Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence is the inability to retain urine through control of the pelvic floor muscles. This is usually directly related to pelvic floor strength. There are 2 common types of urinary incontinence:

• Stress incontinence: urine leakage due to increased abdominal pressure (i.e. sneezing, laughing, and coughing).
• Urge incontinence: urine leakage with presence of a strong urge to urinate from involuntary bladder action. There is usually a large amount of urine loss.

Several causes of incontinence are:

• Childbearing
• Chronic constipation
• Obesity
• Surgery
• Neurological conditions