Our Approach

Understanding Your Concerns:

We start by listening carefully to you and your child. We want to understand your child’s unique challenges and address any concerns you both may have

These concerns may be:

• Bladder Issues: Daytime wetting, bedwetting, urinary urgency, urinary frequency, painful urination, difficulty emptying the bladder, recurrent UTIs.
• Bowel Issues: Constipation, soiling (faecal incontinence), difficulty with toilet training, toilet refusal.
• Pelvic Floor Issues: Pain in the bladder, bowel, or pelvic floor muscles.

Comprehensive Assessment:

We provide a comprehensive assessment to assess your child’s needs:

• A Detailed History: We’ll ask about your child’s bladder and bowel habits, medical history, diet, fluid intake, toileting routines, and any other relevant information.
• Physical Observation: We’ll observe your child’s posture, flexibility, and movements to identify any potential physical factors contributing to their difficulties.
• A gentle physical examination will be provided if agreed upon: If needed, we’ll gently examine your child’s abdomen and, with your consent, their external genitalia. We may also use real-time ultrasound for a more detailed assessment of their pelvic floor muscles.
• Home Diaries: We may ask you to complete bladder and bowel diaries at home to track your child’s patterns and identify triggers.

We create a Personalised Treatment Plan:

Based on the assessment, we’ll create a tailored treatment plan that may include:

• Education and Advice: We’ll provide clear explanations about your child’s condition, contributing factors, and how to manage them effectively. This may include advice on healthy toileting habits, diet, fluid intake, and appropriate use of laxatives if needed.
• Behavioural Strategies: We’ll teach techniques like bladder training, timed voiding, and reward systems to help your child develop better bladder and bowel control.
• Toileting Programs: We’ll guide you on establishing consistent toileting routines and teach your child the correct toileting techniques.
• Pelvic Floor Muscle Training: We’ll guide your child through exercises to strengthen or relax their pelvic floor muscles, which are essential for bladder and bowel control.
• Breathing Exercises: We’ll teach diaphragmatic breathing techniques to help regulate the pelvic floor muscles and improve bladder and bowel function.
• Bedwetting Alarms: We can incorporate bedwetting alarms into the treatment plan to help your child develop nighttime bladder control, if appropriate.

Collaboration

We can work with your child’s kindergarten or school to develop a continence care plan to support their needs in those settings.

We also work closely with our Occupational Therapist – check out our OT pages for more information.

How Long Will Treatment Take?

The number of sessions required varies from child to child. We’ll schedule regular follow-up appointments to monitor progress, provide ongoing support, and adjust the treatment plan as needed. Your physiotherapist will discuss this with you in detail.