Peeing more than 7 times per day is not normal!
Women should urinate 4-7 times per day and be adequately hydrated.  Alcohol, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, certain medications may increase urination.

Burning urination is not normal!
Burning urination may be a sign of a urinary tract infection and requires a visit to your primary care physician.   If you have burning with urination and no infection, there may be a pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. 

Leaking urine during exercise, lifting, sneezing or coughing is not normal! 
This is referred to as stress incontinence and occurs when the abdominal pressure is increased during an activity, but the tissues that support the bladder are too weak to hold the urine.  This can be treated successfully with physical therapy.

You should not hold urine for extended periods.
Urine that is concentrated can irritate the lining of the bladder and result in a burning sensation while peeing or even in the bladder itself.  A very full bladder adds pressure to the pelvic floor muscles and can stretch out the bladder tissue. 

You shouldn’t pee too often.
Peeing too often can shrink the bladder and retrain it to signal the brain to “go” with only a partially full bladder.  This is referred to as urinary urgency. 

You shouldn’t force urine by straining to empty the bladder.
Forcing urine through a non-relaxed muscle will increase the pressure on the sphincter muscle which over time can cause weakness and leaking.  Let gravity do the work.

Forty percent (40%) of women will experience problems with continence after childbirth. 
Performing Kegel exercises or a pelvic floor muscle strengthening program can help avoid this problem. 

​More than half of all women do not know how to perform a proper Kegel exercise.
Many women do not know what a proper Kegel feels like and can benefit from working briefly with a specially trained pelvic floor physical therapist to learn the proper techniques.

Feel free to post any questions you may have regarding continence. We will expand upon these issues in follow-up blog posts.

Michelle