Voiding disorders (problems in urinating) are common in both men and women. In fact, most of the urological disorders experienced by women can also occur in men. However, some urologists have chosen to specialize in treatment of women and thus there is a subspecialty known as Female Urology. Causes of voiding disorders sometimes are neurological (as in spinal cord injury), and some of our physicians specialize in a field known as neurourology.
Increasing knowledge and advancing technology make it ever more possible to deal with voiding disorders in an unobtrusive manner and to help patients reach and maintain freedom from such problems as incontinence.
After the kidneys filter the blood, they produce urine that flows down tubes called ureters into the bladder. The urine is then stored in the bladder, a muscular bag which is held closed by a strong circular band of muscle called a urinary sphincter muscle. When the brain sends a message to relax the urinary sphincter muscle, the urine is released and flows down the urethra and out of the body.
Voiding disorders include the inability to urinate that may be associated with irritation, obstruction, and urinary retention, as well as the more common disorder, the inability to avoid urinating, or incontinence. Incontinence is categorized as stress incontinence, urge incontinence (overactive bladder) and total/mixed incontinence.
