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Kegel exercises can help you prevent or control urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor problems. Here's a step-by-step guide to doing Kegel exercises correctly and the devices you can use to help to perform them.
What Are Kegel Exercises?
Kegel exercises strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, which support the uterus, bladder, small intestine and rectum. You can do Kegel exercises, also known as pelvic floor muscle training, just about anytime.
Start by understanding what Kegel exercises can do for you, then follow step-by-step instructions for contracting and relaxing your pelvic floor muscles.
Why Kegel Exercises Matter
Many factors can weaken your pelvic floor muscles, including pregnancy, childbirth, surgery, ageing, excessive straining from chronic coughing, and being overweight.
You might benefit from doing Kegel exercises if you:
- Leak a few drops of urine while sneezing, laughing or coughing (stress incontinence)
- Have a strong, sudden urge to urinate just before losing a large amount of urine (urinary incontinence)
Kegel exercises can be done during pregnancy or after childbirth to try to prevent urinary incontinence.
Keep in mind that Kegel exercises are less helpful for women who have severe urine leakage when they sneeze, cough or laugh. Also, Kegel exercises aren't helpful for women who unexpectedly leak small amounts of urine due to a full bladder (overflow incontinence).
How to do Kegal Exercises
To get started:
- Find the right muscles. To identify your pelvic floor muscles, stop urination in midstream. If you succeed, you've got the right muscles. Once you've identified your pelvic floor muscles you can do the exercises in any position, although you might find it easiest to do them lying down at first.
- Perfect your technique. Tighten your pelvic floor muscles, hold the contraction for five seconds, and then relax for five seconds. Try it four or five times in a row. Work up to keeping the muscles contracted for 10 seconds at a time, relaxing for 10 seconds between contractions.
- Maintain your focus. For best results, focus on tightening only your pelvic floor muscles. Be careful not to flex the muscles in your abdomen, thighs or buttocks. Avoid holding your breath. Instead, breathe freely during the exercises.
- Repeat three times a day. Aim for at least three sets of 10 repetitions a day.
Don't make a habit of using Kegel exercises to start and stop your urine stream. Doing Kegel exercises while emptying your bladder can actually lead to incomplete emptying of the bladder — which increases the risk of a urinary tract infection.
When to do your Kegels
Make Kegel exercises part of your daily routine. You can do Kegel exercises discreetly just about anytime, whether you're sitting at your desk or relaxing on the couch.
When You're Having Trouble
If you're having trouble doing Kegel exercises, don't worry, because there are a plethora of devices that can assist you in improving your strength and make the exercises effortless.
Elvie Personal Trainer
Elvie is the smallest Kegel tracker available and a world away from traditional Kegel exercisers with its sleek, comfortable design. The fun, competitive element that the App offers not only makes the whole business more interesting but the immediate pointers it gives if you're doing it incorrectly mean you know that you are doing things right. Start now and you'll be an Elvie guru in no time.
Tenscare Perfect PFE Pelvic Floor Exerciser
This colourful device is a safe and non-surgical solution to boost your core strength, optimise continence and improve sexual intimacy. TensCare technology sends gentle stimulation to your pelvic floor through a streamlined probe, working the muscles to develop your own muscle control. Offering 4 programmes to exercise and strengthen the pelvic floor and an additional programme for Chronic Pelvic Pain. With treatments lasting for just 20 minutes a day and can be easily scheduled into your daily routine.
INTIMINA KegalSmart Pelvic Floor Toner
INTIMINA KegelSmart Pelvic Floor Toner uses touch sensor technology to register your pelvic floor strength. Using 5 levels, it rates your contraction strength, from very weak to very strong, which allows you to track your progress. Setting you a routine that is simple to follow, safe to use and completely tailored to your needs, it's a smart and easy way to work your kegels. Taking just less than 5 minutes a day, you just need to use it once a day and when you reach your goal, you can maintain your strength by using it just 3 times a week.
vSculpt Pelvic Floor Toning and Vaginal Rejuvenation Therapy
vSculpt utilises an innovative combination of technologies: Red and Infrared light, gentle heat, and therapeutic vibration. It's the simple and effective solution to tone, tighten, and rejuvenate the vaginal tissue and muscles of your pelvic floor. vSculpt reduces pelvic inflammation and pain and endorsed by medical professionals. It's natural, hormone-free, noninvasive, affordable and safe.
If you have any questions regarding toning your pelvic floor, speak to our product experts on 0800 959 6565 or email them sales@currentbody.com