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Stress incontinence is the most common form of urinary incontinence. The main treatment is to do exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles (pelvic floor exercises). If these do not help, another treatment option in some people is surgery to 'tighten ' or support the bladder outlet. In those who do not want surgery or in whom surgery is not suitable, medication may help in addition to exercises if exercises alone are not effective. Understanding urine and the bladder The kidneys make urine all the time. A trickle of urine is constantly passing to the bladder down the ureters (the tubes from the kidneys to the bladder). You make different amounts of urine depending on how much you drink, eat and sweat. The bladder is made of muscle and stores the urine. It expands like a balloon as it fills with urine. The outlet for urine (the urethra) is normally kept closed. This is helped by the muscles beneath the bladder that sweep around the urethra (the pelvic floor muscles). When a certain amount of urine is in the bladder, you become aware that the bladder is getting full. When you go to the toilet to pass urine, the bladder muscle contracts (squeezes), and the urethra and pelvic floor muscles relax