Fecal Incontinence Treatment

There are numerous causes for fecal incontinence:

• Constipation
• Damage to the anal sphincter muscles
• Damage to the nerves of the anal sphincter muscles or the rectum
• Loss of storage capacity in the rectum
• Diarrhea
• Pelvic floor dysfunction

At Health and Performance International in New York City, our therapists offer treatments for dyssynergetic defecation/constipation or pelvic floor dyssynergia, which is characterized by failure of the abdominal, rectal, pelvic floor and anal sphincter muscles to coordinate and complete the act of defecation.

With the use of biofeedback equipment, you will learn how to strengthen and coordinate the muscles involved in dyssynergetic constipation. Our treatment consists in using computer equipment to measure muscle contractions and relaxation while you do exercises to strengthen the rectum and improve rectal sensation by learning to contract muscles at different levels of activity, and to coordinate abdominal muscles and pelvic floor muscles during simulated defecation.

One of the goals is recto-anal coordination to increase the pushing effort as reflected by an increase in abdominal electromyography activity and synchronized relaxation, reflected by a decrease in anal sphincter electromyography activity.