Say Goodbye to Bladder Leakage: Understanding Causes and Solutions Part 3… All About Tissue Quality

Many times during an initial evaluation, a patient has told me that they have been doing kegels every day but they are still having leakage. I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to feel that something so simple as contracting your pelvic floor like a bicep curl every day wouldn’t be able to ‘fix’ a very sensitive problem.

Sometimes it is just as simple as doing kegels, however, in my experience, there is much more going on than weakness in the pelvic floor that is causing leakage. Research shows this as well, especially for my CrossFit ladies! This is part 3 of 6 discussing other reasons you could be having urinary leakage.

The third topic in our series is all about connective tissue quality.

As we age, our connective tissue (the ligaments and tendons that hold muscles and organs in place) can become less efficient than they used to be.

For others, reduction in estrogen could reduce the tissue quality of the support structures due to decreased blood flow to the area. This can also be seen during breastfeeding since literally everything is being sucked out of you!

If someone has a traumatic birth experience, there could be scar tissue and/or an injury that reduces the mobility or support of the muscles and organs.

​Lastly, someone could have a connective tissue disorder, whether it's something like Ehler's Danlose (hyperlaxity) or scleroderma (hypolaxity), which almost limit the efficiency of support structures.

For some, these changes in the tissues are big enough that surgery is warranted, however, a lot of the times, physical therapy and behavioral changes can help improve the quality of the connective tissue and teach you techniques to improve positioning of your organs such as:

• Pelvic organ decompression

  • We talked about this HERE!

• Exercise

  • Whether this is strength training, yoga, pilates, or cardio, our connective tissue adapts by rebuilding when stress on the tissues progressively overloads.

• Nutritional advice

  • Eating a balanced diet can help regulate hormones and possibly improve connective tissue quality.

• Wearing a pessary

  • Most up to date research is showing how WONDERFUL pessaries can be for people who have prolapse and connective tissue laxity. Not only does a pessary help by holding up your organs in place reducing heaviness symptoms, with the extra support, the connective tissue quality can actually become stronger!