The ankle zap that fixed my waterworks

It is an excruciatingly embarrassing and distressing condition, yet an incredibly common one - affecting five million British women and almost two million men.

For sufferers of urinary incontinence, this often sniggered-at problem can impact on almost every daily activity and interaction. Many treatments are available but few last or work well, and they come with unwanted side effects. The causes of a leaky bladder range from pregnancy to muscle weakness and poor nerve communication, and the lengths people go to rid themselves of it are equally extensive.

There are muscle-strengthening exercises, muscle-relaxant patches, medications including antidepressants, surgery to insert a catheter and injections of Botox in the bladder. But now a new treatment called percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation, which involves an electrical current being channelled through the ankle, is having remarkable results with those who suffer a type of incontinence known as overactive bladder (OAB).

Source - Daily Mail