A Brief Overview of Urinary Incontinence

One of the most common issues women deal with after childbirth is urinary incontinence, caused by hormone changes and the weight of the fetus during pregnancy, and by damage to bladder muscles during traditional delivery. It is a mild problem, and more of an annoyance than anything, but it is a major irritation to new mothers, as it can last for months or even years after giving birth.

The term urinary incontinence covers a range of conditions, including urge incontinence (sudden urges to urinate that are so severe you can’t get to the bathroom on time), overflow incontinence (the inability to empty the bladder) and stress incontinence. After childbirth, the kind of incontinence most often experienced by new mothers is stress incontinence.

Stress incontinence means that you leak urine when you exert stress on the bladder. Coughing, sneezing, or lifting a heavy object (like a baby) can all place stress on the bladder, causing urine to leak out because the sphincter muscle of the bladder has been weakened.

Usually, stress incontinence after pregnancy is a temporary condition, but it can potentially lead to complications. Excessive urine leakage can cause skin irritation. Many women change their behaviors and refrain from activities – including vigorous physical exercise and sex – that place stress on their bladders. Therefore, it is important that women who experience incontinence after pregnancy have the situation evaluated by a doctor.

In severe cases, medical treatments are available that can reverse or at least significantly reduce urinary incontinence. However, most doctors will resort to these treatments only after trying to solve the problem with behavior modification, such as bladder training, and physical rehabilitation, such as Kegel exercises. In most cases, these methods are effective solutions to stress incontinence, and more aggressive medical treatments are not needed.

Bladder training is intended to ensure that your bladder is as empty as possible, meaning that there is less urine to leak out when stress occurs. Most often, this means using the bathroom often, and at specific times during the day – called “timed voiding.”

Kegel exercises are by far the most common and most effective treatment for stress incontinence. Kegel exercises consist of contracting and clenching the vaginal muscles used for controlling the flow of urine. Like any workout, repetitive, targeted exercise helps to strengthen these muscles, and as they grow stronger they become more able to seal the bladder and prevent leakage.