9 things you may not have known about the bladder and bladder health:

1. The bladder is actually a "storage sac" and it has it's own range of motion.  Things that can limit the bladder's range of motion include scars, pregnancy, a mass, and constipation, to name a few.

2. More than 33 million adults in the U.S. have overactive bladder (OAB).

3. The tube through which urine moves through the bladder to outside the body is called the urethra.

4. The bladder is always filling and there will always be a little bit of urine left in the bladder when we feel like we are done urinating.  Don't try pushing or forcing the "last little bit" out.  Just relax when peeing.

5.  Doing pelvic floor muscle contractions ("Kegels") while peeing is NOT a good idea.  It can interrupt reflexes between the brain and the bladder.

6. 25% of young women, 44-57% of middle-aged women and postmenopausal women, and 75% of older women in nursing homes experience some degree of urinary incontinence. (Urinary Incontinence New Hope, 2012).

7. A study of 144 women who had never been pregnant with an average age of 19.9 years found that 28% reported urine loss during sports.  40% noticed urinary incontinence in high school and 17% in junior high.  Sports ranked by percentage of women experiencing urinary incontinence from highest to lowest: Gymnastics: 67%, basketball: 66%, tennis: 50%, field hockey: 42%, track: 29%, swimming: 10%, volleyball: 9%, softball: 6%, golf: 0% (Nygaard et al, 1994).

8. Bladder re-training is helpful for treating stress, urge and mixed urinary incontinence (Part of Pelvic Floor PT)

9. The American Urological Association (AUA) Guidelines in 2014 recommended first line of treatment for overactive bladder as behavioral therapy.  This is included in pelvic floor physical therapy and consists of bladder training, bladder control strategies, pelvic floor muscle training, and fluid management.  (Gormley, 2014).