What Is Bladder Leakage
Medically known as Stress Urinary Incontinence , the condition describes involuntary bladder leakage. This is often triggered by an active lifestyle, like that of a runner, but can also come from coughing, sneezing or laughing too hard. Unfortunately, SUI comes with little to no warning signs without the urge to use the bathroom, it often catches you completely by surprise.
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Why Should Men And Women Do Kegels
Urologists often recommend Kegel exercises to people with overactive bladder, pelvic organ prolapse, and other urologic issues, such as incontinence . Strengthening and toning pelvic floor muscles can help with these problems.
Kegels can have sexual benefits, too. Men may have improved erections. Women who do Kegel exercises regularly often find that vaginal penetration becomes more comfortable. Orgasms may intensify for both men and women.
One you learn the technique, Kegel exercises are easy to do. You need no special equipment, and they can be done anywhere. Theyre also discreet nobody will know when youre doing Kegels.
Note: Kegels arent appropriate for everyone. In some cases, pelvic floor problems develop because the muscles are too tense and are difficult to relax, making Kegels less effective. Your doctor can guide you on your personal situation.
How Often Should I Exercise
Do your exercises often enough to make them a habit but at a minimum of 30 repetitions twice a day. Pelvic floor muscle support usually improves within 6 weeks after starting the exercises. Strengthening your pelvic floor is one step you can take to control your bladder. While incontinence and frequent sudden urges to go may be embarrassing to talk about, your health care provider can offer other treatment options that may provide further relief.
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Should I Do Kegel Exercises
Many factors, including pregnancy and childbirth, surgery, and getting older, can weaken pelvic floor muscles. If these muscles are weak, you may start to leak small amounts of urine, stool, or gas.
Kegel exercises strengthen these muscles, helping you to stop these leaks.1,2 Studies suggest that pelvic floor muscle training may also improve sexual function.3,4
Pelvic floor muscle training can help both women and men. But in some cases, practicing these exercises may not be a good option. Check with your health care professional before you begin.
Your Lifestyle Choices Matter
Hormones may be the root cause but our lifestyle choices and overall health can influence our health outcome.
Yes, the choices you make do affect your health in the long run, even if you didnt see the effect of your choices while you were making them.
What kind of lifestyle choices and overall health? If youre on medication, if youre obese, if youre a smoker, or if you have other medical issues all can lead to urinary incontinence.
But, as you can see, at least some of these are the result of decisions YOU make!
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Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor Muscles To Improve Urinary Continence
Tackling urinary continence is all about working the pelvic muscles. So why do these muscles matter? The pelvic floor muscles extend from the inside of your pubic bone all the way to your anus and are woven around your urethra, vagina, and rectum. They control the contractions of your bladder muscle as well as the pressure in the urethra. These actions combine to start and stop the flow of a stream of urine. When you contract these muscles, the lower urethra closes and squeezes any urine back up your bladder, preventing leakage. When they relax the urine flows out. If these muscles arent strong, the tightening may not be effective, causing urine to leak. As you exercise these muscles and make them stronger, you should notice less frequent accidents and should be able to go longer without using the bathroom. Doing more repetitions and holding your contractions for longer are other ways to make this more effective.4
Who Can Perform Kegels
Despite the growing knowledge of how to treat and manage urinary incontinence, many assume Kegels are only for women to perform. While urinary incontinence is more prominent in women who give birth vaginally, UI affects men too, and Kegels are a great tool for anyone to perform. Learn more here aboutpelvic floor exercises for men.
Anyone who wishes to increase control of their bladder or bowel, manage UI, and recover from surgery or vaginal childbirth can perform Kegels.
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If Kegels Dont Work For You Try An Alternative Solution:
Mens Liberty provides discreet, worry free protection against leaks and accidents for up to 24 hours. In fact, our alternative to the external male catheter is your odor free solution to urinary incontinence. Covered by over 3000 insurance plans including Medicare and TriCare, Mens Liberty eliminates the awkwardness of adult diapers. Return to a normal, active lifestyle without constant worry. One Mens Liberty provides protection that lasts up to 24 hours, keeping you dry night and day. If urinary incontinence is causing stress and disruption for you, Mens Liberty may be the answer. Email us or give us a call today to learn if Mens Liberty is right for you.
Did You Know That Kegel Exercises Are Also Helpful For Men
Its true. Men with certain health and sexual health issues can also benefit from doing Kegel exercises. In men, these exercises can:
- Help improve incontinence .
- Help manage prostate pain and swelling that occurs with prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia .
- Increase mens sexual pleasure through greater control of ejaculation and improved orgasm sensation.
