FECAL INCONTINENCE

Basically, fecal (or anal) incontinence is the involuntary loss of liquid, pasty or solid feces. As well as inability to retain gases.

It is not mandatory that any test be carried out to prove incontinence, as the patient’s complaint is sufficient to require treatment.

TYPES OF FECAL INCONTINENCE:

Passive fecal incontinence

When the loss happens unconsciously, without an apparent cause, in such a way that the patient is unable to predict loss situations in order to avoid them.

Urgent fecal incontinence

In these cases, loss occurs when the patient wants to evacuate but cannot close the rectum to contain the feces, even if they try to do so.

mixed fecal incontinence

Concisely, this is when the two types of incontinence described above happen at the same time.

Fecal incontinence soiling

The loss of feces happens soon after a normal bowel movement.

DEGREE OF FECAL INCONTINENCE

• Mild fecal incontinence:

The first complaints are mild, that is, the losses are sporadic, a few times a month; losing liquid or gas stools.

• Moderate fecal incontinence:

When left untreated, losses begin to be more frequent, sometimes a few times a week; and the loss of pasty feces already occurs.

• Severe fecal incontinence:

Consequently, after a long time without treatment, losses become very frequent, daily; even losing solid feces.

SYMPTOMS

Initially, this pathology begins with difficulty retaining gas, causing embarrassment when coughing or sneezing; it can also happen during activities that require some effort such as lifting a weight, jumping, running.

However, in some cases, losses happen for no apparent reason, without the patient feeling it. The patient only realizes the loss after it has already happened.

However, losses can occur preceded by an urgency, due to the fact that the patient does not have the ability to retain the feces when she wants to evacuate. This difficulty is greater if the consistency is liquid or pasty.

In less frequent cases, the person has difficulty retaining solid feces.

CAUSES

In principle, the most common cause is the inadequate functioning of the PERINEUM muscles, due to a weakness of these muscles, the lack of automatic contraction or the lack of reflex strong> muscular, as they are responsible for closing the anus and retaining feces.

Sometimes the losses occur due to a lack of sensitivity in the anal canal, caused by a nerve or muscle injury, causing patients to not be able to perceive gases or feces.

However, patients with pathologies that leave feces with a more pasty consistency or with inflammatory bowel diseases are more likely to have leaks.

However, because they find it embarrassing or because they think it is a normal progression of aging, few patients seek treatment.

Therefore, without adequate treatment, these losses may worsen, leading to social isolation, decreased quality of life and self-esteem. The pathology may eventually worsen and require surgery.

OUR TREATMENTS

The urogynecological physiotherapy is a treatment conservative, without side effects that solves this problem, also serving as a form of prevention< /strong>.

First of all, all our patients are evaluated so that it is possible to find the most appropriate treatment in each case. All of our services are individualized respecting the characteristics and objectives of each patient.

Finally, our treatments aim to improve the contraction capacity of the PERINEUM with the end to close the rectum and prevent loss. For this purpose, electrostimulation is generally used and kinesiotherapy com biofeedback.

We start with simple exercises to contract and relax the pelvic floor muscles, promoting awareness. However we associate these exercises with other movementss, finally we do these standing exercises.

Thus, the difficulty and intensity of the exercises evolves with each consultation following the innovative concept Active Perineal Rehabilitation and Series developed by physiotherapist Dr. Laira Ramos.