You may have the term “over active bladder” before, possibly during a TV ad for a pharmaceutical drug. Over active bladder, or OAB, is a term frequently used to encompass a group of symptoms including urinary urgency, urinary frequency, and urge incontinence. Simply put, over active bladder is just that – a bladder that may be more active than should be expected, primarily due to tightness in your pelvic floor muscles, which in turn pushes on the bladder giving you the signal that you GOTTA GO.
A study found that OAB affects approximately 16% of the adult population, but only 40% of those experiencing symptoms of OAB choose to seek medical help for their symptoms. That’s where we come in! How can pelvic floor PT help with your over active bladder?
One tool we can use to treat these symptoms is called percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation, or PTNS. Those are some big fancy words for a really easy, cost effective, and non-invasive treatment strategy, that can even be used at home with the right equipment. PTNS uses electric impulses through a few sticky pads placed over the surface of the skin to modulate bladder function. As we mentioned above, commonly the symptoms patients experience are caused by tightness in the pelvic floor muscles. A tight pelvic floor muscle can send signals to the brain that the bladder is full, even when it isn’t, producing an urge to urinate. The electrical impulses used by PTNS blocks
the impulses being sent from your brain telling you that you need to use the bathroom ASAP. This happens via the tibial nerve which is one of the nerves that innervates the bladder. You can think of PTNS as running interference on the over active signals coming from your brain that play a role in urinary urgency and incontinence.
PTNS is just one way pelvic floor PT can help treat your over active bladder, urge incontinence, increased urinary frequency, and urinary urgency! Ask us about how else we can help today!
Author: Shannon O’Brien, PT, DPT
References:
BARBOSA SANTOS GARCIA M, SANTOS PEREIRA J. Electrostimulation of the posterior tibial nerve in individuals with overactive bladder: a literature review. Journal of Physical Therapy Science. 2018;30(10):1333-1340.
Eftekhar T, Teimoory N, Miri E, Nikfallah A, Naemi M, Ghajarzadeh M. Posterior Tibial Nerve Stimulation for Treating Neurologic Bladder in Women: a Randomized Clinical Trial. Acta Medica Iranica. 2014;52(11):816-821.
Wooldridge LS. Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation for the treatment of urinary frequency, urinary urgency, and urge incontinence: results from a community-based clinic. Urologic Nursing. 2009;29(3):177-185.