Posts

Why Should I Sit to Pee?

Half the population doesn’t give it much thought. The other half have various opinions. For people that have the option to stand to pee, here are some reasons to sit!

 

Potty Learning

When young children are first learning to use the toilet, it can be easier to teach them to stand to pee. Maybe they already stand to pee in their diaper. Maybe they don’t have the patience to wait to sit to pee. Whatever the case may be, sitting to pee has many benefits through the potty training phases.

Sitting to pee (at all ages) will decrease the amount of mess in the bathroom. Huge motivating factor if you ask me! This mess is reduced even if you are able to continuously hit the bullseye. Having the ability to sit to pee will also help young bodies learning the new skill to relax fully. Being able to relax all the pelvic floor muscles when you sit, gives kiddo the opportunity to have a poop too. Remember from a previous article – being constipated actually makes potty training harder!

 

Adults

Many adults struggle with functional constipation as well. We may still be pooping every day – but not completely emptying. This can lead to issues such as tightness, pain, or perineal discomfort that is tricky to pin down a cause to.

Sitting to pee often seems to take significantly more time, even for adults

Public Bathrooms

The most common question I get is – but what about public bathrooms? We all know the state those washrooms can be in… ick. So of course, in the event of a less than stellar bathroom situation, or being out in the wilderness, standing to pee is a great option! By all means use it!

Just remember – sitting to pee as a general default can often save you headaches later!

 

 

Haylie has been practicing pelvic health and focused in prenatal and post-partum care since graduating from the U of S MPT program in 2011. Officially adding to her practice pediatric pelvic floor therapy in 2017. She has been advocating for treatment for women, ensuring appropriate and effective care throughout pregnancy and post-partum, and helping all expecting and post-partum moms ultimately brought her to open her family-friendly clinic. She now primarily focuses on pediatric pelvic health, perinatal care, and persistent pain in her practice in Warman and Saskatoon locations.

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Being Backed-up: how constipation is related to the pelvic floor

Everyone dreads being constipated. It’s never fun to be backed-up to the point of difficult, often painful bowel movements. How we often think of constipation, and what constipation can look like may not always be the same!

Constipation is often described as having 2 or fewer bowel movements in a week. These bowel movements will often be difficult to evacuate or require effort. So anything outside of this (more frequent, and easy to get out) would be considered normal… right?

Not necessarily! Our ability to consistently evacuate the bowel may not mean that you aren’t constipated! Some individuals that are constipated evacuate the bowel several times a day. BUT HOW?! In this instance, usually we are getting out several smaller stools throughout the day, and not completely emptying the bowel. These stools may in fact be “easy” to pass, and for some people they will find that they will sit down to go pee, and some stool will come out as well, without any urge to go number 2 in the first place.

So beyond the “usual” signs of constipation, what else should we be watching out for?

  1. Large diameter stools: for adults and children we should not be thinking “whoa! I hope that doesn’t plug the toilet” or “I can’t believe it’s THAT BIG!”
  2. Cracked or dry stools: bowel movements that look cracked or dry, or like little bunches of small balls stuck together
  3. Urge to go with no results: if you have the urge to evacuate, get to the bathroom and just nothing seems to come out… this could be a sign
  4. You wipe and wipe and it never gets “clean”: this could mean that you aren’t fully evacuating the rectum
  5. It feels like there is still some in there: likely that the bowel is not being fully evacuated
  6. Belly aches and bloating: can be signs of constipation
  7. Itchy rear-end (or the wiggles) is common to see in children as well

Being constipated will put a strain on the pelvic floor, as often evacuating the bowel will require effort in the form of pushing of some sort. Sometimes we are spending significant amounts of time sitting on the toilet attempting to get stool out. Development of hemorrhoids, pelvic pain, and pelvic floor dysfunction can be a result of persistent or chronic constipation.

 

Constipation starts young for many people “I have always been like this for as long as I can remember”. With seeing many children with constipation, they have struggled with bowel movements often since starting solids, or when they began potty training. Often other issues start to arise such as bed wetting as well.

 

Helping people to re-educate the pelvic floor to improve coordination, improve evacuation, and go through bowel hygiene tips are all part of our pelvic health assessments. Some things you can start thinking about now:

 

are you getting enough water?

when you go are your feet well supported with knees above hips?

do you take enough time (but not too much!)?

when you get the urge to go, do you make time?

 

These can be some things to consider with your bowel hygiene to help you begin to get things sorted. Determining the abdominopelvic coordination and function, overall pelvic floor muscle strength and ability to relax, as well as a variety of other technical factors will be what we want to dive into with you.

