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About Incontinence
Bladder Control for Women
Urinary incontinence is an inability to hold your urine and/or faeces until you get to a toilet. It is often temporary, and it always results from an underlying medical condition.
Women experience incontinence twice as often as men. Pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, and the structure of the female urinary tract account for this difference. But both women and men can become incontinent from neurological injury, birth defects, strokes, multiple sclerosis, and physical problems associated with ageing.
Older women, more often than younger women, experience incontinence. But incontinence is not inevitable with age. Incontinence is treatable and often curable at all ages.
Incontinence in women usually occurs because of problems with muscles that help to hold or release urine. The body stores urine (water and waste products removed by the kidneys) in the bladder, a balloon-like organ. The bladder connects to the urethra, the tube through which urine leaves the body.
During urination, muscles in the wall of the bladder contract, forcing urine out of the bladder and into the urethra. At the same time, sphincter muscles surrounding the urethra relax, letting urine pass out of the body.
Incontinence will occur if your bladder surrounding the urethra suddenly relax.
The Types of Incontinence
There are different types of Urinary Incontinence. The most common types are Stress, Urge and Mixed incontinence.
Stress incontinence
Leakage of small amounts of urine when you sneeze, strain, cough , exercise or make sudden movements. It is particularly common in women and occurs when the bladder neck and the other mechanisms that act to hold urine in the bladder are not working properly.
Urge Incontinence
An overactive bladder cause leakage of large amounts of urine at unexpected times, including sleep. You may experience a strong sudden urge to go to the toilet so that you are not able to hold on, or have to go so frequently that it upsets your life.
Mixed Incontinence
A combination of both Stress and Urge incontinence.
Electrical Stimulation
Brief doses of electrical stimulation can strengthen muscles in the lower pelvis in a way similar to exercising the muscles. Electrodes are temporarily placed in the vagina or rectum to stimulate nearby muscles. This will stabilize overactive muscles and stimulate contraction of urethral muscles. Electrical stimulation can be used to reduce both stress incontinence and urge incontinence.
The Stress Incontinence programme is based on strengthening the muscles of the pelvic floor. Once muscular strength has been improved, these muscles are better able to resist urinary leakage caused by external pressure being applied to the bladder.
A lower-frequency current has a beneficial effect in reducing the involuntary contractions in Urge incontinence. It works by slowing down the rate of false signals sent to the brain. A lower frequency is also used as a part of the Stress programme as it improves muscle quality: blood flow and resistance to fatigue are also increased.
Contraindications and Precautions
Incontinence can have many causes. The incontinence stimulator should never be used unless the cause and source of incontinence have been diagnosed by a medical practitioner
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