Kegel Exercises

What are Kegel exercises?

Kegel exercises help strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. These muscles help support the urethra, bladder, vagina, penis, uterus, and rectum. They are used when you urinate or have bowel movements. They are also involved with sexual functions such as orgasm and ejaculation.

Why should I do Kegel exercises?

Strengthening the pelvic floor muscles will lessen and possibly prevent bladder control problems, such as leaking of urine from the bladder. They may also help if you have a loss of control over bowel movements. In addition, they can improve sexual function. Kegels may help women who have uterine prolapse (fallen uterus) or pain during sex.

What causes bladder control problems?

Weakened pelvic muscles may allow urine to leak. The muscles may be weakened by:

• childbirth
• aging
• loss of the female hormone estrogen after menopause
• diabetes mellitus
• extreme overweight
• frequent heavy lifting over time
• recurrent urinary tract infections
• chronic coughing.

How do I do Kegel exercises?

• You can feel the muscles to use by squeezing the muscles in your genital area. You might find that it helps to pretend you are stopping a flow of urine or trying to stop from passing gas.
• Tighten these muscles and hold the contraction for 4 seconds. Do this 10 to 20 times. Allow the muscles to relax completely between contractions.
• Do these sets of contractions 10 times a day. Performing fewer repetitions than this will lower the effectiveness of the exercises.
• You can do Kegel exercises anywhere: while sitting at a desk, waiting for a bus, washing dishes, driving a car, waiting in line, or watching television. No one will know you are doing them.
• Do not do these exercises while you are urinating.

If you have a bladder control problem, you may see less leakage of urine after doing the Kegels for just a few weeks. However, you may not notice a lot of improvement until after 3 to 6 months of daily exercises. You should keep doing Kegels every day to keep the pelvic muscles strong even if you do not feel a difference.

Women may want to ask their healthcare provider about cones that may be used to help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. The cones range in size. You may start with a large cone. You put it into your vagina and try to hold it in place for 15 minutes a couple of times a day. When this is easy for you to do, you may then try keeping a smaller cone in place. Your healthcare provider can order the cones from a surgical supply company.

Kegel exercises may be assisted with a probe that causes contractions of the pelvic floor muscles. The probe is put into the vagina and stimulates contractions with a mild electric current. This is called neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES). You can strengthen your muscles by squeezing them as they contract in response to the probe.

How do Kegel exercises improve sexual function?

Kegel exercises can improve vaginal muscle tone and sensation. This can help women be more sexually responsive and may help improve orgasms. The exercises can also improve a man's sexual response and help delay ejaculation during intercourse. However, the chief benefit of Kegel exercises is that they may help stop the leaking of urine.