Urinary Incontinence in Women

Stress incontinence

Reference Stress incontinence Opens New Window is caused by conditions that stretch the Reference pelvic floor muscles Opens New Window Reference Opens New Window, such as:

• Childbirth.
• Weight gain.

When these muscles can't support your bladder well, the bladder drops down and Reference pushes against the vagina Opens New Window Reference Opens New Window. Then you can't tighten the muscles that usually close off the Reference urethra Opens New Window. So urine may leak because of the extra pressure on the bladder when you cough, sneeze, laugh, exercise, or do other activities.

This is the most common type of urinary incontinence in women.

A chronic cough from smoking can make stress incontinence worse.

Urge incontinence

Reference Urge incontinence Opens New Window is caused when the bladder muscle involuntarily contracts and pushes urine out of the bladder. Many times doctors don't know what causes this. But sometimes the cause is:

• Irritation of the bladder.
• Emotional stress.
• Brain conditions such as Parkinson's disease or stroke.

Overactive bladder is a kind of urge incontinence. But not everyone with overactive bladder leaks urine. For more information, see the topic Reference Overactive Bladder.

Other types of incontinence

Less common types of urinary incontinence have other causes. These types include:

• Reference Overflow incontinence.
• Reference Total incontinence.
• Reference Functional incontinence.
• Reference Anatomical incontinence.

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