra) usually work, leading to symptoms of stress incontinence. Vaginal birth can also affect the pelvic floor muscles, due to the strain it puts on the pelvic floor. Vaginal birth can weaken these muscles, making difficulty holding your bladder or some level of leakage much more likely. You’re not alone though, as an estimated half of women experience changes in continence after childbirth.

Pregnancy and childbirth can also cause damage to the nerves controlling the bladder or displacement of the bladder and urethra, and having an episiotomy during labour can also contribute to incontinence and leakage among postnatal women.

What is postnatal stress incontinence?

Postnatal stress incontinence is very common, and is caused by the stress put on the pelvic floor during childbirth. While normally, the pelvic floor muscles wrap tightly around the urethra , and only relax when we consciously decide to, after childbirth, they (understandably!) become stretched and looser. This means that when stress or pressure is put on the bladder, for example, when you sneeze, cough, laugh or lift heavy objects, there isn’t a barrier to prevent any little accidents.

For most women with normal births, there is a certain degree of leakage that is expected, but normal continence should be regained after a few months. Factors increasing the likelihood of women developing severe postnatal stress incontinence, include having several babies vaginally, a long or problematic birth, obesity, smoking, the birth of heavier babies and giving birth over the age of 35.

Pelvic floor exercises such as Kegels are often recommended to women suffering from stress incontinence or difficulty regaining control of their bladder after having a baby, but they can be time consuming and the process of strengthening the pelvic floor with these exercises is long. We also find that many of our patients cannot feel their pelvic floor muscles in order to contract them so cannot carry out kegel exercises at all.

BTL Emsella is a revolutionary new treatment designed to quickly, easily and painlessly eradicate little accidents and the symptoms of postnatal incontinence. It targets the pelvic floor muscles with High-Intensity Focused Electromagnetic (HIFEM) technology, stimulating the muscles to tighten the pelvic floor and give you back control of your bladder.

During the BTL Emsella treatment, electromagnetic currents help to stimulate the pelvic floor muscles past a level that can be consciously achieved through Kegel or other pelvic floor exercises. Because the treatment stimulates the muscles directly, the contractions achieved are stronger, and your pelvic floor muscles get much more of a workout! During treatment, the muscles contract to a supramaximal level – the equivalent of over 11,000 Kegel exercises in one treatment – making it far more effective than many other methods to help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles.

With traditional Kegel exercises, the muscles are tensed and released to help strengthen them. With BTL Emsella, not only is there this tension and release of the pelvic floor muscles, but the structure of the muscles also changes! The treatment stimulates the growth of new protein strands and muscle fibres as well, which not only improves the physical action of the muscles, but also assists in regaining neuromuscular control of the pelvic floor, giving you more control over your muscles and helping to stop any leaks or dribbles!

The BTL Emsella is FDA approved, and offers a non-surgical, un-intrusive and relaxing alternative to many other incontinence treatments. BTL Emsella requires no recovery or downtime, and can be carried out without you having to get undressed! The treatments take just under half an hour per session, and consist of ten sessions over four weeks to see the best results. However, some results can be felt after the first or second treatment.

If you have been struggling with postnatal incontinence or difficulty controlling your bladder after childbirth, and think that BTL Emsella may be the right treatment for you, contact Estrada Clinic on 07701024293. You can call, email or message us!

If you think that BTL Emsella may be right for you, contact Estrada Clinic on 07701024293, and see how we can help improve your pelvic health or get in touch using the enquiry form.

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Post Natal Incontinence

The effects of childbirth on the body.

What is postnatal stress incontinence?

Have any questions?

Need some help?

Post Natal Incontinence

The effects of childbirth on the body.

What is postnatal stress incontinence?

How does BTL Emsella treat postnatal incontinence?

Have any questions?

Need some help?