Not all urinary problems require medication or surgery. Many simple behavioral changes or exercises are able to help patients improve their urinary habits.

They include:

Dietary / Fluid Management
The major daily issues are fluid management and reduction of caffeine use. Urine leakage is worse when your bladder is full. The more fluid you take in, the more often the bladder is full. Some patients will need to maintain higher fluid intake than others, this will be discussed with your doctor. Some patients will be sensitive to other dietary irritants including acid and spicy foods. For a list follow this link Dietary Irritants of the Bladder.  Caffeine is a bladder stimulant that can aggravate bladder muscle spasm and worsen urgency and frequency or urination symptoms. One dose of caffeine can last 8-10 hours in your blood, so the effects of coffee, tea, soda pop, etc can last through much of the day. Some patients can limit their caffeine to one 8 oz. cup a day; others need to eliminate caffeine entirely.

Timed Voiding
Your doctor may observe a pattern in your urine leakage and recommend that you use the bathroom at regular timed intervals, a habit called timed voiding. Over time, as you improve, you may be able to lengthen the time between scheduled trips to the bathroom. 

Pelvic Muscle Exercises (Kegel Exercises)
Pelvic muscle exercises can be used for several symptoms, including stress urinary incontinence, bladder overactivity (urgency and frequency symptoms), pelvic prolapse and painful bladder syndromes. The first step is to identify the correct muscles. One way is to imagine that you are sitting on a marble and want to pick up the marble with your vagina. Imagine sucking or drawing the marble into your vagina. Try not to squeeze other muscles at the same time. Many patients will tighten their stomach, legs, or buttocks. Try to not squeeze these other muscles; squeezing the wrong muscles can put more pressure on the bladder and the bladder control muscles. Just squeeze the pelvic muscles.

- Don’t hold your breath.
- Do not practice while urinating.
- Repeat, but don’t overdo it. At first, find a quiet spot to practice—your bathroom or bedroom—so you can concentrate.
- Pull in the pelvic muscles and hold for a count of three, then relax for a count of three. Work up to three sets of 10 repeats.
- Start doing your pelvic muscle exercises lying down. This is the easiest position to do them in because the muscles do not need to work against gravity. When your muscles get stronger, do your exercises sitting or standing. Working against gravity is like adding more weight.

Be patient. Don’t give up. It takes just 5 minutes a day. You may not feel your bladder control improve for 3 to 6 weeks. Some people with nerve damage cannot tell whether they are doing pelvic muscle exercises correctly. If you are not sure, ask your doctor or nurse to examine you while you try to do them. If it turns out that you are not squeezing the right muscles, you may still be able to learn proper Kegel exercises by doing special training with biofeedback, electrical stimulation, or both.

Biofeedback
Biofeedback uses measuring devices to help you become aware of your body’s muscles and their function. By using devices that provide some type of information back to you to track when your bladder and urethral muscles contract you can learn how to better control these muscles. Biofeedback can reinforce pelvic muscle exercises to reduce stress and urge urine leakage.