Life During Incontinence Treatment: Bladder Training, Exercises and Follow-Up Adjustments

The physiotherapist asked her to keep a diary. Not of feelings, of fluids: every cup of tea, every trip to the bathroom, every leak, for three days. She laughed at first. By the third evening the notebook had told her something a year of worrying had not, which was that most of her accidents happened within twenty minutes of her mid-morning coffee.

That small discovery is what living with urinary incontinence looks like once treatment actually begins. Very little of it is dramatic. Most of it is measuring, practising and returning to a clinic to have the plan nudged in a new direction. People expect a procedure or a prescription; what they are usually handed first is homework.

This explainer walks through that homework honestly: what bladder training asks of you, how many pelvic floor contractions the guidelines actually mean, what medicines can and cannot do, and what tends to change at each follow-up visit.

How treatment works when you are living with urinary incontinence

The bladder is a muscular bag. Its wall, the detrusor, relaxes to store urine and squeezes to empty it. The outlet is held shut by the urethra, a ring of sphincter muscle, and the pelvic floor, the sling of muscle that runs from the pubic bone to the tailbone. Leaks happen for one of two broad reasons: pressure inside the bladder overwhelms an outlet that cannot hold, or the detrusor contracts before you have reached a toilet.

Treatment aims at both ends of that system. Pelvic floor exercises strengthen and quicken the outlet. Bladder training retrains the loop between bladder, spinal cord and brain so that a full bladder becomes a signal you can postpone rather than an emergency. Lifestyle changes remove the irritants and the excess volume that make both jobs harder. Medicines, if needed later, calm the detrusor or tighten the outlet chemically.

Guidance from the NHS, which follows NICE, is deliberately stepwise: conservative measures first, for a defined period, then a review. Before any of that, most clinicians ask for a bladder diary kept for at least three days, recording what you drink, when you pass urine, how much, and when you leak. The NHS describes this as a core part of assessment rather than an optional extra, because the pattern in the diary often decides which kind of training you are given.

What this means in practice is that the first appointment rarely ends with a prescription. It ends with a notebook, a demonstration of how to find the right muscles, and a date to come back. Understanding that sequence up front spares a lot of disappointment.

What is stress urinary incontinence, and how is it different from urge?

Stress urinary incontinence is leakage that happens when physical pressure on the bladder rises suddenly: a cough, a sneeze, a laugh, lifting a grandchild, jogging. The word stress refers to mechanical stress, not emotional stress. The problem sits at the outlet. Weakened pelvic floor muscles or a sphincter that has lost support cannot hold against the surge of pressure, so a small amount escapes. Childbirth, menopause, prostate surgery and chronic coughing are common contributors, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Urge incontinence is different in feel and in mechanism. The bladder muscle contracts when it should be resting, producing a sudden, intense need to pass urine and sometimes leakage before you can respond. Clinicians often use the umbrella term overactive bladder for this pattern of urgency and frequency. The trigger can be as ordinary as running water or turning a key in the front door.

Many people have both, which clinicians call mixed incontinence. Overflow incontinence, where the bladder does not empty properly and dribbles because it is chronically overfull, is a third pattern, more common in men with an enlarged prostate and in people with nerve damage.

The distinction is not academic. Pelvic floor training is the first-line treatment for stress leaks; bladder training is the first-line treatment for urge leaks; mixed incontinence is usually treated according to whichever symptom troubles you most, as the NHS treatment guidance sets out. Medicines that calm the bladder muscle do very little for pure stress leakage, and strengthening exercises alone will not stop a detrusor that contracts on its own. Getting the label right is the whole point of that three-day diary.

What are the symptoms of weak bladder muscles, and what does the phrase actually mean?

People type this question into search engines constantly, and the honest answer is that the phrase covers two quite different problems. Sometimes it means a weak pelvic floor, the muscles that keep the outlet closed. Sometimes it means a weak detrusor, the bladder wall itself, which cannot squeeze hard enough to empty. The two produce different patterns, respond to different treatments, and can only be told apart by examination and, where needed, testing.

A weak pelvic floor tends to show itself under load. Leakage with exertion, a sensation of heaviness or bulging in the pelvis, and difficulty stopping the flow are the things clinicians listen for, as the Cleveland Clinic describes. Weakness here is often a matter of muscle that has stretched, been cut during surgery, or simply lost bulk with age and falling estrogen.

