Who should do the Kegel exercises ?
Kegels exercises are the most common exercises that are very often suggested to do when presenting with symptoms of urinary leakage . When done properly these exercises are a very effective tool to minimize and eliminate bladder leakage and to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles .
People who have complaints of urinary urgency , make statements similar to “ As soon as I feel the urge to urinate I have to run to the bathroom or else I may have an accident . I just don’t seem to be able to hold it . ” This is generally indicative of a weak pelvic floor and there could be other factors but I will talk about in my future blog posts , for simplicity sake let’s just consider plain pelvic floor muscle weakness. These exercises are effective when the muscles have a moderate weakness .When a person has very weak pelvic floor muscles and unable to elicit a minimal pelvic floor contraction upon attempting to do kegel exercises such people will require supervision of a pelvic therapist who could use different methods to help improve the muscle strength during a PT session .
How should the Kegels be done ?
- First ,try practising these exercises while lying down on your back , with knees bent.
- Squeeze the muscles of the gential area as if you are trying to stop the flow of urine or trying to stop from stopping passing gas .Be careful to not squeeze the muscles of your belly , and inner thighs .
- Contract for 3 seconds and relax for 3 seconds .Do 3 sets of 5 .
- As the pelvic floor gets stronger one can progress to doing this in sitting or standing , and these can be done anywhere , sitting at the desk , doing dishes etc.
- Caution : If you feel pain in the abdomen ,back or any pain after you do kegels ,it’s a sign that Kegels are not being done correctly .Stop and seek medical advice.
- To check to see if you are doing the exercise correctly ,place one hand on the lower abdomen and one hand on the inner thigh to feel if the muscles are contracting when you are contracting pelvic floor muscles to do Kegels.Avoid contraction if you feel the abdominal and inner thigh muscles contract .
How long before one can expect to see results ?
As with any exercise regime , results need consistent practice , it may vary person to person because many factors can influence the outcome, on an average approximately 2 to 3 weeks , better bladder control should be start to become evident .If Kegels seem ineffective after that time period , you may need further assistance to assess technique or if having difficulty with isolating the pelvic floor muscle contraction.
So now you know what Kegels exercises and how to assess if you are doing them correctly and the role in improving incontinence . I would love to hear of your experience at with Kegels .Please leave your comments below .