Kegel exercises can help make the muscles under the uterus, bladder, and bowel (large intestine) stronger. They can help both men and women who have problems with urine leakage or bowel control.
You may have these problems as you get older or if you gain weight, after pregnancy and childbirth, or after prostate surgery (men) or gynecologic (female) surgery. People who have brain and nerve disorders may also have problems with urine leakage or bowel control.
Kegel exercises can be done any time you are sitting or lying down. You can do them when you are eating, sitting at your desk, driving, and when you are resting or watching television.
A Kegel exercise is like pretending you have to urinate and then holding it. You relax and tighten the muscles that control urine flow. It’s important to find the right muscles to tighten.
Next time you have to urinate, start to go and then stop. Feel the muscles in your vagina, bladder, or anus get tight and move up. These are the pelvic floor muscles. If you feel them tighten, you’ve done the exercise right.
If you still are not sure you are tightening the right muscles:
Once you know what the movement feels like, do Kegel exercises three times a day:
If you cannot hold the muscles tight for a count of 10, start with a count of 4 or 5, then work up to 10.
Breathe deeply, and relax your body when you are doing these exercises. Make sure you are not tightening your stomach, thigh, buttock, or chest muscles.
After 4 to 6 weeks, you should feel better and have fewer symptoms. Keep doing the exercises, but do not increase how many you do. Overdoing it can lead to straining when you urinate or move your bowels.
Some notes of caution:
Call your doctor or nurse if you are not sure you are doing Kegel exercises the right way. Your nurse can show you how to do them and check to see if you are doing them correctly.
Pelvic muscle strengthening exercises; Pelvic floor exercises
Holroyd-Leduc JM, Tannenbaum C, Thorpe KE, Straus SE. What type of urinary incontinence does this woman have? JAMA. 2008;299:1446-1456.
Landefeld CS, Bowers BJ, Feld AD, Hartmann KE, Hoffman E, Ingber MJ, et al. National Institutes of Health state-of-the-science conference statement: prevention of fecal and urinary incontinence in adults. Ann Intern Med. 2008 Mar 18;148(6):449-58. Epub 2008 Feb 11.
Rogers RG. Clinical practice. Urinary stress incontinence in women. N Engl J Med. 2008;358:1029-1036.
Updated by: Jennifer K. Mannheim, ARNP, Medical Staff, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Seattle Children's Hospital; and Louis S. Liou, MD, PhD, Chief of Urology, Cambridge Health Alliance, Visiting Assistant Professor of Urology, Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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