Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence, the loss of bladder control, can also be called enuresis is a problem with many different age groups. This is caused by sympathetic dysfunction. Sympathetic dysfunction affects many systems of the body such as the the cardiovascular, reproductive, and even urinary. Enuresis is a medical term used more towards children meaning involuntary urination, referred to bedwetting most of the time (Silverthorn, 2013). The International Continence Society defines incontinence as “a condition in which involuntary loss of urine is a social or hygienic problem and is objectively demonstrated (Viktrup, 1993).” Incontinence is also very common once a woman becomes pregnant and throughout postpartum. Postpartum is the six week period

A lot of the incontinence is caused majorly by stress while it is also proven that it is caused by the increased pressure from the fetus that is growing and the pressure it is putting on the bladder. The growing fetus puts pressure on majority of the abdominal and lower abdominal region of a woman 's body. The pressure may temporarily cause leakage during pregnancy. Not only the pressure of the fetus, there are associations of low pelvic floor muscle strength with stress urinary incontinence during pregnancy and postpartum. Many state that the prevalence of urinary incontinence rises during pregnancy and declines after childbirth. Research states that the prevalence of urinary incontinence is higher after delivery than before gestation (Mørkved and Bø, 1999). However, many are unaware that there is such an issue during

The study was conducted in 1989 for a 6 month period. It consisted of 305 pregnant women between ages 17-41 with the median age of 26. These women were questioned about their urinary symptoms prior to being a part of the study. A few of the questions they were asked were: “1) whether they had urinary incontinence or frequency of voiding before, during pregnancy and/or after delivery; 2) whether incontinence was provoked by physical stress or accompanied by strong desire to void (urgency); c) whether they had daily incontinence; d) whether the incontinence had been a hygienic or social problem (Viktrup, 1999).” The researched defined frequency as voiding seven or more times during the day and two more times during the night. 293 women were interviewed (305 pregnant women originally conducted the questionnaire) three months after delivery giving time to obtain results for the postpartum period. Considering that the type of delivery could be a possible factor that influences research data when it comes to interpretation, the researchers consulted with the women about the type of