Women's Health Physiotherapy

Incontinence

Urinary incontinence is the accidental or involuntary loss of urine from the bladder. It can often be associated with increasing age, pregnancy and childbirth, menopause, cystitis, post surgery or injury. There are two main types of urinary incontinence:

Stress Incontinence
This is the most common form of incontinence affecting both men and women. Stress Incontinence is when the bladder leaks with a cough or sneeze, or during light or strenuous activity that puts strain on the bladder. This is generally due to weakness in the pelvic floor muscles. This can be successfully treated using a series of pelvic floor muscle exercises
Urge incontinence
This involves a strong, sudden need to urinate. The bladder contracts, leading to urine leakage. It can be successfully treated using a combination of pelvic floor muscle exercises and a bladder-retraining programme.