Everyone talks about strengthening your pelvic floor or doing your kegel exercises. But do you know what that means and how to do it?
For a quick explanation, you can think of your pelvic floor area from where you pee to your anus, like a banana.
Exercising the pelvic floor contracts the area where you pee, right through to the muscles that stop gas from passing. Identifying these muscles is the same for both men and women.
Once you’ve identified the pelvic floor muscles, to do an exercise you want to feel a slight lift in the pelvic muscles when you contract.
Try to isolate those muscles and tighten them without feeling it in your stomach or holding your breath.
Then completely relax.
If you’re unsure whether or not you’ve got the right muscles, next time you need to pee, try stopping your urine flow. It is your pelvic floor muscles that help you stop the stream of your pee!
Now that you have identified the muscles try implementing pelvic floor exercises into your daily routine. Here’s a typical set:
Contract your muscles and hold for up to 10 seconds
Completely relax for up to 5 seconds
Repeat 10 times
Aim to do this 3 times per day
If your muscles are weak, you might need more rest in between each lift. Or you might only be able to do a few lifts at a time. Listen to your body and aim to increase the number of lifts you can do until you’re doing 3 full sets a day.
You’ll improve the strength and function of your pelvic floor muscles by doing so!
Of course if you’re experiencing pelvic floor troubles or pain, stop the pelvic floor exercises until you can get in to see your medical professional or one of our trained osteopaths. We can give you guidance on what the cause of the pain might be and what treatment options could help.