In people with an overactive bladder, the layered muscle that surrounds the bladder, called the detrusor muscle, contracts spastically, which results in sustained bladder pressure and the urgent need to urinate.
This medical condition is called urgency. Normally, the detrusor muscle contracts and relaxes in response to the volume of urine in the bladder and the initiation of urination. People with an overactive bladder often experience urgency at inconvenient and unpredictable times and sometimes lose total control or experience leakage before reaching a toilet.
Thus, overactive bladder interferes with work, daily routine, intimacy and sexual function; causes embarrassment; and can diminish self-esteem and quality of life. About 17 percent of Americans suffer from an overactive bladder.
A malfunctioning detrusor muscle causes overactive bladder. What causes the muscle to malfunction is not always known, but some recognized primary causes include nerve damage caused by abdominal trauma, pelvic trauma, surgery, bladder stones, drug side effects or neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, stroke and spinal cord lesions.
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Overactive bladder
Acupuncture can help stop overactive bladder.
 
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Standard treatments vary greatly in both methods and outcomes. Some of the more common options are bladder training with timed voiding in which strict urination times are set and followed daily, drug therapy involving one or a combination of medications, and for more severe cases, surgery. All of these treatments have between a 50 percent and 60 percent effectiveness rate.
A new study found that acupuncture improved the frequent and overwhelming urge to urinate in women suffering from overactive bladder. The study followed 74 women with overactive bladders and urge incontinence. The women were randomly assigned to one of two groups, with approximately half receiving acupuncture that targeted bladder control and the other half receiving acupuncture treatments for relaxation.
The women who received acupuncture for bladder control were treated specifically on the lower back and abdomen, and those treated for relaxation were given acupuncture on points throughout the body.
After four weeks of treatment, both groups reported improvement in urge incontinence and urinary leakage, but the women who received bladder-specific acupuncture reported making fewer trips to the bathroom, less urgency to urinate, and about 10 percent less leakage.
There are no side effects associated with acupuncture unlike some medications that can cause dry mouth or drowsiness, Dr. Sandra Emmons, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Oregon Health & Science University, said.
