Bladder & Pelvic Floor Care

If you’re living with a pelvic floor disorder, you’re not alone. Millions of men, women, and children experience pelvic floor dysfunction. These conditions are very common, and they can be treated successfully.

The Latest Treatments for Pelvic Floor Disorders

Your pelvic floor is a group of muscles that control your bladder and bowel functions. Pelvic floor disorders can cause life-disrupting symptoms such as:

  • Constipation or painful bowel movements
  • Loss of bowel control (fecal incontinence)
  • Pelvic pain or muscle spasms
  • Urinary problems, including loss of bladder control (bladder incontinence), frequent or painful urination, urinary urgency, or inability to empty your bladder completely

When To Seek Care for a Bladder or Bowel Problem

If you have any of the following symptoms, you may have a bladder or bowel problem. Do you sometimes:

  • Feel like you haven’t emptied your bladder completely after urinating?
  • Have to rush to use the bathroom, or you're frequently worried you might lose control of your bladder or bowel?
  • Wake up two or more times during the night to go to the bathroom?
  • Leak before you get to the toilet?
  • Leak when you lift something heavy, exercise or play sports, or stand up after sitting or lying down?
  • Soil your underwear?
  • Plan your day to ensure you’re always close to a bathroom?

You don’t have to live like this. Talk to someone who understands what you’re going through and can offer solutions. Call the Benefis Bladder and Pelvic Floor Treatment at 406-771-6750 to schedule an appointment.

Leading-Edge Care To Regain Pelvic Floor Control

Many pelvic floor conditions can be treated without surgery. Most often, our urologists begin treatment using noninvasive strategies. If you require more advanced treatment, our urologists have the training and experience to provide a full range of innovative approaches to help you feel better.

Behavior Modification

This approach treats urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, and other lower urinary tract symptoms.

Behavior modification strategies improve symptoms by helping you change the behaviors that are causing symptoms. Strategies focus on urination habits and lifestyle, such as giving up caffeine, scheduling bathroom breaks, or delaying urination gradually. Most often, behavior modification is combined with pelvic floor muscle training to improve strength and control. For many people, these strategies relieve symptoms and improve their quality of life.

Medicine

Medicines can help reduce urinary urgency and leakage.

Medicines can be used to relax bladder muscles or reduce bladder contractions that make you feel like you need to urinate even when your bladder isn't full. Botox injections are commonly used to help relax muscles and stop muscle spasms.

Neuromodulation

This advanced approach treats urinary urgency, frequency, urge incontinence, urinary retention, and fecal incontinence.

This minimally invasive outpatient procedure uses a small, pacemaker-like device – the InterStim® neurostimulator  – that stimulates the bladder or bowel muscles to help them function correctly. The device is placed under the skin in the upper buttock, and the lead from the neurostimulator is put next to the sacral nerve, which controls muscles involved in urination and bowel movements. The device sends pulses, much like a pacemaker, to regulate the signals sent by the sacral nerve.

Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises

Exercises help strengthen the muscles involved in bladder control.

Pelvic floor muscle exercises have been used for decades to treat incontinence, strengthen pelvic floor muscles, prevent urine leakage, and suppress urinary urgency. Exercises also help you learn how to relax the muscles to improve bladder emptying and relieve pelvic pain caused by muscle spasms.

In some instances, these exercises use biofeedback – a technique that helps you learn how to control your body's functions. Adhesive sensors attached to your pelvic area during exercises allow you to monitor your sphincter muscles (involved in urination) as you tighten and relax them. This helps you gain muscle control and relieve symptoms.

Surgery

When other approaches don't relieve symptoms, surgical options can offer relief.

Our urologic surgeons have experience in performing a wide variety of surgeries to treat urinary problems. We use the least invasive approaches to offer less pain and a faster recovery. Your provider will discuss surgical options and help you determine what's right for you.

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