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Recap:

• Proximity of the bladder and rectum matters

Vocabulary:

• Incontinence: non-purposeful leakage of liquid, gas or stool
• Bladder: the hollow organ that stores our urine. Contraction of the bladder wall is completed by our brain; we cannot control when it contracts
• Urethra: the tube that brings urine from the bladder to exit our body
• Urine: the byproduct of fluids. Mostly composted of water, salts and urea
• Void: the act of urine (pee) exiting our body
• Bowel movement: the act of stool (poop) exiting our body
• Enuresis: nighttime bedwetting
• PFM: pelvic floor musculature

The Bladder

Below are two photos. The first is of the female anatomy, showing a cross section of the pubic bone, bladder, vagina and rectum. The view is as if the person is facing the left of the photo, with their back to the right. You can see the pubic bone all the way to the left, and the sacrum and tailbone (coccyx) on the right. In between those two bones moving from left to right is: the bladder and its urethra, the uterus with its vaginal opening, and the rectum with its anal opening. The vaginal opening takes up minimal space and is not a solid wall, and does not prevent a rectum full of stool from pressing forward on the bladder.

This is meant to demonstrate the proximity (just how close) the bladder is to the rectum.

Male Anatomy

The second photo below demonstrate the male anatomy, with the difference being no uterus/vagina complex, and instead the prostate gland. The prostate is located just below (inferior) to the bladder. Just as the vagina doesn't prevent a full rectum from affecting the bladder, the prostate also does not provide protection to the bladder from being pushed on by a full rectum.