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Kegel Exercises

Pelvic muscle exercises, called Kegel exercises, strengthen the group of muscles called the pelvic floor muscles. These muscles relax and contract under your command to control the opening and closing of your bladder. When these muscles are weak, urine leakage may result. However, you can exercise them and in many cases, regain your bladder control.

To achieve the best results when performing these exercises, imagine yourself an athlete in training. You need to build the strength and the endurance of your muscles. This requires regular exercise.

It is recommended that you starting doing Kegel exercises six-eight weeks prior to surgery.

Begin by Locating the Muscles to be Exercised:

As you begin urinating, try to stop or slow the urine WITHOUT tensing the muscles of your legs, buttocks, or abdomen. This is very important. Using other muscles will defeat the purpose of the exercise.

When you are able to stop or slow the stream of urine, you know that you have located the correct muscles. Feel the sensation of the muscles pulling inward and upward.

Tips:

  • You may squeeze the area of the rectum to tighten the anus as if trying not to pass gas and that will be using the correct muscles.
  • Remember NOT to tense the abdominal, buttock, or thigh muscles.

Now You are Ready to Exercise Regularly:

After you have located the correct muscles, set aside time each day for three to four exercise sessions (morning, midday and evening).

Squeeze your muscles to the slow count of five. Then, relax the muscle completely to the slow count of five. The five-second contraction and the five-second relations make one “set.”

Tips:

  • When your pelvic floor muscles are very weak, you should begin by contracting the muscles for only three to five seconds. Begin doing what you can and continue faithfully. In a few weeks, you should be able to increase the amount of time you are able to hold the contraction and the number of exercise sets you are able to do. Your goal is to hold each contraction for 10 seconds, to relax for 10 seconds, and to complete 25 to 30 sets in each of the three to four exercise sessions per day.
  • In the beginning, check yourself frequently by looking in the mirror and placing a hand on your abdomen and buttocks to ensure that you do not feel your belly, thigh or buttock muscles move. If there is movement, continue to experiment until you have isolated just the muscles of the pelvic floor.
  • If you are unsure that you are contracting the correct muscles, at your next exam, ask your urologist to help you identify the proper muscle contraction.
  • Your bladder control should begin to improve in three to four weeks. If you keep a record of urine leakage each day, you should begin to notice fewer instances of bladder leakage.

Exercise your pelvic muscles regularly for a lifetime to improve and maintain bladder control. Pelvic muscle exercises also improve orgasmic function. Whether you are doing pelvic muscle exercise to improve or maintain bladder control or improve orgasmic function, or both, they must be done faithfully. Make them part of your routine. Use daily activities such as eating meals, watching the news, stopping at traffic lights, and waiting in lines as clues to do a few pelvic muscle exercises.