Catheters and your body

Your urinary system prevents waste and toxins from building up in your blood. It also maintains your body’s water balance, helps regulate your blood pressure, maintains Vitamin D production for healthy, strong bones, and helps your body make red blood cells.

There are several parts within your urinary system: two kidneys, two ureters, the bladder, and the urethra.

Your kidneys are high in your abdominal cavity, just below your rib cage and sit on either side of your spine. They work continuously to filter the blood passing through them removing waste and excess fluid, returning the filtered blood back to the body and passing waste products into your urine.

You have two ureters that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder. These are narrow tubes with muscular walls that tighten and relax to transport urine to your bladder. Your ureters let small amounts of urine enter your bladder every 10 to 15 seconds.

Your bladder is in your lower abdomen and stores your urine. Muscles in the bladder stay relaxed so it can expand as it fills with urine, while other muscles – the internal and external urethral sphincter muscles, stay closed to keep the urine in the bladder. As your bladder fills signals are sent to your brain that your bladder is getting full. If you can access a toilet, your brain sends signals to empty your bladder. The brain signals the sphincter muscles to relax and the bladder wall to tighten so urine can be squeezed through the urethra and out of your bladder. If you cannot access a toilet immediately, your brain will tell you to hold on.

The urethra is the last part of the urinary system. It’s a tube at the bottom of the bladder that lets urine leave the body.

A loss of bladder control or urine leakage is referred to as incontinence and can occur at any age and for a range of reasons. It can also be a temporary or a permanent condition. A common strategy to manage incontinence is the use of a catheter – a plastic tube that’s inserted into the bladder, via the urethral opening to drain urine when the bladder cannot empty on its own.

The urethral opening is easy to find for men and is located at the tip of the penis. The female urethral opening can be a little more difficult to locate as it’s hidden away below the clitoris and above the vagina. Men have a much longer urethra than women so male catheters are around 30 – 40cm. Women have a much shorter urethra – around 4cm, so typically require a shorter catheter of 15 – 20cm to reach the bladder.

There are many different catheters available to you, so it’s important to try several products to find the right catheter for you and your lifestyle.

Sources

1. The Urinary Tract & How It Works - NIDDK (nih.gov), This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.
The NIDDK would like to thank: Ariana L. Smith, M.D., FPMRS, University of Pennsylvania Health System

2. Urinary system | healthdirect, Kidney Health Australia (Know your kidneys), Kidney Health Australia (Symptoms of kidney disease), NPS Medicinewise (About your kidneys), Kidney Health Australia (Important jobs your kidneys do), Continence Foundation of Australia (The prostate and bladder problems), Continence Foundation of Australia (Urinary retention), Kidney Health Australia (Keeping your kidneys healthy), Kidney Health Australia (Health check), Safer Care Victoria (Acute urinary retention)