Treatment of urge incontinence in women

Urge incontinence is caused by overly active or irritated bladder muscles. Its most common symptom is the frequent and sudden urge to urinate, with occasional leakage of urine. Mixed incontinence can occur when there is muscle weakness and an uncontrollable need to void the bladder.

Key diagnostic factors include the presence of risk factors, involuntary urine leakage on effort, exertion, sneezing, or coughing, involuntary urine leakage accompanied by or immediately preceded by urgency and the frequency to urinate (BMJ, 2020). Other diagnostic factors include presence of nocturia, abnormal bulbocavernosus and wink reflexes, weakened sphincter tone and chronic heart failure (BMJ, 2020). Risk factors include older age, white ethnicity and obesity (BMJ, 2020).

This type of urinary incontinence may be caused by changes in anatomical support and/or neuromuscular function of the pelvic floor, or it may be idiopathic (BMJ, 2020). There is a high incidence of stress and urge incontinence in women with chronic lower back pain, caused by poor motor control in the local lower back and pelvic floor muscles responsible for continence while also supporting the spine. Therefore, both problems are often treatable with transverses abdominus exercises, known as core stabilising exercises (Australian Menopause Society, 2013).