Issues with constipation isn’t just a problem for children, but also men and women alike!

Book in Saskatoon                                                                       Book in Warman (Kendra, Maja)

Haylie has been practicing pelvic health and focused in prenatal and post-partum care since graduating from the U of S MPT program in 2011. Officially adding to her practice pediatric pelvic floor therapy in 2017. She has been advocating for treatment for women, ensuring appropriate and effective care throughout pregnancy and post-partum, and helping all expecting and post-partum moms ultimately brought her to open her family-friendly clinic. At Warman Physio clients are encouraged to bring their infants and children to treatment. Warman Physio has been nominated as a finalist for the 2018, 2017, & 2016 WMBEXA, is a WMBEXA award recipient of 2017 New Business Award, and a finalist in the ABEX 2018, 2017 & 2016, and Haylie was recognized as YWCA Women of Distinction for Health & Wellness in 2017, and has been nominated for the 2019 SABEX and WMBEXA Awards.
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Male Pelvic Health – Incontinence and Pelvic Pain

You’ve already read all about WHY pelvic health is also important for men, now let’s dive into a case study!

Case Study – Male Pelvic Health

CT is a 43 year old male seeking help because he is having problems with leaking urine whenever he does physical activity. He has also been experiencing consistent sharp/burning pains around his rectal area. In the beginning he was leaking only a few drops of urine and feeling slight discomfort in his pelvic floor… but after a few months CT is leaking his full bladder and his pain has greatly increased. He is afraid to participate in golf, fishing, and jogging because this is when he leaks the most urine.

During the pelvic assessment it is found that CT has a weak pelvic floor (2/5 strength), and a lot of tension/tightness of his pelvic floor muscles. He is educated that he needs to strengthen his pelvic muscles in order to close his urethra (tube which pee comes out), so that he does not leak before he is able to get to the bathroom, or when participating in golf, fishing, and jogging. CT also requires training in relaxation exercises, and stretches for his pelvic floor, which will decrease the tightness and therefore stop the pain that he has been experiencing.

After the assessment CT is sent home with a breathing exercise, several pelvic floor stretches, and a muscle strengthening exercise.

At the next session CT reports having decreased episodes of leaking and reduced pain in his pelvic area. During a follow up evaluation CT now has 3/5 pelvic strength and a decrease in muscle tension. The therapist manually releases his pelvic muscles and he is once again sent home with progressed pelvic floor strengthening exercises and stretches.

After a few more weeks and 2 or 3 more sessions CT is no longer leaking and feels no more pain and discomfort in his pelvic floor. He is educated to keep up with his exercise program occasionally to maintain strength and proper length of his pelvic floor.

 

Not all pelvic health issues will present the exact same, and as such there is no one-size fits all program that will work for everyone. Need help with your pelvic health complaint? Don’t hesitate to contact us or book an appointment. Not sure if your issues can be helped by a physiotherapist? Give us a call, or send a message, we are happy to help you sort through it.

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Welcome to the Team Maja Stroh!

We have been practically bursting waiting to be able to announce our newest physiotherapist to you! Maja Stroh is joining us and is starting with clients the week of March 11, 2019, and she already has her first clients booked in! As many of our new and current clients are aware, we have been very busy at the clinic since Shannon went on maternity leave and we have found Maja, the perfect therapist to join our Warman Physio family to help you help yourself!

Maja will be working out of both our Warman and Saskatoon locations, and has a specific interest in perinatal health.

 

Biography

Maja graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in 2007. She went on to graduate at the same university with a Masters of Physical Therapy in 2009. Maja has been working as a physical therapist since 2009 in private clinic settings, both in Saskatoon and rural areas. Maja has experience in treating orthopedic based populations, as well as pelvic health clients. Her particular interest is in treating the prenatal and post-partum pelvic floor populations.

She considers continuing education a high priority as well as strives to provide the best evidenced based practices. She has completed a variety of post graduate continuing education courses. These include courses relating to pain management, her Level III for both the Upper and Lower Quadrant Orthopedic Division courses, as well as a variety of pelvic health continuing education courses/lectures. She plans to continue to advance her knowledge with treating pelvic floor populations by continuing with further pelvic health courses.

Maja loves spending time with her two young boys. Some of her other interests include, cooking, gardening, painting and camping/hiking.

Areas of Practice Interest:

*Pre-natal & Post-partum assessment and treatment

*General Orthopedics

*Urinary Incontinence

*Pelvic Pain

*TMJ Dysfunction

*Spinal Assessment & Treatment

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