Leaking after pregnancy? Acupuncture can help.

Ladies, let’s talk about peeing our pants. Yes, really.

It’s so, so common, but it’s still an issue that not many people are talking about. If you’re experiencing bladder leakage, you know exactly what I’m talking about. There’s stress incontinence, which is where you leak a bit (or a lot) when coughing, laughing or doing certain exercises. And there’s urge incontinence, which is when you frequently feel like you really need to go, even when your bladder’s not really full. Sound familiar? If you’re suffering from one or both, you’re certainly not alone!

Just how common is it?

Research estimates that anywhere between 25-55% of women suffer from urinary incontinence.. But it seems to be generally true that giving birth by c-section increases your risk by around 50% while giving birth vaginally increases it by 2 or 3 times. (ref) One large study from Quebec showed that about 65% of women experience a bit of stress incontinence in the third trimester with about 30% still suffering at 3 months postpartum.

And furthermore, a 10 year cohort study found that the likelihood of experiencing bladder leakage increased at 9 months and then again at 5 years and then again at 10 years postpartum. This means that having a baby increases your risk of developing urinary incontinence later in life, even if you aren’t experiencing it in the postpartum period.

What can you do about it?

Bladder leakage is common, but that doesn’t mean it’s unavoidable. In fact, it’s very treatable. The bottom line is that if you’re still experiencing urinary incontinence 6 months after giving birth, it’s time to seek treatment.

Pelvic floor physio therapy is an excellent option with good results, but many people don’t realise that acupuncture is a great treatment option for urinary incontinence. In one study acupuncture significantly outperformed traditional drug therapy and in another it was shown that acupuncture can enhance the benefits of pelvic floor exercises. One study even showed statistically significant improvement after just one treatment using just one acupuncture point!

Urinary incontinence can range from a minor annoyance to something that causes major anxiety and really effects your quality of life. Either way, if you’re more than 6 months postpartum (or if you’ve never had a baby) it’s probably not going to get better on it’s own. Time to take action!