Female Urinary Incontinence

Description Female Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine, a condition that is more common in women than in men, among other reasons, because the female urethra is shorter.

Types of urinary incontinence

The types of incontinence, from a symptomatic point of view, can be classified in different ways:

• Stress urinary incontinence.
• Urgency urinary incontinence.
• Overflow urinary incontinence.
• Functional urinary incontinence.
• Mixed urinary incontinence.

When urinary incontinence is associated with an urgent and frequent urge to urinate both day and night, we speak of overactive bladder.

Each typology will be treated differently depending on whether the problem is related to the urinary sphincter and pelvic floor or bladder function. In some cases, patients also report vaginal bulge, this is genital prolapse, which is the descent of the pelvic organs due to weakness of the pelvic floor that supports them and may appear associated with urinary incontinence.

Risk factors of urinary incontinence

Common risk factors include pregnancy, childbirth, gynecological surgery, obesity, trauma or injury, among others. For its treatment, general measures such as weight control, adequacy of fluid intake, physical exercise and pelvic floor individualized to the patient are indicated in a first step.

To understand the functioning of the lower urinary system, we explain below the anatomical elements that interfere with the retention and expulsion of urine:

• Bladder: a hollow organ located in the lower abdomen that can hold up to two cups of urine for two to five hours. It is supported by ligaments attached to other organs and the bones of the pelvis. The walls of the bladder relax and dilate to collect urine, and contract to empty it through the urethra.
• Two sphincter muscles: circular muscles that help keep urine from leaking by closing tightly around the bladder opening.
• Bladder nerves: responsible for telling the person when it is time to urinate and empty the bladder.
• Urethra: the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body. The brain sends signals to the bladder muscles to contract and expel the urine stored in the bladder. At the same time, the brain sends signals to the sphincter muscles to relax and allow urine to flow out of the bladder through the urethra. When all the signals occur in the correct order, the person urinates normally.