Do You Laugh Without Leaking?
We’ve just wrapped up World Continence Week at the clinic! Patients were able to help themselves to free fruit in the reception and also grab brochures and information packs on how we can help everyone “Laugh Without Leaking” with our Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy.
Throughout Australia, there were over 200 registered events that bought awareness to incontinence.
Bev Killet
Comedian Bev Killett is the Continence Foundation Ambassador and uses humour to overcome the stigma and get people talking about their bladder, bowel and pelvic floor issues. “There are different kinds of incontinence,” Bev shares. “It can be emotionally based [in terms of the brain’s alerts to the body], it can be impulse related – meaning you don’t get the right alerts when you need to. I was told that I had a weak bladder and I had to go to the toilet a lot when I was a kid. Bev had thought it was something she had to just live with until she enlisted the help of Shan Morrison from Melbourne-based Women’s and Men’s Health Physiotherapy, who focuses on pelvic floor issues. Bev has taken control of her incontinence, and after consulting with her physio she was relieved to discover it’s treatable. Shan is positive about the improvements that individuals like Bev can achieve with treatment. “It is a very active treatment in that the person needs to adopt or adhere to a pelvic floor program that is individually designed,” Shan says.
Aged Care Minister and Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt
On June 18, the Aged Care Minister and Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt today called on the one in four Australians affected by incontinence to make sure they seek help and receive the support available to live life to the full and learn to “laugh without leaking”.
Launching World Continence Week in Australia, Minister Wyatt said the condition affected more than five million people across the country but was a silent burden for too many people. “The Government is providing in excess of $14 million over four years from 2016-17 until 2019-20 to ensure all Australians have access to the information and support they need to get help for continence problems,” said Minister Wyatt.