Kegel Exercises
Kegel Exercices were named after Doctor Kegel. Kegel exercises make your pelvic floor muscles stronger. These muscles support and hold all of your organs in place, control your urine flow and plays an important role during labor.
Your doctor may prescribe Kegels exercises for:
- Stress incontinence. You experience urine leakage when you laugh, cough, sneeze, jog, or lift something heavy. This is a common occurrence during pregnancy when your baby is heavy and pressed down on your bladder. The increased body weight due to pregnancy combined with the relaxin in a pregnant woman body makes the pelvic floor muscles weaker and stretched.
- Urge incontinence. This is a need to urinate immediately “urge to urinate” and one can not make it on time to the restroom
- Pelvic floor weakness due to childbirth. Childbirth can stretch and weaken pelvic floor muscles. And that can cause urine control problems. It can also allow one or more pelvic organs to sag. (uterus prolapse, bladder prolapse). Women can help prevent this problem by doing daily Kegels during and after pregnancy.
- This is why Body Belly Baby classes educate and teach women who to perform Kegels Exercise and recommend pelvic floor fitness and rehab after childbirth in the postpartum period.
How to do Kegel exercises
Kegels are easy to do and can be done anywhere without anyone knowing. This requires concentration and practice to perform them correctly.This example below is one way to perform the Kegel exercises.
- Find the muscles you use to stop urinating. You may practice once but not more than once.
- Squeeze these muscles for 3 seconds. Then relax for 3 seconds. Your stomach and thigh muscles should remain silent when you do this.
- Add 1 second each week until you are able to squeeze for 10 seconds each time.
- Repeat this exercise 10 to 15 times per session. Try to do this at least 3 times a day. ( when brushing your teeth or driving is a good time to practice )
- Don’t do Kegels while you urinate. Doing them during urination can hurt your bladder.
Kegels work best when done on a daily regular schedule.
Your doctor may want you to try doing Kegels with the EXMI chair with electro magnetic stimulation. This EXMI Chair actually does the Kegel exercises for you and is the most effective way to tone and straighten your pelvic floor.
