Incontinent? Please Take a Seat

What looks like a fairly ordinary chair may be the high-tech answer to a vexing medical prob- lem suffered by an estimated 17 million Americans. Urinary incontinence (leakage) is often caused by weakened pelvic floor muscles and affects one in four women ages 30 to 59. Stress incontinence - the most common form - can be brought about by childbirth, heavy lifting, obesity, certain exercises, pelvic surgery or decreased levels of estrogen that can occur during menopause. Men can be prone to the condition following prostate surgery.

According to Patricia Gilhooly, MD, assistant professor of surgery/urology at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, a highly effective treatment for the condition is a regimen of Kegel exercises to strengthen these muscles. (Kegels call for contracting the perineal muscles, then relaxing them over and over again.) "Unfortunately, some people don't do the exercises properly, or don't do them consistently-80 to 100 times a day," she explains. That's where a new therapy, based on this proven method, comes in.

Patients sit in the Neocontrol chair fully clothed - perhaps reading Glamour, the Wall Street Journal or HealthState - and let the chair do the exercises for them. There's no pain, but a slight vibration or tapping sensation is felt. The therapy lasts 22 minutes, and is repeated 16 times over an eight-week period.

The chair, which is quite comfortable, works by focusing pulsing magnetic fields at the nerves and stimulating the muscles of the pelvic floor. The muscles contract and relax with each magnetic pulse. The prescribed regimen has been shown to completely cure incontinence in some patients, significantly improving it in others. Some may have to repeat the treatments periodically.

Other treatments for incontinence include biofeedback, drugs, catheters, implanted artificial sphincters and electrical stimulation devices. According to Gilhooly, the Neocontrol chair received FDA approval in August of 1998, and provides affected individuals with a noninvasive alternative that can provide a major improvement in their quality of life.

She says the most common signs of stress incontinence are leakage of urine when coughing, laughing, sneezing, running, walking or jumping. In addition to rebuilding strength and endurance of the pelvic floor muscles, the chair can also quiet down overactive nerves with magnetic fields, explains Gilhooly. This condition, known as an overactive bladder, is associated with frequency of urination, the sudden urge to urinate, and losing bladder control on the way to the bathroom, called urge incontinence.

"Incontinence isn't going to kill anyone but it can make people really miserable and embarrassed," she says. Sitting down for 22 minutes might just relieve that misery.

For further information, call Karen Long, RN, at 973-972-2888.