About Incontinence - Treatment / Management Options - Biofeedback
Medical Reviewer: Diana Hankey-Underwood, MS, WHNP-BC
Biofeedback is used to treat many conditions such as headaches, high blood pressure, and incontinence. Biofeedback helps you learn how to control certain functions in the body. You can get information from a machine that translates body functions into pictures or numbers to help you learn to do this.
Biofeedback is done in a medical office. You are given a small sensor to place in the vagina or anus. The probe senses what your muscles are doing and sends a signal to a computer screen. The display on the screen might be something like a colored ball. As you squeeze your pelvic floor muscles, the computer shows the ball becoming bigger or smaller. By watching the display you learn how to do the pelvic floor exercises correctly. There are machines that you can use at home after you begin to learn how to do this. Some do not use computers and are not very expensive.
Who?
Using biofeedback machines you can learn how to do pelvic floor exercises the right way. Doing these exercises will make your entire pelvic area stronger. These exercises sound simple, but many people do not do them the right way without biofeedback or an expert showing them how. Biofeedback can really help people with stress incontinence.
The Pros
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You get one-on-one attention from a trained professional.
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He or she can help you learn how to do the exercises correctly.
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He or she can share ideas about how to cope because they work with many people with the same problem.
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If you have a hard time remembering when to do your pelvic floor exercises, this training will help.
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If you are a person who learns best by seeing, biofeedback can be a big help.
The Cons
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Not all insurances pay for these services. Some people don’t have any insurance and the cost may be too high.
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Some people find the idea of inserting a probe to be too embarrassing.
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Keeping a regular schedule and doing what you are told is the only way to get better.
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Getting better takes time and most people get better a little bit at a time.
Diana Hankey-Underwood, MS, WHNP-BC, is Executive Director of Grace Anatomy, Inc. She was recently awarded two National awards: the Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health Bayer Health Care 2007 Inspiration in Women’s Health Award and the National Association For Continence 2007 Continence Care Champion (CCC) award.
Her current work includes research on results of pelvic floor surgery, teaching classes on incontinence and working with international surgeons on improving the outcomes for children born with birth defects of the genitourinary and GI systems.
Page last modified 26 July 2009