Stress Incontinence

About stress incontinence

Stress incontinence means you leak urine when there is increased pressure on the bladder, for example, during exercise, when coughing or laughing. It happens because the pelvic floor muscles that support the bladder and sometimes the sphincter muscle at the neck of the bladder have weakened and are unable to hold back the flow of urine, particularly when there is pressure. Stress incontinence is very common in women, often due to a weak pelvic floor following childbirth. Men can have stress incontinence too, commonly after surgery. For both, there is a wide range of different options and because stress incontinence is caused by changes to the function of the pelvic floor, we consider stress incontinence in women and stress incontinence in men in distinct sections, including the effective solutions which are available.