Bowel problems in women
These things happen…accidentally passing wind or soiling your underwear, needing to rush to the toilet, and having trouble emptying your bowel or feeling like you haven’t completely emptied.
Loss of bowel control and constipation are highly distressing problems that are seldom talked about. These problems can have a huge impact on your life. You might find yourself avoiding intimacy and social situations and too worried to leave the house in the morning if you haven’t had a bowel action. Constipation and difficulty emptying your bowel can leave you feeling bloated, uncomfortable and sluggish.
Many women experience bowel problems. You don’t have to live with it or suffer in silence. Help is available.
- Faecal soiling with activity
- Faecal soiling on the way to the toilet
- Rushing to the toilet for a bowel action
- Accidentally passing wind
- Having to strain to empty your bowel
- Returning to the toilet soon after a bowel motion, to go again
- Pregnancy & childbirth
- Dietary factors
- Poor fluid intake
- Radiation therapy
- Poor pelvic floor muscle function
- Medications
- Malignancy
- Heavy lifting
- Ageing & menopause
- Straining
- Poor toileting habits
- Neurological conditions e.g. multiple sclerosis, spina bifida, dementia
- Irritable bowel syndrome or Crohn’s Disease
- Faecal/Anal Incontinence
- Post Defecatory Soiling
- Flatal Incontinence
- Urge Faecal Incontinence
- Urgency
- Defecation dysfunction
- Constipation
- Dysynergic Defecation
- Pre or post surgical care
- Manage your risk
- Practice optimal defecation dynamics
- Visit a Women’s and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist!
Physiotherapy management under the guidance of a Women’s Health Physiotherapist can help identify the issues contributing to your symptoms, and prescribe a specific management plan to help you embrace life.
What Can Embrace Physiotherapy Do for You?
- A thorough assessment to establish your goals, pelvic floor requirements and treatment plan
- Design of a personalised pelvic floor muscle exercise program
- Progression of your program and application to daily activities
- Instruction in a more effective way to empty your bowel which may include balloon therapy
- Advice to improve stool consistency
- Use special equipment to optimise your pelvic floor function such as TENS, electrical stimulation, anal plugs, and balloon retraining