An underactive detrusor looks almost opposite: a slow or hesitant stream, a feeling of incomplete emptying, frequent small voids, and leaks that arrive as a dribble rather than a gush. Diabetes, spinal problems and long-standing obstruction are among the causes. Some people have both a weak floor and a weak detrusor, particularly after pelvic surgery.

None of this can be sorted out at home, and it matters that it is sorted out, because pelvic floor exercises help the first pattern but will not fix a bladder that cannot contract. Your clinician may check how much urine remains after you void, using a bedside ultrasound scan, or refer you for urodynamics, a set of tests that measure pressure and flow while the bladder fills and empties. Treat the phrase weak bladder muscles as a conversation opener with your care team, not as a diagnosis.

Who is usually offered bladder training and pelvic floor exercises first, and who is asked to wait?

Almost everyone. NHS guidance places conservative treatment first for stress, urge and mixed incontinence in women, and pelvic floor training is also recommended for men before and after prostate surgery. Age is not a barrier; older adults are routinely offered training, though the programme may be simplified or supervised more closely.

Pregnancy is not a reason to wait for exercises, since pelvic floor work is encouraged during and after pregnancy, but it is a reason to defer any discussion of surgery. The NHS notes that surgical options for stress incontinence are generally discussed after a woman has completed her family, because further pregnancies can affect the result.

A few situations do put training on hold, or route people elsewhere first:

• A suspected urinary tract infection, because infection itself causes urgency and needs treating before any pattern can be judged.
• Blood in the urine, pelvic pain, or a mass, which need investigation before bladder retraining begins.
• Significant retained urine after voiding, since bladder training that asks someone to hold on longer is unhelpful, and possibly harmful, if the bladder is not emptying.
• Known or suspected neurological disease affecting the bladder, such as multiple sclerosis or spinal injury, where a specialist continence service usually leads.
• Recent pelvic surgery, where the surgical team sets the timing.

Medicines and procedures sit further down the pathway. The NHS position is that drug treatment for overactive bladder is considered when bladder training has not helped enough, and that surgery for stress incontinence is discussed only after pelvic floor training has been tried for the recommended period. That ordering is protective: the conservative steps carry almost no risk, and many people never need to move past them.

How do bladder training exercises work day to day?

Bladder training is the deliberate stretching of the interval between bathroom visits until the bladder tolerates a normal fill without panic. It sounds simple. In the first week it feels anything but.

You start from your diary. If it shows you going every hour, the target for week one might be every hour and a quarter, whether or not you feel the need. The Mayo Clinic describes the technique as delaying urination by about ten minutes when an urge arrives, then gradually lengthening the gaps, with a long-term goal of two and a half to three and a half hours between trips. Scheduled voiding, going by the clock rather than by sensation, is often paired with it.

The hard part is the urge itself. Continence physiotherapists teach a small set of suppression tools:

• Stop moving and, if possible, sit down; a still pelvis quiets the bladder faster than a dash for the door.
• Do several quick pelvic floor squeezes, which send an inhibitory signal back to the detrusor.
• Breathe slowly and turn attention to something else, counting or a task, until the wave passes.
• Walk to the toilet at a normal pace once the urge has settled.

Urges arrive as waves, peak, and subside; riding one out teaches the brain that a full bladder is not a crisis. The NHS advises that bladder training is usually continued for at least six weeks, which is roughly how long the new pattern takes to feel automatic rather than effortful.

Two common additions: double voiding, where you pass urine, wait a moment, then try again, for people who do not empty fully; and timed evening fluid limits for those whose diary shows most leaks at night. Both are adjustments a clinician makes from the diary, not rules for everyone.

Pelvic floor exercises for incontinence: how many, how long, and how do you know you are doing them right?

The numbers in guidelines are more modest than most people assume. The NHS recommends a supervised programme of at least eight contractions, performed three times a day, continued for at least three months. MedlinePlus describes a similar pattern: tighten for about three seconds, relax for three seconds, repeat ten times, three times daily, and expect to notice a difference after roughly four to six weeks. Both sources stress that the exercises must continue after improvement or the gains fade.

Finding the muscles is the first hurdle. The sensation to aim for is the one you would use to hold back gas or to stop mid-flow, a lift and squeeze deep in the pelvis. The buttocks, thighs and abdomen should stay soft, and breathing should continue normally. Holding the breath and bearing down are the two most frequent errors, and bearing down actively pushes the pelvic floor the wrong way.

