| Resources For Patients |
| What is Urinary Incontinence? |
| Most adults, especially women have slight and occasional wetting accidents without being clinically incontinent. Nearly everyone has almost wet ourselves because we were bursting with laughter or because we couldn’t make it to the restroom quickly. |
| The International Continence Society (CS) has defined urinary incontinence as involuntary loss of urine to such an extent that it constitutes a social and/or hygiene problem. |
| According to official statistics, an average of 10% of the population suffers from urinary incontinence. However, the real figure is even higher, as urinary incontinence is unfortunately not discussed openly, and statistics are therefore incomplete. |
| The lack of openness is also the reason why incontinence sufferers do not know that kind of help is available and where to obtain medical advice. |
| Each person experiences incontinence differently. Even slight levels of leakage are embarrassing and might result in reduced social activity. |
| Urinary incontinence is often considered a female problem, but this is only party true. In younger age groups, more women than men are incontinent. The percentage of incontinent women of child bearing age is 10-15%, whereas the figure is only about 5% in the case of men of similar age. The differences are equalized around the age of 70, so almost the same amount of men as women experience some loss of continence. |
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| A Little Anatomy |
| Urinary incontinence problems often arise in the lower urinary system, i.e. the urinary bladder and/or urethra. An enlarged prostate in men might also be the cause of urinary incontinence. |
| Two sphincters situated around the urethra help to close the urethra and control urination. Dysfunctional sphincter muscles might cause urinary incontinence. |
| The action of the pelvic muscles is very important. They need to contract quickly and support other organs when leakage risks occur, for example when coughing and sneezing. It is therefore of great importance to maintain the elasticity and strength of these muscles, by means of pelvic floor exercises. |
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| Stress Incontinence |
| Stress incontinence is the most common type of incontinence. It mainly occurs in younger people, especially women. Stress incontinence is defined as the complaint of involuntary leakage on effort or exertion, or sneezing or coughing. The leakage might vary from a few drops to larger amounts, but never a full volume. The cause of such leakage might be slack of weak pelvic muscles, constricted contraction properties of the sphincter around the urethra or hormonal changes. The cause might also be a combination of these. |
| Treatment Options |
| Pelvic floor exercises are often the first treatment alternative. Other treatment methods may include medications, hormonal induction (local estrogen treatment), electric stimulation, or surgical operation. |
| Pelvic exercises are equally important regardless of the treatment provided. It might be necessary to apply smaller incontinent protection products such as underwear or panty liners, insert pads or absorbent underwear to maintain an active lifestyle. Talk to your doctor to learn which treatment options may be right for you. |
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International Continence Society
www.icsoffice.org |
National Association for Continence
www.nafc.org |
Incontinence Support
www.incontinentsupport.org |
Mayo Clinic
www.mayoclinic.com/health/urinary-incontinence/ds00404 |
WebMD
www.webmd.com/urinary-incontinence-oab |
American Physical Therapy Association
www.apta.org |
