Pelvic floor exercises help prevent prolapse by strengthening the muscles that support the pelvic organs. The exercises are easy and quick to do, but it's important to do them correctly, and many women benefit from guidance from a physiotherapist.
Start by locating the muscles you need to exercise. There are a few different ways to do this:
- Place one or two fingers in your vagina and squeeze your muscles until you can feel your vagina tighten around your fingers. These are your pelvic muscles. Imagine you're trying to stop the flow of urine mid-stream. The muscles you tighten (contract) are your pelvic floor muscles.
- The other way to identify the correct muscles is to imagine you are trying to stop yourself from passing gas. The muscles you squeeze to do this are your pelvic muscles.
Once you've identified the correct muscles you're ready to begin. The exercises can be done while lying down, sitting or standing, with your knees together or slightly apart. Pleae empty your bladder first.
Slowly tighten your pelvic floor muscles and count to four, then let the muscles relax for a count of four. As your muscles get stronger gradually increase the count to 10. Try to repeat this 10 to 15 times. Check that you're not tightening the muscles in your legs, abdomen or buttocks, as it's important to use only your pelvic muscles. Remember to keep breathing. Finally, tighten and relax your pelvic muscles as quickly as you can, again 10 to 15 times.
Perform 10 exercises, three times a day (morning, afternoon, and night). These exercises can be performed any time and any place. Most people prefer to perform the exercises while lying down or sitting in a chair. Some women find it helps to set aside specific times to do the exercises, such as before getting out of bed in the morning and before going to sleep at night. After 4 to 6 weeks, most people notice some improvement. It may take as long as 3 months to see a significant change.
A word of caution: some people feel that they can speed up the progress by increasing the number of repetitions and the frequency of exercises. However, this over-exercising may instead cause muscle fatigue and increase leakage of urine.
If you feel any discomfort in your abdomen or back while performing these exercises, you are probably performing them incorrectly. Some people have a tendency to hold their breath or tighten their chest while trying to contract the pelvic floor muscles. Relax and concentrate on contracting just the pelvic floor muscles.
When properly performed usually one hour a week for 6-8 nweeks, Kegel exercises have been shown to be 50-80% effective in improving urinary continence.