A Urologist, Dr Celsus Undie, has advised women suffering ``urinary incontinence'', also known as involuntary leakage of urine when coughing or sneezing, to do pelvic exercises to help stop the leakage.
Undie, a doctor with the National Hospital, Abuja, said that involuntary leakage of urine is caused by weakness of the neck of the bladder.
He said the female urethra is shorter than that of the male, while the female pelvic floor is also weaker than that of the male.
The Doctor also said that females had bigger hips and their pelvic cavity wider anatomically to allow babies pass through.
He said that females have three passages through the pelvis as against two as found in the males.
``The genital passage in the male doubles as a passage for urine while in the female there are two separate passages, one for urine, the other is genital and the third passage is for stool,’’ he said.
The urologist said that the pelvic floor exercise, also called Kegel exercise, involved contracting and relaxing the muscles around the anus and the neck of the bladder.
He said that the exercise would help to strengthen the pelvic floor and hold the bladder up.
``Women who leak urine should do pelvic floor exercises, contract and hold their anus as if they want to stop watery stool from leaking through.
``Contract and hold the neck of your bladder as if urine is about to leak and you want to stop it from leaking. Do this and relax as many times as possible daily,’’ Undie said.
He said that the multiple passages in women contributes in weakening the pelvic floor, adding that by the time many babies push through the pelvic floor, it gets weaker.
``This changes the normal anatomy where the bladder neck is above the pelvic floor and urine is controlled by the strength of the muscles there.
``Once the bladder neck descends below the level of the muscles, the control is lost,’’.
Undie, however, advised women in the condition to see a doctor if they notice involuntary leakage of urine.
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