Urinary incontinence | Blog — Clínica Traña

When we talk about urinary incontinence, it is not necessarily soaking through completely; it includes even a few drops or a small stream. Incontinence is any involuntary loss of urine, however small.

We often associate urinary incontinence with age, but that is not always the case. The symptom appears when there is weakness in the pelvic floor muscles.

We can divide urinary incontinence into two main types:

- Urgency urinary incontinence: leakage is preceded by an overwhelming sensation, an urgent need to urinate, and often there is no time to reach the toilet or even finish lowering clothing. This type is strongly related to overactive bladder syndrome.

- Stress urinary incontinence: leakage with physical effort, from a sneeze, cough, jump or even laughter.

What can lead to this type of incontinence?

When the pelvic floor muscles are not strong enough, they cannot close the urethra, the passage from the bladder to the outside, so leakage occurs.

When we cough or sneeze, pressure inside the abdomen increases downward onto the pelvic floor; if it is weak it cannot hold and urine leaks.

Some activities increase the risk of stress urinary incontinence because they constantly raise pelvic floor pressure. These include:

Athletics
Weightlifting
Artistic gymnastics
Basketball
Volleyball
Moving heavy objects

Some tips that help improve these symptoms:

A pelvic floor rehabilitation process.
Choosing lower-impact physical activity or sport.
Good postural hygiene and management of pressures generated in the body for daily activities that require it.

Treatments we use:

Radiofrequency: energy transfer that stimulates microcirculation in the organ treated and thus improves oxygenation, vascularisation and collagen and elastin production, helping restore adequate function of the organ involved and of the pelvic floor musculature.

Tesla Care: an electromagnetic-field device used to speed pelvic floor strengthening through contractions applied to the pelvic muscles.

Biofeedback: a tool that helps re-educate and train the pelvic muscles, so the patient can see the degree and quality of muscle contraction on a screen that guides different types of contractions.

Therapeutic exercise: fundamental, because it not only improves muscle strength and endurance, but also teaches how to manage pressures generated in the body during effort.