Kegel Exercises for Women: Everything you need to know

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Chapters

0:00 Introduction
0:47 How to locate the Pelvic Floor
1:30 How to do Kegel Exercises
2:12 Why do Kegel Exercises

Kegel exercise, also known as pelvic-floor exercise, involves repeatedly contracting and relaxing the muscles that form part of the pelvic floor, now sometimes colloquially referred to as the "Kegel muscles". The exercise can be performed many times a day, for several minutes at a time but takes one to three months to begin to have an effect.[1]

Kegel exercises aim to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles.[2] These muscles have many functions within the human body. In women, they are responsible for: holding up the bladder, preventing urinary stress incontinence (especially after childbirth), vaginal and uterine prolapse.[3][4] In men, these muscles are responsible for: urinary continence, fecal continence, and ejaculation.[5][4] Several tools exist to help with these exercises, although various studies debate the relative effectiveness of different tools versus traditional exercises.[6]


The American gynecologist Arnold Kegel first published a description of such exercises in 1948.
Kegel exercises aim to improve muscle tone by strengthening the pubococcygeus muscles of the pelvic floor. Kegel is a popular[quantify] prescribed exercise for pregnant women to prepare the pelvic floor for physiological stresses of the later stages of pregnancy and childbirth. Various advisors recommend Kegel exercises for treating vaginal prolapse[7] and preventing uterine prolapse[8] in women and for treating prostate pain[citation needed] and swelling resulting from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatitis in men. Kegel exercises may have benefits in treating urinary incontinence in both men and women.[9] Kegel exercises may also increase sexual gratification, allowing women to complete pompoir and aiding men in reducing premature ejaculation.[5] The many actions performed by Kegel muscles include holding in urine and avoiding defecation. Reproducing this type of muscle action can strengthen the Kegel muscles. The action of slowing or stopping the flow of urine may be used as a test of correct pelvic-floor exercise technique.[10][11]

The components of levator ani (the pelvic diaphragm), namely pubococcygeus, puborectalis and iliococcygeus, contract and relax as one muscle.[citation needed] Hence pelvic-floor exercises involve the entire levator ani rather than pubococcygeus alone. Pelvic-floor exercises may help in cases of fecal incontinence and in pelvic organ prolapse conditions e.g. rectal prolapse.[12]