Kegels: What are they and should I be doing them?

A Kegel is a squeeze and lift of your pelvic floor muscles. Women with stress, urge or mixed incontinence are often told to do Kegels. Without proper instruction by a Pelvic Health Physical Therapist it can be difficult knowing if you are contracting your pelvic floor muscles. In a recent study of100 women being taught how to perform a Kegel seventy-one women (71%) demonstrated use of at least 1 inappropriate accessory muscle, and of those, up to 50% were contracting 2 accessory muscle groups*. Performing a Kegel incorrectly and or the inability to relax your pelvic floor muscles can make your symptoms worse.

At Trinity Pelvic Health we offer the most comprehensive care available for the treatment of stress, urge and mixed incontinence. We teach you how to correctly perform a pelvic floor muscle contraction as well as how to implement urge control strategies into your daily activities. We educate you on how to engage your core and the pelvic floor in the treatment of pelvic floor weakness, incontinence and prolapse (also known as cystocele, urethrocele, urethrocystocele, rectocele). Pelvic floor rehab may be an alternative to pelvic floor surgery.

* Armstrong, Abigail & Nguyen, My-Linh & Wieslander, Cecilia & Tarnay, Christopher. (2019). Now Anyone Can Kegel: One-Time Office Teaching of Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises. Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery. 25. 149-153.