What are Kegel exercises? And why do you need them?
Your pelvic floor muscles are the group of muscles below your abdomen, they support your intestines, bladder, uterus, and vagina. Despite the vital role they play in supporting your organs, they don’t get enough exercise and support. In this article, I will talk about Kegel exercises and their role in supporting the pelvic floor muscles.
Karine Chahda
What are Kegel exercises?
A set of exercises is recommended to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and to support the vagina, bladder, and rectum as well. Usually, we use these muscles during urination and intercourse. These muscles become looser in women for many reasons such as
- Pregnancy and the extra pressure put on these muscles during pregnancy.
- Multiple deliveries.
- Recurrent cough.
- Hormonal changes due to age.
It is noteworthy that before doing Kegels. It is essential to identify the muscles that we want to train and strengthen, you can do that by following these steps
- Pausing urination, before completely emptying the bladder, you want to train the muscles that helped stop the flow of urine.
- Inserting a finger and trying to squeeze it.
How to identify any loosening in the pelvic floor muscles?
While you urinate throughout the day, hold your urine before completely emptying the bladder. If the urine stops completely, while you are squeezing the muscles voluntarily, this means your pelvic floor muscles are fine and not loose. However, if urine continues to flow, this means they are loose. See your doctor for a thorough examination and treatment recommendation. This can be either doing more Kegels, stimulating the muscle using medical devices at the doctor's clinic, or in case the loosening is severe and it is affecting the internal organs your doctor might recommend surgery to fix this.
How to do Kegel exercises
- Empty your bladder.
- Squeeze the pelvic floor muscles for a few seconds, then relax them for double that time. If you squeeze for two seconds, relax for four seconds.
- Repeat several times a day doing several sets. It is recommended to do it 50 times throughout the day.
- It is recommended to squeeze these muscles while you cough, or sneeze then relax them, especially during pregnancy to release some pressure off the pelvic floor muscle.
- Kegels are recommended for women of all ages, they are safe during pregnancy and postpartum.
Please note!
Kegels are important and beneficial for the health of your pelvic floor, they are not however a solution for vaginal tightening or any prolapse in the uterus or bladder that often needs medical and surgical treatments.
