Exercising Your Pelvic Muscles

Why exercise pelvic muscles? How do you exercise your pelvic muscles? Hold the Squeeze ’til After the Sneeze Points to Remember Why exercise pelvic muscles?

Life’s events can weaken pelvic muscles. Pregnancy, childbirth, and being overweight can do it. Luckily, when these muscles get weak, you can help make them strong again.

Pelvic floor muscles are just like other muscles. Exercise can make them stronger. Women with bladder control problems can regain control through pelvic muscle exercises, also called Kegel exercises.The pelvic muscles work to control the release of urine.

Pelvic Fitness in Minutes a Day

Exercising your pelvic floor muscles for just 5 minutes, three times a day can make a big difference to your bladder control. Exercise strengthens muscles that hold the bladder and many other organs in place.

The part of your body including your hip bones is the pelvic area. At the bottom of the pelvis, several layers of muscle stretch between your legs. The muscles attach to the front, back, and sides of the pelvis bone.

Two pelvic muscles do most of the work. The biggest one stretches like a hammock. The other is shaped like a triangle. These muscles prevent leaking of urine and stool.

You can make these pelvic floor muscles stronger with a few minutes of exercise every day.
How do you exercise your pelvic muscles?
Find the right muscles. This is very important. Your doctor, nurse, or physical therapist will help make sure you are doing the exercises the right way.

You should tighten the two major muscles that stretch across your pelvic floor. They are the “hammock” muscle and the “triangle” muscle. Here are three methods to check for the correct muscles.

Try to stop the flow of urine when you are sitting on the toilet. If you can do it, you are using the right muscles.

Imagine that you are trying to stop passing gas. Squeeze the muscles you would use. If you sense a “pulling” feeling, those are the right muscles for pelvic exercises.

Lie down and put your finger inside your vagina. Squeeze as if you were trying to stop urine from coming out. If you feel tightness on your finger, you are squeezing the right pelvic muscle.

Don’t squeeze other muscles at the same time. Be careful not to tighten your stomach, legs, or other muscles. Squeezing the wrong muscles can put more pressure on your bladder control muscles. Just squeeze the pelvic muscle. Don’t hold your breath.

Repeat, but don’t overdo it. At first, find a quiet spot to practice—your bathroom or bedroom—so you can concentrate. Lie on the floor. Pull in the pelvic muscles and hold for a count of 3. Then relax for a count of 3. Work up to 10 to 15 repeats each time you exercise.

Healthy sphincter muscles can keep the urethra closed.
Do your pelvic exercises at least three times a day. Every day, use three positions: lying down, sitting, and standing. You can exercise while lying on the floor, sitting at a desk, or standing in the kitchen. Using all three positions makes the muscles strongest.

Be patient. Don’t give up. It’s just 5 minutes, three times a day. You may not feel your bladder control improve until after 3 to 6 weeks. Still, most women do notice an improvement after a few weeks.

Exercise aids. You can also exercise by using special weights or biofeedback. Ask your health care team about these exercise aids.

Hold the Squeeze ’til After the Sneeze
You can protect your pelvic muscles from more damage by bracing yourself.

Think ahead, just before sneezing, lifting, or jumping. Sudden pressure from such actions can hurt those pelvic muscles. Squeeze your pelvic muscles tightly and hold on until after you sneeze, lift, or jump.

After you train yourself to tighten the pelvic muscles for these moments, you will have fewer accidents.

Points to Remember
- Weak pelvic muscles often cause bladder control problems.|
- Daily exercises can strengthen pelvic muscles.
- These exercises often improve bladder control.
- Ask your doctor of nurse if you are squeezing the right muscles.
- Tighten your pelvic muscles before sneezing, lifting, or jumping. This can prevent pelvic muscle damage.

My Pelvic Muscle Exercise Log
Print out this chart and record your pelvic muscle exercises.

Sunday
I exercised my pelvic muscles ____ times.
I spent ____ minutes exercising.
At each exercise session, I squeezed my pelvic muscles ____ times.

Monday
I exercised my pelvic muscles ____ times.
I spent ____ minutes exercising.
At each exercise session, I squeezed my pelvic muscles ____ times.

Tuesday
I exercised my pelvic muscles ____ times.
I spent ____ minutes exercising.
At each exercise session, I squeezed my pelvic muscles ____ times.

Wednesday
I exercised my pelvic muscles ____ times.
I spent ____ minutes exercising.
At each exercise session, I squeezed my pelvic muscles ____ times.

Thursday
I exercised my pelvic muscles ____ times.
I spent ____ minutes exercising.
At each exercise session, I squeezed my pelvic muscles ____ times.

Friday
I exercised my pelvic muscles ____ times.
I spent ____ minutes exercising.
At each exercise session, I squeezed my pelvic muscles ____ times.

Saturday
I exercised my pelvic muscles ____ times.
I spent ____ minutes exercising.
At each exercise session, I squeezed my pelvic muscles ____ times.

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Let’s Talk about Bladder Control for Women is a public health awareness campaign conducted by the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC), an information dissemination service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health.

