Urge vs. Stress Incontinence

Bathroom habits can be a sensitive topic, but it's important to address any issues you may be experiencing. Below n this article, we will discuss two types of leakage that you might be dealing with: urge incontinence and stress incontinence. By understanding which type you are experiencing, we can create a plan that will work specifically for you.There are two types of leakage you may be dealing with as a mom. One is stress incontinence and the other is urge incontinence. You may be dealing with one, or you may be dealing with both. It’s important to understand the difference between the two, and understand which one you may be dealing with, so a plan can be created just for you. In this post, we’ll cover what exactly is urge incontinence, and what is stress incontinence, as well as provide tips to help manage and treat the incontinence that you’re dealing with!

Urge Incontinence 

Urge incontinence is when you feel like you may or may not make it to the bathroom in enough time. You may experience leakage or you may not. This has a lot to do with how we train our bladder. You should have 1.5 - 2 cups of urine as a healthy need to go to the bathroom (when the bladder is actually full). Urge incontinence is the sudden urge to go to the bathroom before your bladder is actually full. Bladder sends a signal or "ping" to our brain saying hey we need to go to the bathroom before it's actually time. It's a matter of training our bladder to fill up completely before going. If you're someone who goes to the bathroom just in case before you leave, you're sending signals to your bladder that it can't actually hold and needs to release before it's full. You need to find out what the triggers are such as pulling into the driveway, or needing to go just in case before you leave the house. By identifying these triggers you can then start to retrain your bladder to wait until you actually need to go. Just like with any muscle, we have to work on training it for it to become stronger and to hold more load. 

Tips for Urge Incontinence

Each and every time you go to the bathroom, I suggest tracking your pee. There are three things I want you to focus on. You should pee when you have one and a half cups to two cups of urine. You can download my free bathroom tracker here.

Tip #1 Track your Time

When dealing with urge incontinence, it’s important to track your bathroom habits. How often are you peeing? Are you going more than 8 times per day? It’s important to record the time each time you go.

Tip # 2 Track your Triggers

Is your bladder triggered by actually having to go? Or did you hear running water and all of a sudden have to go?

Tip #3 Pay Attention to Length of Time

It’s important to pay attention to how long it takes you to go to the bathroom. While you’re waiting to pee, count “one Mississippi,” “two Mississippi” etc. If you’re reaching seven seconds or more,it is typically normal. If you get to seven seconds and just finished peeing, your bladder was likely not full.

Retraining Your Bladder

It’s a common myth that reducing your water intake will help improve your bladder control. A decrease in liquid intake results in a decrease in the volume of urine; the smaller amount of urine may be more highly concentrated and irritating. Not drinking enough water encourages the growth of bacteria, which may lead to infections resulting in incontinence. You should be sipping and drinking (not gulping) water throughout the day. 

Your urine should be a pale lemonade color, not dark, without a strong odor. There should be no burning or discomfort when you urinate (this could be a sign of an infection and you should consult with your physician.

There are ways to help retrain your bladder so that you’re able to treat urge incontinence. Additional steps can be taken to help with the retraining such as:

• Stop the just in case pee
• Realizing it could be stress and front pelvic floor tightness that can cause irritation and urge incontinence. Work on relaxation methods such as meditation, massage, pose, etc.)
• Could be as a result of a lot of liquid. Keep a journal (here) and track
• Try quick flicks to help disrupt the urge to go to the bathroom
• Identify any irritants such as caffeine, coffee, alcohol, etc. and keep a food journal to identify what could be causing it
• Measure how much liquid you’re actually taking in
• Measure how much output you get with each bathroom trip
• Use the clock to retrain. Hold off for 1 minute, then add on, to push the time back to go to the bathroom
• Talk with your doctor if these don’t work. There could be something else going on that needs to be identified
• Work on weight management if necessary

Stress Incontinence

Stress Incontinence is leaking without any real urge. Even after you went to the bathroom and went for a run but yet you leak during your run. This has to do with the muscles inability to handle the load and stress of impact on the pelvic floor. This takes a bit longer to correct. The muscles are not strong enough to handle the stress. Impact stresses are different from pressure stress. Impact stress are things like jumping & running whereas pressure stress are things like coughing, sneezing, yelling etc. You may experience one but not the other.

Tips for Stress Incontinence

• Make sure you’re correctly activating your pelvic floor front vs. back
• Make sure you have endurance & strength
• No tightness
• How you’re loading your pelvic floor with front pelvic floor contracting

It’s important to figure out the difference between if you have a tight pelvic floor (you can check out that blog post here) or a weak pelvic floor (that post is here). The best way to check is to make an appointment with a pelvic floor therapist who has the ability to check you internally. There are a variety of assessments they can perform to see if you have a tight, or a weak pelvic floor. I recommend everyone receiving at least one assessment as it’s important for your care plan and workout routine.

Treating Stress Incontinence

Your plan for treating stress incontinence will look different in comparison to treating urge incontinence. Depending on the type of pelvic floor (weak vs. tight) you have, the type of exercise you do to strengthen those muscles is important.

Remember, there is a difference between urge incontinence and stress incontinence, and it’s important to recognize the difference between the two. Understanding and knowing the difference between the two will be most effective when treating the type of incontinence you may be experiencing.

Check out my video that gives four exercises for lower abs and bladder leaks! 

If you are looking for a quick program that helps strengthen your pelvic floor, decreases incontinence, and builds back your confidence, check out my CoreRevive program!

💪 Core Revive is a 4-week full-body foundations program that helps you:

• Restore core + pelvic floor function
  
• Improve posture + breathing
  
• Eliminate leaks + pressure
  
• Rebuild confidence in your body
  

Plus, you'll get my free Pelvic Floor Blueprint and personalized guidance through every phase of recovery. 

Grab your spot, or learn more here!