Kegel exercises were developed by Dr. Arnold Kegel to strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor. These muscles support the urethra, bladder, rectum, vagina, penis and uterus. They are used when you have a bowel movement or urinate and during orgasm. These muscles are also used during delivery of your baby.
Kegel exercises will strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, lessen and prevent bladder control problems and will help if you have a loss of control over bowel movements.
These exercises are basically tightening and relaxing the pelvic floor. Here is how you can use Kegel exercises to improve them those muscles. First you must locate the muscles you are trying to exercise. Kegel exercises won’t do any good if you are exercising the wrong muscles. Think of tensing the muscles around the opening of the urethra and pulling them upward and inward. Pretend you are urinating and stopping a stream of urine. You can practice this while you are on the toilet and actually stopping a stream of urine. (1)
Notice how pulling those muscles feel. You can also contract the rectal area as though you were attempting to stop the passage of gas. This also uses the same muscles. Now it’s time to exercise those muscles three times each day.
The next step to improve your pelvic muscles using Kegel exercises is to tighten the muscles by squeezing them slowly to a count of four and then relaxing them slowly to a count of four. If your muscles are weak you may only be able to hold the muscle tightening for a count of two. You should repeat the cycle 10 times three times each day.
You can check your technique in the mirror or using your hands to be certain that you are not using accessory muscles in the abdomen and buttocks to accomplish the same task. Your hand shouldn’t feel your stomach or buttocks tighten if you are doing the exercises correctly.
What can cause your pelvic floor muscles to weaken? Like other muscles, without use they weaken. When they are stretched they can also weaken. More specifically age, childbirth, menopause, diabetes, extreme overweight, frequent heavy lifting and recurrent urinary tract infections. (2)
Kegel exercises will give you good results within just a few weeks. However, it may take 3 or 4 months to see a lot of improvement after doing these exercises daily. They take only 4-5 minutes three times each day and they can be done when no one knows. You can do them while driving in your car, typing on your computer, before you get out of bed in the morning, while changing the baby or eating dinner. (3)
While you are doing the exercises be sure not to tighten other muscles in your buttocks, stomach or legs because this can put more pressure on your bladder control muscles and actually do more harm than good. Also, do not hold your breath while doing the exercises. When done correctly no one has any idea that you are doing them.
You can also protect yourself and your pelvic muscles from more damage by bracing yourself during a sneeze, before jumping or before lifting something. Think ahead before sneezing, lifting or jumping. Sudden pressure from these actions can hurt the pelvic muscles. So, squeeze your pelvic muscles tightly and hold on until after you sneeze, lift or jump.
(1) MayoClinic: Kegel Exercises
(2) Premiere Healthcare Associates: Pelvic Floor Muscle Weakness
(3) American Pregnancy Association: Kegel Exercises
RESOURCES
The Merck Manual: Pelvic Floor Disorders