Do you experience urinary incontinence or leakage when laughing, coughing, or sneezing?
If so, try this exercise.
It’ll strengthen the muscles of your pelvic floor and provide much-needed relief for urinary incontinence and leakage.
Relieve Urinary Incontinence
In the video below, Buffalo Rehab Group Director of Pelvic Health, Dr. Mary Roberts, PT DPT CLT, explains how to correctly perform a Kegel to help relieve urinary incontinence and leakage.
A Kegel is a very popular and simple exercise for women to strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor.
The key to a Kegel’s effectiveness for strengthening the pelvic floor and relieving urinary incontinence is making sure it’s being done correctly.
To best determine the pelvic floor muscles you should be targeting, you can practice a Kegel while going to the bathroom. However, only practice this once as it’s not a good habit to form. Doing Kegels while urinating can lead to an incomplete emptying of your bladder and can put you at risk for a urinary tract infection.
Squeeze the muscles that stop your flow of urine up and in, holding for three seconds then relaxing for three seconds.
Focus on tightening only these pelvic floor muscles and not muscles in your thighs, buttocks, or abdomen. Also, it’s important to breathe normally as you contract and relax — as sometimes it’s common to inadvertantly hold your breath. As you breathe out, think “exhale with effort.”
Once you have a feel for the pelvic floor muscles you should be targeting, you can perform Kegels while sitting or lying down.
Aim for performing 50 Kegels per day in sets of five. Three sets should be simple contact/relax Kegels while seven sets should be comprised of “endurance holds” where the contraction is held for 5-8 seconds.
Don’t let urinary incontinence or leakage slow you down.
If you experience urinary incontinence and it’s keeping you from doing the things you love, Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy can help.
Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy strengthens the muscles in your pelvic floor, which can help alleviate pain and soreness, along with symptoms of urinary leakage or bowel incontinence.
To learn more about whether Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy is right for you, click the button below and schedule an evaluation with a Pelvic Health Specialist.
Schedule
