{ Elaine Miller, Physiotherapist and Comedian from Edinburgh. i Correspondence to: Elaine Miller, E: gussetgrippers@gmail.com Declaration of competing interests: None declared. } FEATURE ARTICLE Comedy and continence – don’t make me laugh I ’m a pelvic physiotherapist and, in a fit of temper, I wrote a comedy show about pelvic floors after having yet another woman say to me: “I’ve been leaking since my baby was born.” “How old is your baby?” “He’s 47…” It is frustrating that people put up with bladder and bowel symptoms which interfere with their day to day life for years. Conditions which we know often respond to conservative treatment. Studies find that between 11-50% [1] people will seek help, the wide variance doubtless due to cultural, social and healthcare system factors. In the UK 15-32% seek help whilst an average of one in three women have symptoms of leakage [1]. Here’s the thing that I just don’t understand – if we know that advice and pelvic floor exercises are effective front-line treatment for incontinence [2], then why do so many women remain wetting themselves? There are more leaky ladies than those This graphic represents all the women in the world with a pelvic floor. Those in pink are women who leak. Those in red represent the few who actually sought help. who have the common cold! In 1998 the World Health Organization stated that incontinence is a largely preventable and treatable condition and “certainly not an inevitable consequence of ageing” [3]. The Continence Foundation of Australia surveyed 130 women who were engaging with antenatal care, and, as part of that, being educated about pelvic health. They found that 2% of them followed the advice they were given [4]. TWO PERCENT! We’re just not getting the message out there and that’s a problem because incontinence trebles the likelihood that women will need antidepressants to treat postnatal depression [5]. The National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines state that pelvic floor education should be delivered with antenatal care [6]. In my opinion, based on my own N=1 study, that is flawed. Women who are having their first baby are only really interested in information pertaining to labour and breastfeeding. Pelvic floor exercises will be shelved to the ‘to do’ list. The Fed up of high sanitizing costs and autoclaving waiting time? Benefits C&G Medicare Pessary & Sponge disinfecting solution is the answer • Alcohol Free and Non Flammable • Tested Food Safe • Skin safe & ideal for medical devices • Kills up to 99.9999% of bacteria in 30 seconds • Leaves surfaces bacteria free for up to 30 days! • Remains effective even when dry for up to 6 hours on the skin • Kills MRSA and E Coli, Norovirus and NDM1, C-diff, Salmonella & More • Made with 2 active ingredients: Didecyl Dimethyl Ammonium Chloride and Benzalkonium Chloride • Highly cost effective and incredible test data. Pessary fitting clinics find it difficult to have to wait for pessaries to be autoclaved and this has an impact on the patient if there are no fitting kits ready. Pessary & Sponge disinfecting solution is the answer not only cutting waiting time costs but financial costs to the clinic are drastically reduced. Simply soak the pessary/sponge or any other medical device appliance into the solution, wait 30 seconds and remove, it’s as simple as that. Available in 100ml spray, 200ml pour bottle, 500ml Desk, Surface Spray, Dispensers and Cost effective Refills. Come visit us at APOPS 2016 UK CONGRESS - MANCHESTER, UK, JULY 18-19, 2016 and pick up your free sample during our pessary masterclass. As a special Urology News thank you we are offering 50% off registration fees. Enter code APOPS616 when you register via www.pelvicorganprolapsesupport.org For more information about our products and pessary courses please visit www.candgmedicare.co.uk www.urologynews.uk.com UROLOGY NEWS l V20(5) l July / August 2016 21