A physiotherapist can confirm the contraction by internal examination, and this matters: studies summarised by the NHS underpin the advice that supervised training outperforms a leaflet handed over at the door. If you cannot feel a contraction at all, biofeedback, where a small sensor shows your muscle activity on a screen, or electrical stimulation, where a probe delivers a gentle current to trigger the muscle, may be offered to get you started.

Programmes are usually built in two parts. Slow holds, gradually lengthening toward ten seconds, build endurance for everyday support. Fast squeezes, contract and release quickly, train the reflex that catches a cough. The second skill, sometimes called the knack, is taught explicitly: squeeze just before you sneeze, lift or laugh. Do not practise by stopping your stream during urination; MedlinePlus cautions that doing so regularly can interfere with emptying.

What are the most effective treatment options and management plans for urinary incontinence?

Effectiveness depends on the type of leak, how consistently a plan is followed, and what the person considers a good result. Fewer accidents, smaller volumes and more confidence leaving the house are all legitimate goals, and clinicians measure them with the same diary you started with. The table below summarises where each option sits in mainstream guidance; it is not a ranking, and the order of steps is decided by your care team.

Option	Usually offered for	Typical period before judging (guideline source)	Main trade-offs
Bladder training	Urge and mixed incontinence	At least 6 weeks (NHS)	Effort and patience; no physical side effects
Pelvic floor muscle training	Stress and mixed incontinence; men after prostate surgery	At least 3 months (NHS)	Needs correct technique, ideally supervised; must be maintained
Lifestyle changes (caffeine, fluids, weight, constipation)	All types, alongside training	Reviewed with the diary at follow-up (NHS)	Gains are cumulative rather than dramatic
Antimuscarinic or beta-3 agonist medicines	Overactive bladder not controlled by training	Effect reviewed after about 4 weeks (NHS)	Dry mouth, constipation, blurred vision; possible cognitive effects in older adults
Duloxetine	Stress incontinence when surgery is not suitable or not wanted	Set by prescriber (NHS)	Nausea, dry mouth, dizziness; not a first-line choice
Vaginal devices or pessaries	Stress incontinence, especially with prolapse	Fitting and review by clinician	Comfort and fit vary; needs periodic checks
Bladder wall botulinum toxin injections	Overactive bladder resistant to medicines	Specialist review; effect wears off over months (Mayo Clinic)	Risk of incomplete emptying requiring self-catheterisation; repeat treatment
Nerve stimulation (tibial or sacral)	Overactive bladder resistant to other measures	Course of sessions or trial period, specialist-led	Time commitment; implant risks for sacral type
Surgery (slings, colposuspension, bulking agents, artificial sphincter)	Stress incontinence after conservative treatment	Discussed after conservative steps completed (NHS)	Surgical and anaesthetic risk; recovery time; possible new voiding problems

The pattern is clear: the lowest-risk options come first and are given enough time to work. Everything below the first three rows is a conversation with a specialist.

What are the common medications used to treat stress incontinence and urge incontinence?

Here the two types of leak part company sharply. For urge incontinence and overactive bladder, there are two established drug classes. Antimuscarinics, which include generic names such as oxybutynin, tolterodine and solifenacin, block acetylcholine, the chemical messenger that tells the detrusor to contract. By muting that signal they reduce involuntary squeezes. The same messenger works in salivary glands and the gut, which is why dry mouth and constipation are the classic side effects, and why the NHS asks that people be reviewed about four weeks after starting to check both benefit and tolerability. Antimuscarinics also cross into the brain, and clinicians are cautious about them in older adults because of possible effects on memory and concentration.

The second class, beta-3 adrenergic agonists, of which mirabegron is the generic example, relaxes the bladder wall through a different receptor and does not carry the same dry-mouth burden. Blood pressure may rise slightly, so it is monitored. Which class is tried first, and whether either is appropriate, is a decision for the prescriber based on your other conditions and medicines.

For stress incontinence the cupboard is nearly bare. There is no medicine that rebuilds pelvic support. Duloxetine, an antidepressant of the serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor class, increases the tone of the urethral sphincter through its action on nerves in the spinal cord, and the NHS lists it as an option only when surgery is unsuitable or not wanted, because its side effects are common and it works modestly. Postmenopausal women with thinning vaginal tissue may be offered low-strength topical estrogen to improve tissue quality around the urethra, though this is a supportive measure rather than a treatment for the leak itself.

