How is an overactive bladder diagnosed?
Overactive bladder (OAB) is a symptom complex of urinary urgency, with or without urge incontinence, frequency and nocturia. There are different types of OAB and urodynamics can help to diagnose …
Course: Understanding Continence Promotion: Effective Management of Bladder and Bowel Dysfunction in Adults
What are the symptoms of an overactive bladder?
The defining symptom of an overactive bladder (OAB) is Urgency[1] which is defined by the International Continence Society (ICS) as being: ‘the complaint of a sudden compelling desire to pass …
How does having an overactive bladder affect a person?
Joyce is a 64 year old woman who has an overactive bladder. She is a retired nurse who was widowed two years ago. Her husband died of cancer and she …
Innervation of the bladder
The bladder, sphincters and pelvic floor are all under nervous control. In this section we are going to look at the nerves involved in bladder control and maintenance of continence, …
Which control centres in the body work together to control urination?
The spinal, cortical and pontine micturition control centres all work together to control micturition (urination). Find out what happens when there is damage to the micturation control centres. 1. Spinal …
How continence is acquired and maintained
To date we have studied structure and function of the bladder, urethra and pelvic floor, now we are going to look at how this works and how we learn to …
What is the filling and emptying cycle of the bladder?
The normal bladder fills and empties in cycles.
Urine production by the kidneys is continuous – about 1ml per minute or 60ml an hour. Figure 2.8: The bladder cycle of filling …
What is the pelvic floor?
Pelvic floor function is very important in the maintenance of both bladder and bowel continence. The pelvic floor is a funnel-shaped structure. It is a sling of muscles and ligaments …
Pelvic floor muscles
The pelvic floor muscles are made up of slow and fast twitch fibres. It requires the combination of both slow and fast twitch fibres for the pelvic floor to work. …
Male urethral sphincters
Males have two sphincters: Bladder internal/neck sphincter, smooth muscle is continuous with the detrusor muscle and is under involuntary control or autonomic control; the function of this sphincter is to …
Female urethra and urethral sphincter
The female urethra has only one function which is micturition of urine. The female urethra has a length of 4-6cm, and is a straight tube which angles slightly backwards towards …
Anatomy of the lower urinary tract
To be able to understand continence fully it is important to know about the organs involved in storage and evacuation – the bladder and urethra, and how they relate to …
Male urethra
This section looks at the bladder and urethral sphincters starting with the male urethra. There is a significant difference in the length of the male and female urethra and we …
What are the impacts of incontinence?
The Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Inquiry (2013)[1] highlighted that two thirds (22 of 33) of cases of oral evidence heard raised significant concerns about continence and bladder and bowel care. …
What is continence and how is it learned?
The word ‘continence’ comes from the Latin word continentia which means ‘a holding back’. Continence refers to self-control, it is the ability to hold back bodily functions from the bladder or …
These articles are from the online course:
Understanding Continence Promotion: Effective Management of Bladder and Bowel Dysfunction in Adults