Urinary incontinence

The purpose of this article is to provide a thorough understanding of urinary incontinence. It is written in layman’s terms and explains the condition, what causes it, how the bladder should operate and how urinary incontinence can be treated with exercises, without invasive surgery.

What is Urinary Incontinence?

In simple terms, urinary incontinence is the involuntary leakage of urine.

When the bladder is functioning correctly, your brain will signal to you when your bladder becomes full. Of course, this naturally results in you taking appropriate action by going to the toilet. However, when suffering from urinary incontinence your muscles and nerve-signalling mechanism does not operate as it is designed to.

When this occurs, you lose control of your bladder which means you begin to pass urine before reaching the toilet. Under normal circumstances you would have no problem in retaining control of your bladder even when recognising it was full and feeling the need to urinate.

Who suffers from Urinary Incontinence?

Urinary incontinence is more prevalent amongst women that men, however men are not totally exempt from the condition. On average there are double the numbers of female sufferers in comparison to male.

Although the condition does not only affect the elderly, it is certainly most prevalent in the older generations. Another common group of people who become affected are woman who have had children in the past.

What is the bladder?

Essentially the bladder is a muscular bag with the responsibility of collecting and holding urine until such time as it can be emptied. In fact, the bladder is located behind the pubic bone at the lowest point of the abdomen, in the middle of the pelvis.

How should the bladder operate?

It helps if you picture and think of the bladder like a balloon. As such, it expands and stretches as it fills with urine from the kidneys. This process takes place constantly throughout the day as a small amount of urine enters the bladder, through tubes in the kidneys. These tubes are called ureters.

Obviously, the exact amount of urine produced during the day depends on a number of factors. The primary factors include: your fluid intake, how much you eat, and the amount of perspiration that takes place over a given period of time.

How much urine can the bladder actually hold?

Simply stated, the bladder relaxes and expands like a balloon which allows it to contain quite a large amount of urine. In fact, when the bladder is full, it will contain about 350ml of urine.

This is the point at which you will feel the urge to use the toilet and empty your bladder. An interesting fact to note is that your bladder will fill up to 280ml without your conscious awareness. This occurs many times during the day.

What causes Urinary Incontinence?

The pelvic floor muscles (found beneath the bladder) assist in holding your urethra and bladder in place. When these muscles become weak it is very likely that urine will begin to leak out from the bladder itself. For this reason, it is important to focus on this area of the body and begin to strengthen the muscles mentioned.

How can Urinary Incontinence be treated?

Treatment can vary depending on the type of urinary incontinence. The other main factors are the health and fitness level of the patient and also how disturbed and uncomfortable the patient has become.

The majority of people who seek help from their local GP see their condition being managed quite effectively (using basic treatment) without needing more serious surgical treatment.

We have already discussed the pelvic muscles involved in urination and the best way to treat the condition is to strengthen those muscles with non-surgical treatment.

These exercises are called pelvic floor muscle exercises, or simply known as kegel exercises.

The simplest way to perform such exercises is as follows:

• First identify and then begin to tighten the muscles of your pelvic floor. To so do, imagine you were trying to stop the flow of urine midstream. Now release the muscles again to let urine flow. In doing so, you are bringing more awareness to the muscles and increasing your control over them.
• By understanding how to control the muscles, you can perform the exercises anywhere without anyone knowing. They are very discreet.
• Note that if your stomach muscles tighten during the exercise, you are not exercising them correctly. Try again without using the stomach muscles.
• During the kegel exercises, tighten your pelvic muscles for 3-10 seconds and then relax for another 3-10 seconds.
• The exercises should be repeated 10-15 times each session and be performed at least 3 times per day.

Pelvic floor muscle exercises can be used anytime during the day, whether you are working or sitting in front of the television. Such exercises pose no risks at all to the health or well being of the person using them.

As such, they are a perfect technique to improving and curing urinary incontinence, regardless of your age. Such exercises are used to treat urge incontinence and stress incontinence.

In fact, they have been shown to have about an 80% success rate in those who use them. The primary key to success is regular repetition.

Should I contact my Doctor?

If you begin to experience more than very occasional episodes of incontinence then you are advised to contact your doctor to arrange an appointment. The doctor will conduct an examination in order to assess the pelvic muscles and organs.

It is also possible that you may be referred to a physiotherapist or an incontinence advisor for further advice and investigation.

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