Kegel exercises target pelvic floor muscles to improve bladder and bowel control. They help treat post-childbirth issues like discomfort and incontinence.
Kegels can be done at any time and don’t require special equipment.
You will need to locate your pelvic floor muscles to ensure you’re doing Kegels correctly.
Place a clean finger into your vagina and squeeze like you’re trying to stop peeing. You’re squeezing your pelvic floor muscles if you feel muscles tighten around your finger.
If you have a penis, you can insert a clean finger into your anus and squeeze your muscles like you’re holding in pee. You’re squeezing the right muscles if your anal muscles clench around your finger.
You should do up to 10-15 Kegel exercises three times a day. To perform Kegels the right way and strengthen your pelvic floor, follow these steps:
Start by sitting, lying down, or standing. Clench your pelvic muscles like you’re trying to hold in pee. As you’re clenching, hold your pelvic floor muscles for three seconds. Release and relax your pelvic floor muscles for three seconds.Repeat the clench-and-release exercise up to 15 times for one set.
Kegel Tips
Here are some additional Kegel tips to keep in mind:
Empty your bladder: Pee before you get started. You never want to do Kegels with a full bladder.Stick to a routine: Pick three specific times or tasks to do Kegels, like while you make breakfast, during your commute home, and while you rest in bed. Remember to breathe: Like any exercise, let your breath move with the Kegel exercises.Don’t squeeze nearby muscles: Avoid contracting the thighs, butt, and stomach muscles.Don’t overdo it: Doing too many Kegels can strain your pelvic floor muscles when you go to the bathroom.
The pelvic floor is like a hammock that holds in your pelvic organs, including the bladder, large intestine, and uterus. When your pelvic floor muscles are weak, they lessen your ability to contract and control the other organs they support.
Since Kegels strengthen the pelvic floor, they can help improve your bladder and bowel control. Pelvic floor exercises can also help treat vaginal discomfort and sexual dysfunction related to a weak pelvic floor.
Treats Incontinence
When the pelvic floor becomes injured or weak, you may lose control over the muscles that support your bladder and bowels.
As a result, you may deal with urinary incontinence and accidentally pee yourself, or you may lose control of your bowels and accidentally poop (known as fecal incontinence). Incontinence can affect all sexes, especially older people.
Kegels help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles around your bladder and bowels, especially after childbirth.
Kegel exercises can also help reduce urinary leakage and dribbling in people recovering from prostate surgery.
Strengthens Pelvic Floor Muscles
Strengthening your pelvic floor with Kegels can also help improve sexual function, vaginal discomfort, and pelvic organ prolapse.
After childbirth and during pregnancy, the vaginal muscles stretch, and the pelvic floor becomes weak. This often results in post-birth pelvic floor issues.
In addition to accidentally peeing yourself, a weakened pelvic floor can make the vagina feel loose and uncomfortable.
Birth, aging, chronic coughing, and heavy lifting can also weaken your pelvic muscles enough to cause pelvic organ prolapse. Pelvic organ prolapse is when the muscles typically supported by your pelvic floor—like your bladder, uterus, and rectum—start to fall into the vagina.
Kegel exercises can strengthen the surrounding pelvic muscles enough to help reduce the progression of pelvic organ prolapse. Still, you will likely need additional treatments.
The pelvic floor can also affect the penis and prostate. Kegels can help people improve erectile dysfunction and avoid premature ejaculation.
People with weaker pelvic floor muscles will benefit the most from Kegel exercises. Some groups who are more at risk of a weak pelvic floor include:
Older adults: As you age, your pelvic floor muscles start to weaken, which can lead to urinary and fecal incontinence issues.
Pregnant and postpartum people: Pregnancy and childbirth stretch the pelvic floor, leading to incontinence, vaginal discomfort, and pelvic organ prolapse.
People recovering from a gynecologic or prostate surgery: Pelvic surgery can weaken the pelvic floor muscles, causing discomfort, pain, or erectile dysfunction.
