Stress incontinence in women

goodtoknow says: Stress incontinence can be embarrassing but it's extremely common. Around 1 in 5 women over 40 who have had children will experience it. Stress incontinence makes you 'leak 'urine when you exercise, cough or laugh. It happens because the pelvic floor muscles have weakened, usually due to childbirth. But the vast majority of women can cure themselves by learning a few simple exercises to strengthen their pelvic floor. Imagine you're trying to stop yourself having a wee, these are the muscles you need to exercise.

For a full medical explanation of the causes, symptoms and treatments of stress incontinence from patient.co.uk, read on.

Stress incontinence is the most common form of urinary incontinence. The main treatment is to do exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles (pelvic floor exercises). If these do not help, another treatment option in some people is surgery to 'tighten' or support the bladder outlet. In those who do not want surgery or in whom surgery is not suitable, medication may help in addition to exercises if exercises alone are not effective.