Knowledge is Power.

Knowledge is Power

I just love the saying “you don’t know what you don’t know!” From a 1999 study by Dunning & Kruger, participants were tested on their knowledge of 4 different topics and then asked to rate their level of confidence in each of those 4 topics.  It turns out the least competent performers were also the ones most likely to overestimate their knowledge. 

This made me think.

I’ll never know everything. I’ll never even know close to everything. And I don’t pretend to.

The bowel and bladder systems are incredibly reflexive and when things are functioning normally, we don’t even have to think about them. If we do think about them it’s often because we’re struggling with a problem. With that often comes embarrassment, shame, and not knowing who to turn to. Symptoms are often minimalized by friends and even sometimes by well-meaning primary care providers. Have you heard: 

“Oh, welcome to getting older!” 

“The golden years….you know, where the only thing golden is….” 

“That’s what having kids will do to ya!”

“Welcome to the joys of menopause!”

Well, there are things you can do to train your body to become more reflexive once again! And it’s not all about Kegels! When urinating, your bladder should contract in order to fully empty. We do not have the ability to directly make our bladder contract, but by using reflexive stimulation, did you know that scratching your lower back or inner thigh can cause a reflexive bladder contraction to help your bladder fully empty?

And did you know that when you really have to pee urgently all of a sudden, you can sit with good posture, quick flick your Kegel muscles (up, down, up, down, etc) 5-6 times in a row, then relax and take a deep breath in order to reduce (or eliminate) the urge to pee? Repeating this cycle a couple times and the urge will subside. 

So, our bodies may have once used reflexes to operate our bladder and bowel system without a single volitional thought but now requires some training to gain those functions back. This can sometimes take only 2 weeks!!  So what are you waiting for? Or have you thought, “Ah, this pelvic PT thing….it’s just about Kegels and I’ve been doing them for years, they don’t work for me”. Could it be a “you don’t know what you don’t know” moment?