Is Incontinence Normal?

The short answer to this question is no, it is not normal. However, it can be quite common especially after having children.

Many women experience incontinence after having children while doing activities such as jumping, running, sneezing and laughing. And it can be quite embarrassing so we tend to laugh it off as something that is just normal after having kids, and just “part of life”.

However, although it is common, it is not necessarily normal and not something you have to live with.

Incontinence can happen due to weakness in the pelvic floor muscles, and a lack of coordination and strength in the pelvic floor and core muscles. These muscles need to work together to stabilize and support the internal organs. But often that support and ability to sequence together, can become dysfunctional during pregnancy and postpartum. We can work on improving the strength and stability of these muscles to allow them to support those internal organs well, and can reduce and eliminate incontinence.

However, incontinence does not only occur if you have had children. Many women experience incontinence even without having children. This can be due to weakness in the pelvic floor as well that maybe has occurred from sports, weight lifting etc.

We can also notice incontinence and urgency with a significant amount of tension in the pelvic floor. So working on improving mobility and relaxing the pelvic floor can help with this. Which might be the opposite of what you would think.

There are many ways we can improve incontinence, but the great news is that it is not something you have to live with!