Incontinence is the accidental or involuntary loss of urine from the bladder (urinary incontinence) or bowel motion, faeces, or wind (flatus) from the bowel (faecal or bowel incontinence).
The term incontinence is derived from from the latin word 'incontinens'. This means 'being unable to retain something'.
Incontinence is not a disease. It may be a result of one. This is why it is important to search for the reasons of incontinence as may be previous childbirth, bladder stones, bladder inflammation, excessive cosumption of alcohol or caffeine containing beverages or other diseases.
By the way, having incontinence does not make you any less valuable as a person. In fact, it is the other way 'round! Living with incontinence gives you insight into the challenges other face in their lives.
Urinary incontinence a common problem
Incontinence affects many of us. People of all ages, cultures and backgrounds may experience incontinence.
Women are prone to bladder and bowel problems earlier in life than men as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. Amongst older men and women, however, the number of people with incontinence is fairly even for both sexes.
More than 2 million people in Australia are currently suffering from incontinence. Above the age of 65 almost every third person is affected.
Emptying the bladder - an essential task of our body
The urinary system
Bladder and pelvic floor
To get an understanding of incontinence one has to know how a healthy bladder works. In the following you will learn about the bladder and the pelvic floor muscles and their tasks, for they play a most important role in your waterworks.
Your kidneys are producing urine continuously to remove waste and water from your body. It is then led through the two ureters to the bladder.
The bladder is a very expandable, hollow storage organ which sits in your pelvis. It consists of several muscular layers with a mucosa membrane in its interior. When your bladder is full and you go to the toilet, urine leaves the bladder through a tube called the urethra. Urination is controlled by muscles (urethral sphincters) located at the base of the bladder and in the wall of the urethra. These normally stop the flow of urine. Usually, these muscles close off the neck of the bladder and the urethra - like a tie around the bottom of a balloon - urine will not leak. When the sphincters relax, they open the passage for urine. At the same time, the muscles of the bladder wall contract (squeeze) and force the urine out of the bladder. When urination is finished, the sphincters contract again and the bladder muscles relax. Urine flow stops. All this is controlled by your brain, conciously and sub-conciously. It sends messages to tell it when to hold on and when to empty.
Thus, an intact functioning of the bladder requires not only healthy bladder muscles but also a working neural system, for it plays an important role in controlling the process of emptying the bladder.
