Pelvic floor muscle training exercises (also referred to as Kegel exercises) are a series of exercises designed to enhance the muscles of the pelvic floor.
Pelvic Floor Muscle Training Exercises: Why You Need Them and How to Perform
Pelvic floor muscle training exercises are recommended for:
- Women with urinary stress incontinence
- Men with urinary stress incontinence after prostate surgery
- Individuals who have fecal incontinence
Pelvic floor muscle training exercises can assist reinforce the muscles under the uterus, bladder, and bowel (large intestine). They can help both men and women who have issues with urine leak or bowel control.
A pelvic floor muscle training exercise is like pretending that you have to urinate, and after that holding it. You relax and tighten up the muscles that manage urine circulation. It is important to discover the right muscles to tighten up.
The next time you need to urinate, begin to go and after that stop. Feel the muscles in your vagina, bladder, or rectum get tight and go up. These are the pelvic floor muscles. If you feel them tighten up, you have actually done the exercise right.
If you are still not exactly sure whether you are tightening the right muscles, keep in mind that of the muscles of the pelvic floor unwind and contract at the exact same time. Because these muscles control the bladder, anus, and vaginal area, the following tips may help:
- Women: Insert a finger into your vaginal area. Tighten up the muscles as if you are holding in your urine, then let go. You ought to feel the muscles tighten up and go up and down.
- Men: Insert a finger into your rectum. Tighten up the muscles as if you are holding in your urine, then let go. You should feel the muscles tighten up and go up and down. These are the very same muscles you would tighten up if you were aiming to avoid yourself from passing gas.
It is essential that you keep the following muscles unwinded while doing pelvic floor muscle training exercises:
- Abdominal
- Butts (the deeper, anal sphincter muscle need to contract).
- Thigh.
A lady can likewise strengthen these muscles by using a vaginal cone, which is a weighted device that is inserted into the vagina. Then you try to tighten the pelvic floor muscles to hold the device in location.
If you are not sure whether you are doing the pelvic floor muscle training properly, you can use biofeedback and electrical stimulation to help find the appropriate muscle group to work.
- Biofeedback is an approach of positive reinforcement. Electrodes are placed on the abdomen and along the anal area. Some therapists place a sensor in the vagina in women or anus in men to keep track of the contraction of pelvic floor muscles.
- A monitor will show a graph showing which muscles are contracting and which are at rest. The therapist can assist discover the right muscles for carrying out pelvic floor muscle training exercises.
How to Perform Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises at Home
- Begin by emptying your bladder.
- Tighten the pelvic floor muscles and hold for a count of 10 (~10 seconds)
- Relax the muscles totally for a count of 10.
- Do 10 repetitions, 3 to 5 times a day (early morning, afternoon, and night).
You can do these exercises at any time and location. Most people choose to do the exercises while lying down or sitting in a chair. After 4 to 6 weeks, the majority of people observe some improvement. It may take as long as 3 months to see a significant modification.
After a few weeks, you can also attempt doing a single pelvic floor contraction sometimes when you are likely to leak (for example, while getting out of a chair).
A word of caution: Some individuals feel that they can speed up the development by increasing the number of repetitions and the frequency of exercises. However, over-exercising can instead cause muscle fatigue and boost urine leak.
If you feel any pain in your abdomen or back while doing these exercises, you are probably doing them incorrect. Breathe deeply and relax your body when you do these exercises. Ensure you are not tightening your stomach, thigh, buttock, or chest muscles.
When done properly, pelvic floor muscle exercises have been revealed to be very reliable at improving urinary continence.
Watch the video to learn more exercises for your pelvic floor muscle. (Please switch sound off for this video.)
Less proper squeezes are much better than a lot of half hearted ones! If you are not exactly sure that you are doing the squeezes right, or if you do not see a modification in symptoms after 3 months, request for assistance from your doctor, physiotherapist, or continence nurse.
