5 Types of Urinary Incontinence
The three most common types of urinary incontinence I see in the clinic are: Stress, Urge, and Mixed.
#1 Stress incontinence
This is the most common type of leakage and often occurs with laughing, coughing, sneezing, or exercise. This can occur for a few reasons. Weak pelvic floor muscles. Tight pelvic floor muscles. A combo of both. It could also be poor pressure management (i.e. holding your breath with activity like rolling in bed or picking up something heavy), poor posture, decreased hip and abdominal muscle strength. There are a lot of things that can be contributing to this type of leakage. This is why I encourage people to seek out someone trained to treat the pelvic floor muscles and not just settle for doing kegels at every stoplight. I have seen people as young as 15 for this; anyone can experience stress incontinence.
#2 Urge incontinence
This is leakage when you have a strong sudden urge to pee and it’s difficult to push off. I often see this when people have “triggers”. People literally call this ”key in the door syndrome” because it occurs with triggers, and a VERY common one is getting home and seeing your door. I also hear people have this while washing dishes, showering, or even hearing someone else flush the toilet.
#3 Mixed incontinence
This is combination of multiple types of incontinence. It can be any type, but I typically see this as a combination of stress and urge incontinence.
#4 Functional incontinence
This is leakage due to not being able to get to the bathroom quick enough. This typically happens due to weakness of someone’s core and legs. I often talk to people with this about barriers in the pathway to the bathroom such as rugs or cords to keep them safe.
#5 Overflow incontinence
This is due to the bladder muscle not having the strength or coordination to fully empty and is related to nerve damage. The damage can be at the spine or bladder and I’ve seen it in people with diabetes, MS, Parkinson’s, and CP. It isn’t always extreme or caused by an extreme disease but can be the effect of holding your voids for extended periods of time over and over again.
Questions? This is not medical advice for you. If you have any of these, seek out a pelvic PT or OT. I’d love to help you find someone!
