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Kegel – The Excercise…

By On October 16, 2012 · 2 Comments

25% of women over the age of 18 experience urinary incontinence.

50% of women who have given birth have some degree of genital prolapse.

45 million American women are going through menopausal transition at any one time. Experiencing hot flashes, sleep issues, changes in sexual interest and response.

The number #1 way to address all these issues is to do…

Kegel Exercises.

 

Kegels

• Developed by Arnold Kegel MD, a surgeon in the 1940’s as a treatment for stress incontinence.

• The aim of Kegel exercises is to improve muscle tone by strengthening the pubococcygeus muscles (PC muscles) of the pelvic floor.

• By 1950, Kegel was reporting a 93% success rate of incontinence treatment.

How to Kegel?

Many women lack the confidence or knowledge that they are correctly contracting their pelvic floor.

 

Locate Your Kegel Muscles

Locate your PC muscle you can imagine you are holding your urine stream or actually try to stop it while on the toilet. Another technique is to insert a finger inside your vagina and squeeze the surrounding muscles. You should feel your vagina tighten and pelvic floor move upward then back down to the starting position when you relax.

 

Basic Kegel Routine

(This routine can be done daily)

Step 1 – Contract your pelvic floor muscles (imagine drawing air up through a straw that starts at the base of your vagina and rises up inside you)

Step 2 – Hold the contraction for three seconds then relax for three seconds.

Step 3 – Repeat 5-10 times, increasing reps as it becomes easier to do.

Step 4 – Adding more seconds to your contract/relax routine will help you strengthen over time. Try to work up to keeping the muscles contracted for 10 seconds at a time, relaxing for 10 seconds between contractions.

Step 5 – Don’t hold your breath. Relax and breathe, coordinating your breathing with your exercises.

 

Pilates and Kegels

The fusion of Kegels and Pilates is the quickest and most effective way to tone a woman’s pelvic floor. The following are Pilates moves to do while you Kegel.

 

Pelvic Lift

• Lay down with straight legs spread slightly wider than your hips.

• Place arms at your sides hands pressing into the ground.

• Lift your hips up, and keep your chin tucked toward your chest.

• Try a single new contraction when hips are lifted.

• Lower hips and repeat 10 times.

 

Squats with Hip Movements

woman squatting• Stand with your feet shoulder width apart.

• Squat down into a half-squat.

• Hold this position and slowly rotate your hips clockwise five times and then counter-clockwise five times.

• Try a single new contraction after each hip rotation.

• Repeat this sequence with the toes turned in and with the toes turned out.

 

Blog Submitted by Heather Vandenbosch

2 Responses

  • Nancy October 19, 2012 at 6:11 am · Reply

    What a great list of kegel routines! Women also ahve the benefit of using kegel exercisers, such as vaginal weights or the Kegelmaster, to help them strengthen their pelvic floor muscles.

  • Jong Laux July 6, 2013 at 9:22 pm · Reply

    Continence and micturition involve a balance between urethral closure and detrusor muscle activity. Urethral pressure normally exceeds bladder pressure, resulting in urine remaining in the bladder. The proximal urethra and bladder are both within the pelvis. Intraabdominal pressure increases (from coughing and sneezing) are transmitted to both urethra and bladder equally, leaving the pressure differential unchanged, resulting in continence. `,;;

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