Two rules of thumb sit behind all of this. Medicines for the bladder are adjuncts to training, not replacements. And any change, including stopping because of side effects, is worth a conversation with the prescriber first, since abrupt withdrawal of duloxetine in particular can be unpleasant.

What the first weeks of incontinence treatment usually look like

The first fortnight often feels like a step backwards. Keeping a diary makes you notice every leak you used to shrug off, and learning to contract the right muscles is clumsy at first. People frequently report that they seem worse. They are not; they are measuring for the first time.

By the end of the second week most people can find the pelvic floor reliably and have started stretching bathroom intervals by small increments. Urges still arrive with force, but the suppression routine begins to shorten them. MedlinePlus puts the point at which pelvic floor exercises start to show an effect at around four to six weeks, and that matches what physiotherapists see: fewer leaks with coughing before any change in leaks with running.

Around the six-week mark, the period the NHS gives as the minimum for bladder training, the diary is repeated and compared with the original. This is the first meaningful checkpoint. Intervals of two hours or more, smaller leak volumes and fewer night-time trips are the kinds of change clinicians look for. If nothing has moved, the technique is rechecked before anything is added.

Three months is the checkpoint for pelvic floor training, again per NHS guidance. At this review the options widen: continued training with a maintenance plan if things are improving, supervised sessions or biofeedback if technique has been the problem, medicines if urge symptoms persist, or a referral to a specialist if stress leakage remains troublesome despite good muscle work.

The timeline is not a promise. Some people improve inside a month; others need the full three and then a change of approach. What the ranges do offer is protection against giving up too early, which is the single most common reason conservative treatment appears to fail.

Fluids, caffeine, weight and bowel habits: everyday adjustments while living with urinary incontinence

The instinct is to drink less. It is the wrong instinct, and both the NHS and the Mayo Clinic say so. Concentrated urine irritates the bladder lining and provokes urgency, and dehydration brings constipation, which presses on the bladder and weakens the pelvic floor over time. The advice is to drink normally, spread intake through the day, and shift the balance away from the evening if night-time trips are the problem.

Caffeine is the change most people notice fastest. It is a mild diuretic and a direct bladder stimulant, and the NHS lists cutting down on tea, coffee, energy drinks and cola among first-line lifestyle measures for urge symptoms. Fizzy drinks, alcohol and artificial sweeteners are on the same list as things worth trialling without, one at a time, so the diary can show whether each matters for you.

Body weight sits on the bladder. The NHS recommends weight loss for people with a body mass index of 30 or more as part of incontinence treatment, because extra abdominal pressure loads the pelvic floor with every step. Even modest reductions can lower leak frequency, and the exercises themselves become easier to feel.

Constipation deserves a line of its own. Straining stretches the pelvic floor, and a loaded rectum crowds the bladder. Fibre, fluids and, where needed, treatment prescribed by your clinician are part of continence care, not a side issue. Smoking matters for the same mechanical reason: a chronic cough is a stress test the outlet fails repeatedly.

Pads, absorbent underwear and, for men, penile sheaths are containment, not treatment. They have a place as a bridge while training takes effect, and the skin under them needs washing and drying gently each day to avoid irritation. Treat them as scaffolding you plan to take down.

What gets adjusted at follow-up appointments, and why

Follow-up is where treatment stops being generic. The clinician opens your diary alongside the original, and almost every decision flows from the comparison.

If intervals have lengthened but leaks with coughing persist, the pelvic floor programme is usually intensified: longer holds, more fast squeezes, and a check that the knack is being used before exertion. If the contraction itself is weak or absent on examination, referral for supervised sessions, biofeedback or electrical stimulation follows. Technique is corrected before anything is added, because a poorly performed exercise repeated for three months proves nothing.

If urgency has not settled after six weeks of honest bladder training, medicines enter the conversation. Once started, the NHS asks for a review at about four weeks to weigh benefit against side effects. Dry mouth, constipation or blurred vision that outweigh the gain lead to a switch, most often from an antimuscarinic to a beta-3 agonist or the reverse, rather than an increase. Older adults may have their memory and general cognition checked at the same visit.

Persistent symptoms despite these steps prompt referral for urodynamics, the pressure and flow testing described earlier, which confirms whether the problem is truly an overactive detrusor, a weak outlet, or incomplete emptying masquerading as either. The results shape the specialist options in the table above.