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Phone: 1–800–891–5390
Fax: 703–738–4929
Email: nkudic@info.niddk.nih.gov
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The National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC) is a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). The NIDDK is part of the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Established in 1987, the Clearinghouse provides information about diseases of the kidneys and urologic system to people with kidney and urologic disorders and to their families, health care professionals, and the public. The NKUDIC answers inquiries, develops and distributes publications, and works closely with professional and patient organizations and Government agencies to coordinate resources about kidney and urologic diseases.

Publications produced by the Clearinghouse are carefully reviewed by both NIDDK scientists and outside experts.

This publication is not copyrighted. The Clearinghouse encourages users of this publication to duplicate and distribute as many copies as desired.

Kegel exercises help strengthen your pelvic muscles, which weaken during childbirth. Why would you want to strengthen these muscles? If they are weak, you could have bladder control problems. You may also find that intercourse is more fulfilling when you have control of your kegel muscles.

Not sure how to do your Kegel’s? Pretend that you are trying to stop the flow of urine the next time you are sitting on the toilet (or anywhere for that matter). Those are the very muscles you need to contract in order to do your Kegels. You can also insert a finger into your vagina and try squeezing just like you are trying to stop the flow of urine. If you feel tightness around your finger, you are performing the exercise correctly.

Be sure when you are doing your Kegel’s that you concentrate on the pelvic floor muscles specifically; try not to do any other exercises. You should squeeze for about 15 seconds several times per day.

It is important that you don’t overdo your Kegel’s particularly in the early weeks after birth, or you may become very sore. Consider working up to doing three sets of ten repetitions over the course of the day.

Of course other exercises are important to get back in shape for new moms, remember to try and enjoy the experience.

Article by Beverley Brooke, author of “Ensure a healthy safe pregnancy for you and your baby”, visit http://www.pregnancywizard.com for more on kegal exercises

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Beverley_Brooke

Women going through menopause can experience urinary incontinence due to a lack of estrogen. Once a woman stops menstruating, her body ceases to make estrogen. Estrogen is, in part, responsible for keeping the lining of the bladder and urethra plump and healthy. A lack of estrogen can be responsible for a weakening of the bladder control muscles.

Pressure from coughing, sneezing, or lifting can push urine past the grips of a weakened muscle. Leakage of this type is known as stress incontinence. It is one of the most common types of bladder control problems experienced by older women.If you are experiencing urinary incontinence, you should not self-diagnose your problem. It is important to see a doctor first.

Your obstetrician-gynecologist or medical doctor should first perform a physical exam. Your doctor should be certain that your bladder empties properly, that you don’t have a urinary tract infection (UTI) and that you know how to properly contract your pelvic floor or Kegel muscles.

After your doctor has determined that there is no physical deformity, complication or infection, you must next determine which course of action to take. There are three common ways to treat urinary incontinence:

– learning behavioral techniques — how to control the muscles of the bladder and the sphincter to prevent leakage.

– taking medication to replace hormones, stop abnormal bladder muscle contractions or tighten sphincter muscles.

– performing Kegel exercises to work the pelvic muscles.

In most cases, the most effective and beneficial course of action is to work the Kegel muscles back in to shape. But how is one to do that?

Over 50 years ago, Dr. Arnold Kegel discovered that by clenching and relaxing the muscles used to stop the flow of urine, the pelvic floor (or Kegel) muscles could be strengthened and rehabilitated. Because of this discovery, most people have heard of “Kegel exercises,” but what most people do not know is that Dr. Kegel incorporated a device known as the “Kegel Perineometer” that was inserted into the vaginal cavity to measure the contractions and provide feedback to the patient. In this way, the patient was able to monitor the quality of the exercises and be certain that they were being done correctly.

Most women who just “do” kegels have minimal results due to the lack of feedback. There is nothing to tell them if they are doing the exercise properly. The most common problem associated with doing Kegel exercises without feedback is the accidental contraction of the abdominal muscles at the same time as the pelvic floor muscles. When this occurs the abdominal muscles (which are bigger and stronger) push down on the pelvic floor and can actually make the problem worse.

Since it’s not likely that the typical family has a Kegel Perineometer lying around, what’s a woman to do? Fortunately there is a safe, affordable solution that has been used successfully by over 100,000 women to strengthen their Kegel muscles in the privacy of their own homes.

This device is known as The Kegelmaster. The Kegelmaster is a small, hinged device that is gently slipped three inches into the vagina. Once done, a safety knob is loosened allowing the small spring (or springs) inside to open the hinged device a few degrees. The woman will then squeeze her kegel muscles causing the device to close. The Kegelmaster’s two, flat internal surfaces close tightly against one another providing feedback to the user that the exercise has been done correctly and completely.

The Kegelmaster has four positions in which springs can be installed or moved. This allows the user to slowly increase the amount of resistance experienced during each exercise. Exercises can be completed in only a few minutes and results can be seen within a few days and improvement can continue over a few short months. No one should suffer needlessly from this embarrassing problem when a simple, affordable solution is so readily available.

Michael Callen is the author of the Weekly Weightloss Tips Newsletter (ccwebgroup.com/tips) and the Chief Technology Officer for WellnessPartners.com, an online retailer of dozens of health and wellness products such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), r+ alpha lipoic acid (R+ ALA), and Green Tea Extract.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Callen