Urinary Incontinence (Myth Busters)

What is urinary incontinence? 

Urinary incontinence is the occurrence of urination before making it safely to the toilet or urinal. There are 3 types of incontinence. Urgency incontinence is when a person gets a strong urge to go to the bathroom and then cannot make it in time. Stress incontinence is activity-related. For instance, when a person goes to lift something or coughs or sneezes. The act produces involuntary urination. A person may have both urgency and stress and this is mixed incontinence. 

Some Common Myths about Urinary Incontinence: 

1. As adults get older, it is natural to have urinary incontinence. 

False: Although the frequency of urination may increase, age is not a determiner of urinating before making it to the bathroom. Even as we age, our bladders are capable of holding urine for at least 2 hours during the day as we consume liquids. 

2. As we age, it is normal to wake up multiple times in the night to go to the bathroom. 

False and Some Truth: It is normal to wake up once/night below the age of 65 years old. After the age of 65, it is typical to go twice during the night, but not more than twice.

3. The only way to manage urinary incontinence is to wear pads or adult diapers. 

False: Although this is the most common method used, there are many other methods that help with incontinence. 

Sometimes the issue is with strength of the pelvic floor muscles. Other times there may be changes in diet that may help decrease irritation to the bladder. There are also different strategies to use when a person feels a strong urge to go to the bathroom. Most often it will be a combination of these that will help.

A physical therapist or physical therapist assistant who is trained in this field, will be able to determine what factors are contributing to the incontinence and work with you on establishing a plan of care so that you can live a life without urinary incontinence.