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Pelvic Floor Strengthening exercises

Weak muscles can cause urine and stool leakage, hemorrhoids during pregnancy, and prevent reaching orgasm

Pregnancy, childbirth, and obesity can weaken the pelvic floor muscles. Pelvic floor muscles support your uterus, bladder and bowel.

The physicians may use biofeedback probes or electric simulation. You may use vaginal cones. These cones are weighted about the size of a tampon. You clench your vagina to hold these weighted cones in place. You start with with light weight and move up to heavier weights to gain more strength.

The most common method is called Kegel Crunches.

How to identify muscles of pelvic floor?

Make sure your stomach, thigh, and buttock muscles are relaxed and remain relaxed to isolate the pelvic floor muscles. These are not your pelvic muscles. You can use one of the following three approaches

Approach 1: Sit on the toilet and start urinating. Now, clench your vagina muscles to stop the urine flow. The muscles involved are the pelvic muscles.

Approach 2: Lie down and insert a finger in your vagina. Clench your vagina muscles to grab your finger. The muscles involved are the pelvic muscles.

Approach 3: Imagine you are embarrassed and trying to stop gas from passing. The muscles giving you a sense of 'pulling' are the pelvic muscles.

How to perform Kegel exercises?

1. Tighten your pelvic floor muscles. Keep it tightened for a count of 10

2. Relax pelvic muscle for a count of 10.

3. Repeat Step 1 and 2 about 10 times

4. Steps 1 through 3 is one set. Perform about 3 sets a day.

Each set should be performed in a different position: lying down, sitting, and standing. In total you will be doing about 300 crunches per day.

You should expect good results in about 12 weeks

Cautions

1. Do not  use urination interruption as a routine exercise to contract your muscles. This can cause Urinary Tract Infection.

2. Make sure you are using correct muscles. Clenching wrong muscles may in fact weaken your pelvic muscles.

3. Don't hold breath while holding the pelvic muscles clenched.