Kegel exercises for stress incontinence: How to get significant result

What are the benefits of Kegel exercises?

A weak pelvic floor can lead to several disorders. The purpose of Kegel exercises is to strengthen the pelvic floor which supports the bladder, the uterus and the anus. Indeed, as with training any muscle, contractions of the pelvic floor will increase strength, endurance, and motor control of the involved muscles.

Kegel exercises might be useful if you want to:

Reduce urine leaks when laughing, coughing, or sneezing
Reduce the sudden and strong urge to urinate
Improve your sexual well-being
Prevent incontinence during pregnancy and after childbirth

Learn more about how Kegel exercises can help you treat your stress incontinence.

Reduce urine leaks when laughing, coughing, or sneezing

Kegels have been shown to help individuals with stress incontinence strengthen their pelvic floor so that they can perform “bearing down” activities such as laughing and coughing without leaking. Kegel exercises decrease both the prevalence and the severity of stress urinary incontinence by addressing the leading cause, which is weak pelvic floor musculature.

Reduce the sudden and strong urge to urinate

Urge incontinence is the sudden urge to urinate regardless of how full the bladder is. It's been found that strengthening the pelvic floor muscles can provide support to individuals with urge incontinence and potentially prevent leaks⁵.

Improve your sexual well-being

It's also theorized that Kegels can improve sexual health and pleasure by improving the tone of the pelvic floor, increasing orgasmic intensity, and awareness of sexual response.²

Prevent incontinence during pregnancy and after childbirth

Performing Kegels during and after pregnancy has been shown to improve pelvic floor strength and reduce risk of developing stress urinary incontinence following childbirth.^3,4

How to do a proper Kegel

Learn how to control your pelvic floor muscles, the right way!

One way that you can learn how to contract the pelvic floor is imagining contracting the pelvic floor to stop the flow of urine. Try to do it for real, if you manage to stop the flow of urine, you know how to contract your pelvic floor, congratulations!

While this is a good trick used to learn how a proper Kegel is done, it's not recommended that anyone actually stop urine flow on a regular basis due to the risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs) from retaining urine. Try to use this technique as little as possible.

Be sure not to contract other muscles

During your training, the muscles of the abdomen, the buttocks and the thighs should remain relaxed. You can touch them with your hand while contracting the pelvic floor to make sure these muscles are not contracted during the Kegel exercise. This is important to make sure you're doing the Kegel exercise properly.

Contract, relax, and repeat

A beginner should first practice the Kegel exercise while lying down. This eliminates the effects of gravity and improves focus on the exercise since other muscles are relaxed. After holding for 5 seconds the pelvic floor contraction, relax the pelvic floor during 5 seconds, and repeat 10 times. Do at least 3 sets of 10 repetitions a day.

What to do if you find it difficult to perform the Kegel exercise properly?

Seek advice from a health care professional

Attending physical therapy for a full assessment and assistance with these exercises may be beneficial to ensure that exercises are done safely and correctly.

Place two fingers over the pelvic floor

Since it can be difficult to know whether the exercise is being performed correctly, a beginner may find it helpful to place two fingers over the pelvic floor to feel that the contraction is occurring in the right place.

Use a biofeedback device

Another way to do this is using biofeedback. A biofeedback device is relatively easy to use. This tool measures the contraction of the pelvic floor. The user will be able to see whether a contraction is occurring and how strong the contraction is. This allows the beginning user to feel more confident that the contraction is being executed correctly. These devices can be purchased for home use or used at a physical therapy office or other health clinic.

What routine should you follow?

Make the Kegel exercise your new habit

As with any exercise routine, the key to success is to incorporate your training into your schedule regularly. To make this training a new habit, it's better to do your exercises everyday at a certain time, or using reminders such as the one in the Perifit App to ensure you don’t forget to practice your exercises.

Increase your strength step-by-step

Beginner: Practice the Kegel exercise while lying down. After holding the pelvic floor contraction for 5 seconds, relax the pelvic floor during 5 seconds, and repeat 10 times. Do at least 3 sets of 10 repetitions a day.
Intermediate: Once you're able to perform the Kegel without difficulty while lying down, you can progress to performing Kegels in the standing or seated position. This allows the contraction to be done against gravity, which increases the difficulty.
Advanced: If the Kegel can be performed in the sitting or standing position easily, it may be time to progress to using resistance. A few examples of resistance tools are weighted vaginal cones and toning balls such as Ben Wa Balls. These tools provide a downward and outward force on the vaginal wall, which increases the difficulty of contraction of the pelvic floor.
Expert: For those who wish to further improve the health of their pelvic floor, a Kegel exerciser device can help. These devices operate using an internal sensor to precisely assess the contraction of the pelvic floor. It also allows the user to play games using the sensor and to track their progress over time.

Adapt your training to your goal

If reducing or preventing urinary incontinence is the goal, the contraction should be held for increasing amounts of time (as well as the relaxation).
To improve sexual health and pleasure, the exerciser would likely improve motor control using a biofeedback device. Motor control refers to the connection between the brain and the pelvic floor muscles. Biofeedback helps with motor control by providing an assessment of the strength of each contraction.

What else can you do to reduce or prevent stress incontinence?

Here are 8 other methods that have been proven to be safe and effective at reducing or even stopping stress incontinence:

Physical therapy: practice pelvic floor rehabilitation with a specialist
Weight loss: reduce your weight to reduce the pressure on your pelvic floor
Voiding schedules: set reminders to use the bathroom more often
Electrical stimulation and biofeedback tools: strengthen your pelvic floor effectively with smart devices
Vaginal cones and toning balls: strengthen your pelvic floor with these devices
Pessaries: insert these devices to stop stress incontinence
Diet: avoid bladder irritants, dehydration and try vitamin D supplements
Apps: Use apps to exercises your pelvic floor and track your progression

With all the great benefits of doing Kegel exercises, everyone has a reason to incorporate a pelvic floor program into their health routine! The best pelvic floor training program is the one that coincides with your goals. Use these tips to guide you on your way to pelvic floor health!

Kegel exercises for stress incontinence: How to get significant results