Exercises to improve your pelvic floor muscles

Why might you need to do exercises to improve your pelvic floor muscles?

Your pelvic floor muscles act like a sling to support your bladder and bowel and need to be strong and supportive. If they become weak, the organs that are held by your pelvic floor muscles may lower. This is not only extremely uncomfortable but can also cause urinary incontinence.

Urinary incontinence in men and incontinence in women can take effect in a couple of ways; you might have leakage from your bladder when you cough, sneeze, laugh, exercise, lift or bend (stress incontinence).

When you have an urgent need to empty your bladder or bowel (urgency), a weak pelvic floor may mean you could sometimes fail to reach the toilet in time (urge incontinence).

Another problem that can occur from weak pelvic floor muscles, is the sensation of something coming down at the birth canal or back passage (prolapse). This can also cause an inability to control wind when bending over or lifting.

Performing pelvic floor muscle exercises can enhance both bladder and bowel control as well as have specific benefits for both women and men.

What are the benefits of pelvic floor muscle exercises for women?

Benefits include a lower risk of vaginal prolapse in women and quicker recovery after childbirth.

If you’re pregnant or have plans to get pregnant, performing pelvic floor exercises will lower your chances of having incontinence after having a baby.

What are the benefits of pelvic floor muscle exercises for men?

In men, pelvic floor exercises can help speed recovery after prostate surgery, reduce the risk of rectal prolapse and reduce the symptoms of erectile dysfunction.

Pelvic floor exercises can also help with sexual function; stronger muscles can mean increased sensitivity during sexual intercourse and stronger orgasms. Exercising these muscles can help improve urinary incontinence issues and other issues that arise from a weak bladder.

How might your pelvic floor muscles become weak?

There are several factors that can cause your pelvic floor muscles to become weak or damaged including:

• Pregnancy and childbirth
• Menopausal changes
• Continual straining to empty the bowels
• Being overweight
• Frequent heavy lifting
• Chronic cough
• Following pelvic or prostate surgery

Pelvic floor exercises: step-by-step

What are pelvic floor exercises?

Also known as Kegel exercises, these are clench-and-release exercises that can make the pelvic floor muscles stronger around your bladder, bottom and vagina or penis.

How to locate your pelvic floor muscles

The best way to find your pelvic floor muscles is to try and stop the flow of urine when you visit the toilet. This is the area of muscles you want to focus on.

It is not recommended to regularly stop the flow of urine as it can cause harm to your bladder and cause problems with correct emptying, or urinary tract infections (UTIs)

If you are still struggling to locate the correct muscles, a helpful trick is to imagine that you're trying to stop yourself from passing wind from the bowel.

Pelvic floor exercises

Then, when performing pelvic floor muscles exercises, sit in a comfortable position and imagine you are trying to stop yourself from passing urine. You must then squeeze and lift the muscles in that area 10-15 times.

This may feel uncomfortable and be hard, to begin with, but it is important to remain relaxed and be sure not to tighten your stomach, bottom, or thigh muscles while doing the exercises.

Once you have got used to doing basic pelvic floor exercises, you can begin to hold each squeeze for a few seconds. Each week add more squeezes, but the more you practice these exercises the more you can add to them, always remembering to have a rest between sets of squeezes.

It’s important for your pelvic floors to have stamina. To improve endurance, tighten and pull in the pelvic floor muscles for as long as you can. Build up your ability and strength until you can do 10 slow contractions at a time, holding them for ten seconds each with rests of four seconds in between.

Coughing, laughing, and exercise put pressure on the bladder. To strengthen your pelvic floor’s ability to react quickly to sudden strength, practice some quick contractions by drawing in the pelvic floor quickly and strongly. Hold for a few seconds before relaxing and repeating.

You can perform Kegel exercises standing, sitting, or lying down. If you are unable to feel a definite squeeze and lift action of your pelvic floor muscles, you should seek professional help and advice on how to get your pelvic floor muscles working correctly.

Kegel exercise weights

For women, another option to help strengthen the vaginal and pelvic floor muscles and manage incontinence issues is to use Kegel exercise weights. These weights can come in different weights and sizes to help you contract and release different muscles.

How long do pelvic floor exercises take to work?

It takes approximately two to three months for the muscle to strengthen, and you need to continue them daily for them to be effective, so don’t give up! Once you notice the exercises working and results, you should continue to keep doing them.

Pelvic floor exercises shouldn’t be painful so if you are experiencing pain or discomfort, it is likely that you are not performing them correctly, but it’s important to discuss this with a healthcare professional. There are always alternative treatment methods and solutions and at Benenden Hospital we can discuss the best option for you.

You should seek professional help and support for urinary incontinence if it begins to affect your quality of life. It is a common problem, so don’t feel embarrassed to talk about your symptoms. This can also be the first step to finding a way to effectively manage the problem.

For a no-nonsense chat with our Private Patient team to discuss treatments we offer, complete our online enquiry form or call 01580 363158.

Published on 11 May 2021