Why Is My Bladder So Weak All Of a Sudden: Uncovering The Reasons For Your Urinary Leakage.
Bladder leakage is common and affects around 1 in 3 people. Many times leakage is the result of poor coordination in your core and pelvic muscles.
As we progress through life, our bodies go through many changes. These changes may occur slowly, however to you, they may seem like all of a sudden you may be leaking urine.
Leakage of urine happens because the pelvic floor muscles (the muscles that sit in the bottom of the pelvis) are either weak, or have too much pressure placed on them. Just you might experience pain when another muscle in our body has too much pressure placed on it, leakage is a sign that there is something in your body not doing its job.
There are several reasons you may be leaking urine.
Hormonal changes. The hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy result in increased laxity throughout the pelvic girdle which may put more stress on the muscles of the pelvic floor. If those muscles are weak, this may result in leakage. In addition, during postpartum and peri/post-menopause, estrogen levels drop. This decrease in estrogen also causes pelvic floor muscle weakness.
Postural changes. If you’ve recently undergone a surgery or injury to another body part from your neck to your back, to your feet, the shifts that happen to the alignment of your body can be enough to throw off the alignment of the pelvic floor muscles.
You have been lax with your fluid consumption. Many people that leak try to avoid leakage by avoiding fluid consumption. What this ends up doing though is increasing the concentration of your urine. When the urine is concentrated, the bladder contracts and if the pelvic floor isn’t strong enough to counteract the contraction, you will leak. Remember you should be drinking about half of your body weight in fluid ounces per day. So, a 150 pound person should drink about 75 ounces per day. Most of which should be water!
You’ve been struggling with a respiratory illness/allergies. The excessive pressure that coughing places on the pelvic floor can cause weakness and leakage.
You’ve been consuming too many bladder irritants. If you go from drinking caffeine, to carbonated beverages, to alcohol at the end of your day, you may be irritating the lining of the bladder. When the bladder is irritated, it will contract and if the pelvic floor isn’t strong enough to counteract the contraction of the bladder, you will leak. Limiting the consumption of bladder irritants like caffeine, carbonated beverages, artificial sweeteners, acidic foods/drinks, and alcohol can help decrease irritation of the bladder.
You’ve changed your workout routine. If you’ve changed your workout routine and your body isn’t able to handle the increased load of the exercise. Just as sometimes a new exercise routine can result in pain, especially if your body isn’t prepared to handle the change, leakage can also occur. Since leakage is simply a sign that your body isn’t doing something it should, it is an unfortunate sign of poor form with exercising.
Things you can do to help:
Make sure you are not limiting your fluid consumption, but continuing to hydrate. Remember that concentrated urine is irritating for the bladder and can make bladder leaks worse!
Limit caffeinated and carbonated beverages! We aren’t saying that you need to cut them out completely, but remember that they are bladder irritates and can be causing your bladder to contract and can make leakage worse!
Ensure you aren’t adding unnecessary tension to your pelvic floor! As we leak, we have a tendency to try to keep our core and pelvic floor tight, however when muscles stay in a contracted, and shortened state for too long, they actually lose their strength. Make sure you are not keeping your but squeezed and core tight all day!
Get in to see a pelvic floor PT! Pelvic floor PTs can uncover hidden reasons you might be leaking such as hip imbalances, postural malalignments, and pelvic floor and core weakness.
Even though you may feel that your symptoms came out of nowhere, often leakage is the result of weakness and imbalance that has cumulated over time.
Other resources for urinary incontinence:
