Urinary Incontinence…A Structural Issue?

Urinary incontinence is something that happens much more often than pet owners realize, and could perhaps be helped through alternative therapies rather than more drastic conventional measures. Whether your pet is elderly or a young stud, incontinence can be a problem. It knows no bounds and can be found in all breeds, sexes and ages. There are multiple types of incontinence, including both urinary and fecal. Today I’d like to discuss urinary incontinence, as it tends to be a more common issue.

Urinary incontinence can be caused by a variety of factors, ranging from:

• structural issues within the nervous system,
• damage to the specific nerve controlling the bladder neck,
• diseases within the urinary system and the kidneys
• bladder and kidney stones

These are just a sampling of the possible causes, but I would like to focus on the structural problem at hand because this is something chiropractic can help.

Often urinary incontinence is misdiagnosed upon presentation. Many doctors automatically assume that the incontinence is age-related or hormone induced. While several cases could be from hormone imbalances, it is not the culprit 100% of the time. Urinary incontinence due to hormone imbalances tend to occur in spayed females and can last a lifetime. If there is permanent damage to the pudendal nerve there may also be incontinence. Females with hormone-based incontinence are often put on medication and expected to take this for life. While they may be affective, these medications can have a huge impact on other organ function and overall cell health.

Before putting your pet on a hormone-regulating medication, it’s always a good idea to try an alternative first. Homeopathics, acupuncture, and chiropractic are wonderful treatments to try before going the conventional route, and more often than not can solve the problem at hand. Homeopathics do so through herbal remedies of the biochemistry within the animal, acupuncture stimulates proper nerve function and energy flow within the body, and chiropractic addresses any structural imbalances that could be contributing to hormone imbalances or bladder dysfunction.

Aside from hormonally induced urinary incontinence there is a big group of animals suffering from structural issues leading to the problem. When a structural shift occurs within the pelvic region, it can in turn alter the function of all the nerves that come from this area. For instance, a shift in the sacrum may close down the opening where the pudendal nerve exits the pelvis. If the opening itself is not affected, perhaps the sacral spinal nerves are, these nerves in turn come together to form the pudendal nerve (much like the sciatic nerve arises from several lumbar nerves in humans).

There is no cut and dry way to look at the nervous system because everything has an affect on everything else. If you take an electrical wire and cut part of it, depending on where it is cut, will determine what kind of malfunction one might see. If the wire is cut near the very end, the power will make it all the way down before it stops working. If the wire is cut right by the outlet, power won’t make it past the first few inches. Either way the item that wire is attempting to power will not work properly. The goal in chiropractic is to address and restore these structural shifts to normal. When these shifts are removed from the pelvis, the urinary incontinence should begin to improve as the sacral spinal nerves are stimulated without interference along the way.

If your pet is experiencing urinary incontinence I highly recommend visiting an animal certified chiropractor. Though it may not always solve the problem, it may be enough to improve nerve function and stimulate bladder control. Without correcting the CAUSE of the problem, the incontinence will never go away, but rather it will continue for a lifetime while being masked by medication. Contact Dr. Christina today if you have any questions (248) 602-0807.

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