Health Experts Raising Awareness of Incontinence.

Ruth Astbury, a therapeutic and hormone coach in Denbighshire, and two pelvic health physiotherapists in Gwynedd, Faye Cunningham and Lizzie Evans, are sharing their experiences on their new podcast “Oops! I Peed My Pants.” and highlighting what they consider is a serious issue that is often ignored.

“Join Ruth Astbury, therapeutic & hormonal coach, alongside Faye Cunningham & Lizzie Evans, specialist pelvic health physiotherapists from The Pelvic Physios, as we tackle the taboo of female incontinence with honesty, expert advice, and a whole lot of laughs… Launching on Tuesday Feb 18th 2025 on all major podcast platforms & YouTube! “

Women spend about £23,000 on hygiene products for incontinence during their lifetime, they said.

They blamed a lack of education on how to properly perform pelvic floor exercises to strengthen the muscles that support the bladder, bowel and womb.

Faye works for the NHS but also has a private clinic and said the people coming through her door are “embarrassed” by their bladder weakness.

She told Radio Wales Breakfast about a third of women in the UK suffer with bladder weakness.

“They’re feeling frustrated they’ve done pelvic floor exercises but nobody has taught them to do them properly,” she said. The team hope the podcast will remind listeners that urinary incontinence is avoidable. They want women to feel that simple things that we do in life such as “laughing, sneezing, or jumping shouldn’t be a risk”.

“When I went through my perimenopause I had no idea bladder urgency was an issue. Urgency tends to be the first symptom,” Ruth said.

For Faye, it was stress incontinence that first affected her during a gym session. “I had to rush to a class and you know when you need the loo but you ignore it because you’re rushing, I lifted the barbell and it was just too much.”