It can become extremely frustrating if your child hasn’t become reliably continent by the time you expect they would. It can be difficult to understand why the problem is occurring. Laundry or continence products can be burdensome, both in terms of time and cost. Parents often struggle to fathom why their child seemingly ignores the messages from their body or refuses to listen to parental prompts. There are various reasons for this scenario. Sometimes the child’s bladder or bowel is not giving an adequate message. Sometimes they are ‘crying wolf’ i.e. giving so many false messages that it trains the child to ignore their urge to poo or wee. With thorough assessment, the underlying issue can be identified and managed.

 

How can Physiotherapy Help Manage Incontinence?

You might be wondering why a physiotherapist is blogging about this topic? Because of the pelvic floor muscle’s role in maintaining continence, physios became involved in continence management. Through this experience, they learnt about many other factors influencing continence – not just the pelvic floor. These other factors are also very relevant to childhood incontinence, whereas a weak pelvic floor is highly unlikely. If a child’s pelvic floor is contributing to their incontinence, it’s likely the problem is actually over-activity!

 

I am a mother of two who has worked in continence physiotherapy since 2009. I completed my masters in Continence and Women’s Health Physiotherapy in 2014. Also, I have been fortunate enough to work with one of the best paediatric continence physiotherapists in Perth (WA) since 2013. In 2016, I started seeing paediatric patients, and it has been wonderful to see children and teenagers flourish as their continence improves or resolves. We have just moved to the beautiful Sunshine Coast to be near family. I am excited to join such a fantastic team at Alchemy in Motion, and to begin offering paediatric continence services there.

 

If you are eager to figure out the cause of your child’s difficulties to help them gain continence, or you already know what the problem is, but you are hoping to reduce/avoid medications or their side-effects, physiotherapy might be the helping hand that you need. Call our friendly receptionists on (07) 5474 9093 to book an appointment with Ocean Kabikwa.

 

 

Blog by Physiotherapist,

Ocean Kabikwa