Two things make these visits more productive. Bring the diary, filled in for the three days before, rather than relying on memory. And say plainly what result would satisfy you, because a person who wants to run again and a person who wants a dry night are on different paths from the same starting point. The Mayo Clinic frames treatment choice explicitly around the type, severity and underlying cause; your goals belong in that sentence too.

What people often get wrong about bladder leaks and their treatment

The most damaging misconception is that leakage is a normal part of ageing to be quietly absorbed. It is common with age; it is not normal in the sense of being untreatable, and the NHS and Mayo Clinic both describe it as a treatable medical condition at any age. Delay mainly means more months of pads and fewer options later.

A second error is treating fluid restriction as therapy. It concentrates urine, provokes urgency and invites constipation and infection, all of which make leaks worse.

Third, the belief that stopping your stream mid-flow is a good exercise. It is a one-off test for finding the muscles, and MedlinePlus advises against making a habit of it because it can disturb normal emptying.

Fourth, expecting Kegels to fix everything. They target the outlet. A detrusor that contracts on its own needs bladder training and, sometimes, medicine; muscle strength alone will not stop it.

Fifth, the assumption that more is always better. Overworking the pelvic floor produces a tight, tired muscle that fails to relax properly, and some people with pelvic pain or emptying difficulty need to learn release before they learn contraction. Eight to ten good repetitions, three times a day, is the guideline figure for a reason.

Sixth, that incontinence is a women’s issue. Men leak after prostate treatment, with an enlarged prostate, and with overactive bladder, and the same conservative pathway applies.

Seventh, judging results too early. Four to six weeks for exercises to register and three months to assess them, per MedlinePlus and the NHS respectively, are not arbitrary; they reflect how long muscle and nerve adaptation take.

Last, the idea that medicines replace the exercises. In every mainstream guideline they sit on top of training, never instead of it.

Questions to ask your care team

Appointments are short and the subject is awkward, so it helps to arrive with a list. These are the questions continence clinicians most often wish people had asked.

• Which type of incontinence do you think I have, and what in my diary or examination points to that?
• Am I contracting the right muscles? Can you check, or refer me to someone who can?
• How many contractions, how long each, and how many times a day should I be doing right now, and how will that change over the coming weeks?
• What bathroom interval am I aiming for this fortnight, and how should I handle urges in the meantime?
• Which drinks or habits in my diary are most likely to be contributing, and which one should I trial changing first?
• How much urine is left in my bladder after I void, and does that change what training is safe for me?
• If we get to medicines, which class would you consider for me, why that one, and what side effects would make you want to stop or switch?
• How will we measure whether this is working, and at what point would you consider a referral to a specialist?
• Are any of my other medicines making the bladder worse, and is that something to raise with the prescriber?
• What result is realistic for me, and what would we do if we do not reach it?
• Who do I contact between appointments if something changes suddenly?

Write down the answers. A treatment plan that lives in your notebook next to the diary is one you can follow, adjust and bring back for review. A plan you half-remember from a hurried conversation is the one that quietly stalls.

When to call your doctor

Most of incontinence treatment happens slowly and safely at home, but a handful of changes should not wait for the next scheduled review. Contact your doctor promptly, or seek urgent care, if any of the following occur.

• Visible blood in your urine, whether or not it hurts.
• Burning or pain when passing urine, cloudy or foul-smelling urine, fever, chills or flank pain, which can signal an infection reaching the kidneys.
• A sudden inability to pass urine at all, or a painfully swollen lower abdomen, particularly after starting an antimuscarinic medicine or after any procedure.
• New numbness around the genitals or back passage, new weakness or numbness in the legs, or a sudden change in bladder or bowel control after a back injury or severe back pain; these are emergency signs of nerve compression in the lower spine.
• Sudden new confusion, unsteadiness or falls in an older adult after starting bladder medicine.
• Severe constipation, persistent vomiting, chest pain or a fast heartbeat while on any newly prescribed medicine.
• Leakage that begins abruptly and heavily with no clear reason, especially alongside weight loss, night sweats or pelvic pain.
• Skin under pads that becomes broken, weeping or painful despite good hygiene.

Less urgent, but still worth a call rather than waiting months: a diary that shows no change at all after six weeks of committed bladder training, exercises that cause pelvic pain, or side effects from a medicine that are making you skip it. The prescriber can adjust or switch; stopping silently only hides information the team needs.

