Incontinence Overview, Risk Factors And Kegel Exercises

Incontinence

Urinary incontinence (uncontrollable loss of urine) is a common disease among women. One in three women suffer from urinary incontinence but fortunately there are many effective treatments for this condition. Urinary incontinence is more common in women (especially young women) than men, with a ratio of 5:1. The physiological micturition number is usually 6-9 per day. Obviously, if fluid consumption increased, the micturition number will increase. In women, the number of physiological urination increases with age.

There are two main types of urinary incontinence:

• Stress incontinence (effort) – due to physical stress such as coughing, sneezing, jumping, lifting weights, etc.
• Urge incontinence – also called neurologic bladder (a sudden muscle contraction bladder) that causes the sensation to urinate and urinary incontinence or detrusor instability (bladder detrusor is the muscle that stops the flow of urine).

There are other types of incontinence as well but those are rare.

Risk Factors

UTIs usually worsen incontinence. On the other hand, one of the symptoms of urinary infection is incontinence. In this case, incontinence improves after appropriate treatment of the urinary infection. A more difficult clinical situation occurs in older women, as one of five women around the age of 65 years have repeated urinary infections. The question here is whether urinary infections are the cause of incontinence or not. If the incontinence does not get better after treatment of recurrent urinary tract infections (most often asymptomatic in older women) the conclusion is that there is no cause-effect relationship between the urinary infections and incontinence.
Interstitial cystitis can’t be a cause of urinary incontinence. If these coexist in the same woman, they are two completely different diagnoses.

Kegel Exercises

Kegel exercises are very effective in treating urinary incontinence. The most important thing is that they are done correctly and for an extended period of time. The role of these exercises is to reinforce the pelvic muscles. Results are visible after about 2-3 months of practice. The doctor is the one who guides patients on how to execute these exercises correctly. Unfortunately, one in three women use this technique without being guided.

How to perform Kegel exercises correctly?

Experts say that these exercises can be done anywhere, but can be quite difficult for beginners. For this reason, for starters, it is better for woman to lie down with one hand on her abdomen to check abdominal muscle relaxation. The exercise consists of pelvic muscle contractions done in the same way that stops the flow of urine during urination. Contraction cycles should be maintained for 4 seconds, followed by relaxation of muscles for 4 seconds and they should be repeated over a period of 5 minutes. These exercises should not be done during urination because they can cause urinary dysfunctions. After a period of 2-3 months, when the muscles are toned enough, women should use this as an advantage in everyday life. For example, they should contract their pelvic muscles before coughing, lifting heavy objects, or other situations in which would cause them urinary incontinence before they practiced these exercises. If the exercises were practiced for a long enough period and in an appropriate manner, resulting in the toning of the pelvic muscles, urinary incontinence will disappear.