During the childhood toilet training process, children learn to control both the voluntary and involuntary muscles until they can reach the toilet. Urinary Incontinence Urinary incontinence is the inability to control urination. It may be temporary or permanent and can result from a variety of problems in the urinary tract. Stress incontinence occurs when the internal sphincter does not close completely. The primary symptom is minor leakage from activities, such as coughing, sneezing, laughing, running, lifting, or even standing, that apply pressure to a full bladder.
Leakage stops when the activity stops.
In a variant type of urge incontinence, called reflex incontinence, the sensation of fullness is not adequately communicated to the brain, and, in the absence of the brain's inhibition of this automatic process, the bladder releases urine. Overflow incontinence results when the bladder cannot empty completely, generally because of partial obstruction or an inactive bladder muscle. In contrast to urge incontinence, the bladder is less active than normal. It cannot empty properly and so becomes distended. Eventually this distention stretches the internal sphincter until it opens partially and leakage occurs.