Every decision in this article, from how long to persist with training to whether a procedure is appropriate, rests with your treating team. This explainer is meant to make those conversations easier, not to replace them.

Frequently asked questions

What is stress urinary incontinence in plain terms?

Stress urinary incontinence is leakage that happens when sudden physical pressure, such as a cough, sneeze, laugh or lift, overwhelms a weakened bladder outlet. The word stress refers to mechanical strain, not emotion. It is usually linked to a pelvic floor or sphincter that has lost strength or support after childbirth, menopause or prostate surgery, and pelvic floor muscle training is the first-line treatment in mainstream guidance.

What are the common medications used to treat stress incontinence?

Very few medicines treat stress incontinence directly, because no drug rebuilds pelvic support. Duloxetine, a serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, can increase sphincter tone and is listed by the NHS only for people for whom surgery is unsuitable or unwanted. Topical vaginal estrogen may be offered to postmenopausal women to improve tissue quality. Whether either is appropriate is a decision for the prescribing clinician after conservative treatment has been tried.

What are weak bladder muscles symptoms, and how are they assessed?

The phrase can mean a weak pelvic floor, which tends to leak under exertion, or a weak bladder wall, which empties poorly and dribbles. The two need different treatments and cannot be told apart at home. Clinicians use a bladder diary, an examination, a scan of how much urine remains after voiding and sometimes urodynamic testing to identify which pattern is present before choosing training or medicine.

How do bladder training exercises actually work?

Bladder training stretches the time between bathroom visits in small, planned steps so the brain learns that a full bladder is a signal to postpone rather than an emergency. When an urge arrives you stand or sit still, do a few quick pelvic floor squeezes, breathe slowly and wait for the wave to pass. The NHS advises continuing for at least six weeks, guided by a diary, before judging the result.

How long do pelvic floor exercises for incontinence take to work?

MedlinePlus suggests most people start to notice fewer symptoms after about four to six weeks of daily practice, while the NHS recommends continuing a supervised programme for at least three months before deciding whether it has helped. Improvement usually appears first with coughing and sneezing and later with more strenuous activity. The exercises need to continue afterwards, because the gains fade if the muscles are no longer worked.

What are the most effective treatment options and management plans for urinary incontinence?

Mainstream guidance places bladder training, pelvic floor muscle training and lifestyle changes first for all types, given for defined periods and reviewed with a diary. Medicines for overactive bladder come next if urge symptoms persist, followed by specialist options such as botulinum toxin injections, nerve stimulation or surgery for stress leakage. Which path is most effective depends on the type and cause of your leaks, so the plan is individual and set by your care team.

Should I drink less water to stop leaking?

No. Both the NHS and the Mayo Clinic advise against restricting fluids as a treatment. Concentrated urine irritates the bladder and provokes urgency, and low fluid intake causes constipation, which presses on the bladder and strains the pelvic floor. The better approach is to drink normally, spread intake through the day, reduce caffeine and alcohol, and shift fluids earlier in the evening if night-time leaks are the problem.

Why does my clinician want me to keep a bladder diary?

The diary records what you drink, when you pass urine, roughly how much, and when you leak, usually for at least three days according to NHS guidance. It reveals patterns you cannot recall accurately, such as leaks clustering after coffee or most trips happening at night, and it distinguishes stress from urge patterns. Repeating it at follow-up is the main way your team measures whether the plan is working.

What side effects do overactive bladder medicines cause?

Antimuscarinic medicines commonly cause dry mouth, constipation and blurred vision, and clinicians are cautious about memory and concentration effects in older adults. Beta-3 agonists avoid most of those but can raise blood pressure slightly. The NHS asks for a review about four weeks after starting to weigh benefit against tolerability. Any side effect that makes you want to stop is worth discussing with the prescriber rather than stopping on your own.

Can men use the same bladder training and pelvic floor programme?

Yes. Men leak after prostate surgery, with an enlarged prostate and with overactive bladder, and the NHS recommends pelvic floor training for men before and after prostate procedures. Bladder training and lifestyle changes apply in the same way. The muscles are found with the same lift-and-squeeze sensation, and supervised teaching by a continence physiotherapist is just as useful for men who struggle to locate them.

References

• NHS: Urinary incontinence, treatment
• NHS: Urinary incontinence, overview
• MedlinePlus: Kegel exercises, self-care
• NIH NIDDK: Treatment for bladder control problems (urinary incontinence)

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.