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What Can Happen If You Do A Kegel Incorrectly
Women often incorrectly contract their buttocks or gluteal muscles, or inner thighs, and basically squeeze their thighs together. Many strain and increase their abdominal pressure. Thats not good for two reasons. One, its ineffective. And two, straining results in the opposite effect. Chronic straining is a risk factor for developing and worsening problems like pelvic organ prolapse or stress incontinence.
How To Do Kegel Exercises
Once you know what the movement feels like, do Kegel exercises 3 times a day:
- Make sure your bladder is empty, then sit or lie down.
- Tighten your pelvic floor muscles. Hold tight and count 3 to 5 seconds.
- Relax the muscles and count 3 to 5 seconds.
- Repeat 10 times, 3 times a day .
Breathe deeply and relax your body when you are doing these exercises. Make sure you are not tightening your stomach, thigh, buttock, or chest muscles.
After 4 to 6 weeks, you should feel better and have fewer symptoms. Keep doing the exercises, but do not increase how many you do. Overdoing it can lead to straining when you urinate or move your bowels.
Some notes of caution:
- Once you learn how to do them, do not practice Kegel exercises at the same time you are urinating more than twice a month. Doing the exercises while you are urinating can weaken your pelvic floor muscles over time or cause damage to bladder and kidneys.
- In women, doing Kegel exercises incorrectly or with too much force may cause vaginal muscles to tighten too much. This can cause pain during sexual intercourse.
- Incontinence will return if you stop doing these exercises. Once you start doing them, you may need to do them for the rest of your life.
- It may take several months for your incontinence to lessen once you start doing these exercises.
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Why Kegels Are Ineffective In Helping With Prolapse Or Incontinence
Just do your Kegels, is something that women often hear after asking their doctor the tough and embarrassing question of how they can heal prolapse and incontinence. Kegels have become the go-to suggestion for fixing pretty much any issue associated with the pelvic floor.
Sadly, however, many women realize that Kegels dont work for them. They arent as effective as claimed and can even be harmful.
Yet, the search for a more effective solution will often lead to the same place
Just do your Kegels.
So, what should you do then?
Well, for starters, not Kegels.
Kegels can be helpful in certain cases, especially if combined with other holistic healing approaches. Nonetheless, there are, indeed, more effective ways that can help you heal prolapse and incontinence naturally, and youve come to the right place to learn about them. But, before we get into them, lets first take a look at why Kegels dont work.
What Are Kegel Weights And Balls
Kegel weights and balls are devices that can help women do pelvic floor exercises. They are made from medical grade silicone, and some women find that they make it easier to locate and exercise the correct muscles. They are inserted into the vagina, and to keep them from falling out, you need to use your pelvic floor muscles. Some women find they make it easier to correctly perform pelvic floor exercises, as they can feel their muscles gripping the kegel weight or kegel ball.
Using kegel weights and balls is considered safe for most women and is very much down to personal preference. Research shows that when pelvic floor exercises are done correctly without kegel weights or balls, they are just as effective as when they are done with them.
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How To Find The Right Muscles
A Kegel exercise is like pretending you have to urinate and then holding it. You relax and tighten the muscles that control urine flow. It is important to find the right muscles to tighten.
Next time you have to urinate, start to go and then stop. Feel the muscles in your vagina , bladder, or anus get tight and move up. These are the pelvic floor muscles. If you feel them tighten, you have done the exercise right. Your thighs, buttock muscles, and abdomen should remain relaxed.
If you still are not sure you are tightening the right muscles:
- Imagine that you are trying to keep yourself from passing gas.
- Women: Insert a finger into your vagina. Tighten the muscles as if you are holding in your urine, then let go. You should feel the muscles tighten and move up and down.
- Men: Insert a finger into your rectum. Tighten the muscles as if you are holding in your urine, then let go. You should feel the muscles tighten and move up and down.
How Do I Do A Kegel
First, you need to locate the right muscles, which is often the hardest part. The next time youre urinating, try stopping the flow mid-stream. If you can do that, youve found the right muscle.
There are two types of Kegel exercises that you can do to strengthen and tone your pelvic floor muscles.
Over time, work your way up to 10 seconds per contraction. Be sure to rest for 10 seconds in between each contraction knowing how to relax your muscle is as important as the contraction.
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Overactive Muscles And Oab
Overactive bladder is a common condition that causes a frequent and sudden urge to urinate that is difficult to control. Its caused when the muscle that surrounds the bladder the detrusor muscle spasms uncontrollably.
Usually, this muscle contracts when your bladder is full. But when you experience OAB, the muscle spasms become overactive and unpredictable. You suddenly feel the need to urinate constantly, and the spasms can lead to involuntary leakage.
