What is urinary urgency?
Urinary urgency is a feeling of unusually strong urinary urges, which can occur intermittently or can be near constant. Increased urinary urgency is often associated with urinary frequency - or needing to go to the bathroom more often. It can also be associated with urinary urge incontinence, or an inability to hold in urine when the urge arises and not making it to the bathroom in time.
What causes urinary urgency?
Urinary urgency can be caused by multiple factors, and often there is more than one contributing factor. Below are the most common possible causes:
Excessive or altered fluid intake habits
High intake of bladder irritants
Stress and anxiety
Altered bladder habits such as often urinating “just in case”
Environmental triggers such as hearing running water
Tense pelvic floor muscles
Overactive bladder syndrome
Interstitial cystitis / painful bladder syndrome
Pregnancy and postpartum
What can be done for urinary urgency?
Pelvic floor physical therapy to the rescue.
Pelvic floor physical therapy has been shown to help improve symptoms of urinary urgency, frequency, and incontinence. Pelvic floor PTs can assess the pelvic floor muscles to help determine the underlying cause of urgency, and can also talk with you about your bladder and fluid intake habits to assess whether any changes could be made in those areas. In pelvic floor PT, you will also learn strategies to help manage strong urinary urges as they arise.
Next steps
If you experience urinary urgency, then you could definitely benefit from pelvic floor PT. Call us at 781-390-4366 or email dinalucchesi@coreptp.com to learn more and to schedule an evaluation.
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