Strangury is the symptom of painful, frequent urination of small volumes that are expelled slowly only by straining and despite a severe sense of urgency

Urinary urgency

Urinary urgency is a sudden, compelling urge to urinate. It is often, though not necessarily, associated with urinary incontinence, polyuria, nocturia, and interstitial cystitis. It tends to increase with age...

, usually with the residual feeling of incomplete emptying

Vesical tenesmus

Vesical tenesmus refers to the feeling of incomplete emptying of the bladder following urination.When the word tenesmus is used without modification, it usually refers to rectal tenesmus....

. These 'drops' of urine are 'squeezed out' in what sufferers describe as painful 'wrenching' spasms. The pain is felt to arise in the suprapubic region, extends up to the root of the genitalia and in male patients, to the tip of the penis.

This distressing desire to fully void despite its impossibility is attributed to the irritation of urothelium (epithelium lining the urinary tract) and subsequent spasm of muscles. It is seen in numerous urological conditions including kidney stone

Kidney stone

A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...

s (especially when a stone is impacted at the vesicourethral junction), bladder inflammation (cystitis

Cystitis

Cystitis is a term that refers to urinary bladder inflammation that results from any one of a number of distinct syndromes. It is most commonly caused by a bacterial infection in which case it is referred to as a urinary tract infection.-Signs and symptoms:...

), and bladder cancer

Bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is any of several types of malignant growths of the urinary bladder. It is a disease in which abnormal cells multiply without control in the bladder. The bladder is a hollow, muscular organ that stores urine; it is located in the pelvis...

.