Ability Allies

Incontinence Treatment in Seacoast

Leaks, urgency, or always knowing where the nearest bathroom is can feel embarrassing to even bring up out loud. It is a common, treatable symptom, and pelvic floor physical therapy addresses the muscles and habits behind it.

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01What Causes It

What causes incontinence?

Incontinence is not a single condition, it is a symptom with several possible root causes. Sometimes the pelvic floor muscles are too weak to support the bladder during coughing, laughing, or exercise. Other times those same muscles are too tight or uncoordinated to relax fully, which can paradoxically cause urgency and leaking. Childbirth, pregnancy, menopause, prior surgery, and everyday habits like posture and breathing all shape how well this system works.

Physical therapist assessing a patient for incontinence at Ability Allies in Seacoast, NH

Stress incontinence, leaking with a cough, laugh, sneeze, or jump, usually comes from pelvic floor muscles that have weakened from childbirth, pregnancy, chronic straining, or age. These muscles act like a hammock supporting your bladder, and when their strength drops, they cannot hold firm under sudden pressure. Targeted strengthening addresses this directly.

It may seem counterintuitive, but muscles that are gripped too tightly can cause urgency and leaking just as often as weak ones. A pelvic floor that cannot fully relax struggles to coordinate properly, which confuses bladder signals. This is why strengthening alone is not always the right first step, and why an accurate assessment matters.

The stretching and pressure the pelvic floor experiences during pregnancy and vaginal delivery changes its strength and support, sometimes for months or years afterward. This is common and it is not permanent. With guided rehabilitation, these muscles recover their strength and coordination very well.

Declining estrogen thins and weakens the tissues that support the bladder and urethra, which is why incontinence often becomes more noticeable around menopause even without a new injury or event. Physical therapy addresses the muscular side of this support system directly.

Repeated pressure on the pelvic floor from a chronic cough, straining with constipation, or high-impact exercise like running can gradually overload its support capacity. Building the pelvic floor's endurance and adjusting technique for these activities both reduce the load it has to absorb.

Therapist treating a patient for incontinence at Ability Allies in Seacoast, NH

02How PT Helps

How physical therapy in Seacoast helps.

Incontinence is common, but it is not something you have to simply manage with pads and planning your day around bathroom access. Your evaluation starts with understanding your symptoms, what triggers leaking or urgency, and what your daily habits and history look like. From there, treatment is built around what your pelvic floor actually needs: some people need to build strength and coordination in weak, understretched muscles, while others need to learn to release muscles that are gripping too hard. Biofeedback helps you feel and control muscles that are difficult to sense on your own. Manual therapy addresses restrictions in the pelvic floor and surrounding hips and abdomen that affect bladder support. Breathing mechanics are often part of the picture too, since how you manage pressure under load changes how much strain your pelvic floor absorbs. Every part of the assessment, including any internal work, is explained fully and done only with your consent. Most people see real, measurable improvement with a consistent, guided plan.

Pelvic Floor Therapy Manual Therapy Physical Therapy Postural Realignment

03What To Expect

What to expect from your recovery.

Evaluation and understanding your pattern

We talk through your symptoms, triggers, and history, and explain what a pelvic floor assessment involves so you know exactly what to expect, with nothing done without your consent. We identify whether weakness, overactivity, or both are driving your symptoms.

Retraining coordination and strength

Depending on what we find, we build strength in an underactive pelvic floor, teach relaxation to an overactive one, or both. Biofeedback helps you feel and control muscles you may never have consciously worked with before.

Returning to activity with confidence

As control improves, we reintroduce the movements, exercise, and daily activities that used to trigger leaking or urgency. You leave with a home program and the tools to keep progress going on your own.

Pelvic Floor Symptoms

Pelvic floor symptoms worth bringing up.

Leaking with coughing, sneezing, laughing, or exercise; sudden urges that are hard to hold; getting up often at night to use the bathroom; trouble fully emptying your bladder; or a feeling of heaviness or pressure in the pelvis are all signs that the pelvic floor may not be working as well as it could. None of these are something you simply have to put up with. Pelvic floor therapy is a conservative option for many of them. If you also notice heaviness or a bulge, read about pelvic organ prolapse.

When to see your physician first

Blood in your urine, pain or burning when you urinate, fever, or a sudden loss of bladder or bowel control, especially with back pain or numbness in the groin, should be checked by a medical provider right away. Pelvic floor therapy works alongside your physician’s care.

Your Next Step

From leaks and urgency to confidence.

Pelvic floor therapy is the heart of incontinence care, using biofeedback and targeted retraining, with manual therapy for restrictions in the pelvis, hips, and abdomen.

Ability Allies has clinics in Portsmouth, NH, Dover, NH, and Epping, NH. Call (603) 770-0408 about bladder leaks and urgency and we will match you with the right therapist and location. No referral needed in New Hampshire.

Schedule an Evaluation →Call Our Team: (603) 770-0408

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Epping HoursMon–Fri 8am–7pm, Sat–Sun Closed

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ClinicsPortsmouth · Dover · Epping

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