Can Physical Therapists Help With Kegels
Absolutely. Pelvic floor physical therapists can teach you how to do kegels in a correct and more effective way. They use different techniques for monitoring and provide feedback. Its like having a personal trainer at the gym. You can find instructions for kegels online and do them on your own, but if you have someone who teaches you how to do them, and gives you professional feedback, it helps you do the exercises correctly and more effectively. Its been proven in research studies that its more effective than doing them on your own. At the University of Chicago Medicine, we have a very good physical therapy team that specializes in pelvic floor issues.
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What Are The Benefits Of Kegel Exercises For Men
In men, Kegel exercises are primarily a first-line therapy in men with urinary incontinence after a radical prostatectomy. Studies have demonstrated that patients should start pelvic floor muscle therapy prior to radical prostatectomy and continue postoperatively for the best results.
Overactive bladder symptoms can occur in men as well as women. Contraction of the pelvic floor muscles can suppress bladder contractions and thus pelvic floor muscle therapy is a part of the first-line management of overactive bladder.
Researchers have evaluated the role of pelvic floor muscle therapy, Kegel exercises, in the management of erectile dysfunction and orgasm-associated urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy. One study demonstrated that men with erectile dysfunction and climacteric one year after nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy had significant improvement in erectile function with pelvic floor muscle training at 15 months and that the effect was maintained during follow-up. In addition, in those men performing pelvic floor muscle therapy, there was a significant improvement in the climacteric.
Pelvic floor muscle therapy, Kegel exercises, is helpful in men with premature ejaculation. In fact, in one study, pelvic floor therapy consisting of biofeedback, pelvic exercises, and electrostimulation led to a cure in premature ejaculation in 50% of patients with a history of lifelong premature ejaculation, within two to six months of starting therapy.
How Do Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises Reduce Overactive Bladder Symptoms
- Date:
- Wolters Kluwer Health
- Summary:
- Overactive bladder is a common form of urinary incontinence that is widely treated with pelvic floor muscle training. A new laboratory study lends insights into how PFM training works: by reducing contractions of the detrusor muscle of the bladder.
Overactive bladder is a common form of urinary incontinence that is widely treated with pelvic floor muscle training. A new laboratory study lends insights into how PFM training works: by reducing contractions of the detrusor muscle of the bladder, reports the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, the official journal of the Association of Academic Physiatrists.
Pelvic floor muscle contractions can reduce the severity of contractions of the detrusor muscle of the bladder in patients with OAB, including those with and without multiple sclerosis, according to the new research by Adelia Lucio, PhD, of HUMAP UFMS, Campo Grande, Brazil. The study suggests that PFM contractions may reinforce a key voluntary reflex controlling urination.
Pelvic Floor Muscle Contraction Can Influence Bladder Function
Overactive bladder is a very common condition, causing urinary urgency and incontinence. Symptoms of OAB can be improved by performing PFM training, sometimes called Kegel exercises. Dr. Lucio and colleagues designed a laboratory study to explore the mechanisms by which pelvic floor muscle contractions work to improve OAB symptoms.
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Add To Your Daily Routine
Do your pelvic exercises at least three times a day. Every day, try to do the exercises in three positions: lying down, sitting, and standing. Using all three positions makes the muscles strongest. Keep a daily journal or exercise log to record each time you do the exercises.
Heres a sample daily exercise schedule.
- Do a set of exercises in the morning, while making breakfast.
- Fit in another set in the afternoon, while sitting at your desk or driving.
- End with a third set in the evening, while lying in bed.
Be patient. Don’t give up. It’s just 5 minutes, three times a day. Like any exercise routine, it can take a little time to build up muscle strength and conditioning. You may not feel your bladder control improve until after 3 to 6 weeks.
Dont overdo it. Keep doing the exercises, but dont increase how many you do. Overdoing the exercises can lead to straining when you urinate or move your bowels.
How Do I Perform Kegel Exercises
You perform Kegel exercises by lifting and holding and then relaxing your pelvic floor muscles. Start by doing a small number of exercises over a short period of time, then gradually increase both the length of time and the number of exercises you are doing in each session . You should perform at least two sets of the exercises a day.
Start by lifting and holding for three seconds then relaxing for three seconds. Repeat this 10 times in a row this would be one set. Do this set of exercises at least twice a day. As you improve, increase all of these numbers. In other words, increase the length of time you are lifting, holding and relaxing the number of exercises making up a set and the number times per day you are doing these exercises. For example, instead of holding for three seconds and relaxing for three seconds, hold and relax for four seconds each, then up to five seconds each. Increase the number of exercises in a set to 10 in a row . Finally, increase the number of times you do these exercises from twice a day to three times a day.
Biofeedback and other techniques
If you have trouble doing Kegel exercises, two techniques can help biofeedback training and electric stimulation of your pelvic floor muscles. Biofeedback is done to help determine if the correct muscles are being squeezed electrical stimulation recreates the sensation of what a properly done Kegel exercise should feel like.
Kegel exercise tips
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