Practicing Kegel exercises daily is an important element of your health before, during and after pregnancy to keep our pelvic floor toned, strong and also flexible. It is as important to be able to contract the pelvic floor as it is to relax it. Pelvic floor health is critical for your quality of life as a woman. The pelvic floor supports our organs, plays a role in our pleasant intercourse for you and your partner, and is directly related to urinary function ( incontinence). Pregnancy is very strenuous on the pelvic floor. As baby is growing, as uterus is growing, our pelvic floor has to support more and more weight and is put under a lot of stress. Independently from the type of birth a mom has – vaginal or C- section birth- the pelvic floor needs strengthening and toning after birth. In France pelvic floor fitness is part of the postnatal care as a norm in order to prevent incontinence.
In Pilates Classes, we regularly teach Kegel’s exercises. In Prenatal Pilates we systematically teach Kegel’s exercises as it is critical for the expectant mom to help her pelvic floor stay strong and flexible, to be aware to contract it as well as to relax it in preparation for labor and birth of the baby.
As I was studying with my mentor Ms. Lolita San Miguel – attending Lolita San Miguel Pilates Master Mentor Program -, Ms. San Miguel would often mention Doctor Kegel. It triggered my curiosity as it was the first times I heard the name of the exercises associated with the title of a Doctor.
Kegel exercises were named after their inventor, Doctor Arnod Kegel, an American gynecologist who passed away in 1972. Doctor Kegel invented the Kegel perineometer – an instrument made to measure the strength of voluntary contractions of the pelvic floor – and some exercises to contract, tone, strengthen the pelvic floor. His work was published in 1948.
Doing Kegel exercises require precise directions and the ability to integrate mind and body as well as a very deep body awareness and ability to isolate and contract the right group o muscles.
Body Belly Baby is a pelvic floor fitness center and teaches Kegel exercises daily in prenatal Pilates class, holds regular open houses about the health of pelvic floor and also offer specific pelvic floor fitness sessions with the EXMI neocontrol technology.
Pilates includes pelvic floor exercises and the engagement and activation of the power house starting from the pelvic floor up. It is critical for every woman to keep her pelvic floor healthy in order to prevent stress or urinary incontinence in the future.
