3 simple kegel exercises against pelvic pain and incontinence.
Hello and welcome to Always Fysio. In this video I would like to show you 3 simpele kegel exercises, or pelvic floor exercises that you can do at home to reduce pelvic pain and incontinence. Usually pelvic pain and incontinence starts during or after pregnancy. However, it can also be caused by weakening of your pelvic floor muscles, overweight or old age.
I will explain to you what happens during the pregnancy and why your pelvic pain starts to occur since this is the most common cause of pelvic pain and incontinence. During pregnancy the hormone relaxin is released to loosen up the ligaments in your pelvis to make room for the baby to be born. Your pelvis is formed by 4 bones: Your hip bones on the side, your sacrum and tailbone on the back. These bones are connected together through several ligaments. During childbirth, your pelvis get separated by the pressure of the baby, stretching the ligaments. After the childbirth, the ligaments don’t entirely go back to their original length. This causes instability in your pelvis because the bones are able to move more.
This instability is usually countered by your pelvic floor muscles. They are located here running from your sacrum to the front of your pelvis. Because of your pregnancy the balance in your pelvis is changing. You pelvic floor muscles aren’t capable of stabilizing your pelvis anymore. This causes overuse of the muscles in your pelvis. The overuse causes pain in your pelvis and your lower back. This is why the first exercise restores the stability of your lower back. Your pelvis and lower back work together against pelvic pain. Insufficient strength of your pelvic floor muscles also causes incontinence problems.
To restore the stability in your pelvis, you need to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, so they compensate the lack of function of the ligaments in your pelvic girdle. The following kegel exercises are designed to increase the strength of your pelvic floor muscles to reduce the pelvic pain and incontinence after pregnancy. With these kegel exercises, you will learn your pelvic floor muscles to react faster on movements of your pelvis. This reduces the overuse of your pelvic floor muscles and also reduces incontinence. Perform these exercises exactly as I explain them to you. Repeat them twice a day, every day. You should feel a difference within 2 weeks.
This is how to perform the kegel exercises:
Kegel exercise 1:
Lie down on your back. Bend your knees and lay your arms beside you. Now lift up your pelvis 10 times. If this is to easy, you can lift up your pelvis and hold it high for 10 seconds. If this is also to easy, you can place your hands on your chest and lift your pelvis 10 times. The final stage is to lift up your pelvis and hold this for 15-20 seconds. This exercise is more to increase the stability in your lower back than that it is a real kegel exercise. However a strong back is essential to increase the strength of your pelvic floor muscles.
Kegel exercise 2:
Lie down on your back and bend your knees. Take a tennis ball and squeeze it very gentile between your knees for 5 seconds. Repeat this 10 times. Try to use a minimal amount of force. You should feel the muscles between your legs in your pelvic area work. If you use to much force, you will also use the muscles in your butt and back. This will make the exercise less affective.
Kegel exercise 3:
Lie down on your back and bend your knees. Now, slowly let your knee go down sideways toward the ground. It should take 10-15 seconds to reach the ground and make the movement as smooth as possible. Repeat this 10 times. You should feel it right in your pelvic girdle area.
Perform these kegel exercises twice a day. They seem to be very easy but you will feel sore the first few days after doing these kegel exercises. Within a week or two the soreness should be reducing and your should feel the effects in your daily live. This is the point where you can also start to train your abdominal muscles and your back muscles.
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