How Can I Strengthen My Pelvic Floor Muscles?

Are you looking for ways to increase your pelvic floor strength? Read on. 

A pelvic floor is a group of muscles that stretch like an inner tube from the pubic bone at the front, around, and behind the base of the spine to each side of the back passage (anus). 

These muscles are responsible for providing support for many organs in our lower abdomen, including our bladder, bowel, and uterus.

This article will provide tips on how to strengthen these important muscles.

The pelvic floor muscles support the womb (uterus), bladder, and bowel.

Why strengthen your pelvic floor?

Having a strong pelvic floor can help you:

✔ Prevent yourself from leaking urine when you laugh, cough or sneeze

✔ Permanently cure your urge to urinate frequently

✔ Protect your lower back, bladder, bowel, and uterus

✔ Improve your sex life by increasing vaginal tightness and sensation

✔ Recover more quickly after giving birth

✔ Keep the correct pelvic floor position when doing abdominal exercises (which will make it safer and more comfortable)

How can I tell if my pelvic floor muscles are weak?

By the age of 50, 1 in 3 women will leak urine involuntarily, especially when you cough or sneeze. 25-30% of women experience problems with their bladder in the 6 months before they are due to give birth.

It may be that you leak when you laugh or have a strong urge to go to the toilet every 15 minutes.

You might also experience pelvic pain, backache, lower abdominal pressure, or find it difficult to keep your vagina closed when doing an abdominal crunch during gym class.

If you suspect that your pelvic floor muscles are weak, the best way to really know for sure is to ask your doctor or midwife to do a vaginal wall strength test during your next appointment.

Is it common for women’s pelvic floor muscles to weaken after giving birth?

Losing control of your bowel or bladder might be embarrassing, but it is a common consequence for women after giving birth, affecting about 1 in 3 new mums.

Some things that can make your pelvic floor muscles work less effectively include:

✔ Being pregnant and pushing a big baby out through the vagina during labor

✔ The weight of the womb (uterus)

✔ Large or multiple babies

✔ Long labors (over 2 hours)

✔ Being overweight

Problems with bladder control can be more likely if you have had previous surgery to open the vagina (an episiotomy), if you gave birth via cesarean section, or if you had forceps or ventouse used during the birth.

If you have had a long labor, you may have stretched the support of your pelvic floor muscles. Your doctor or midwife will be able to tell you whether your perineum was overstretched during the birth, and this is likely to reoccur every time that you give birth.

What are ways I can strengthen my pelvic floor?

Some exercises can be done in your daily routine; others will need equipment. The best way to know which exercises you should do during pregnancy or after giving birth is to ask your doctor or midwife for a referral to a pelvic floor physiotherapist.

You could also search online for ‘pelvic floor physiotherapy clinics’ or ask your local antenatal or mother and baby clinic.

Before starting to do pelvic floor exercises, it is important that you speak with your health professional to find out what kind of exercises are suitable for you.

There are many types of pelvic floor muscle training, but the most common technique involves contracting these muscles around the urethra, vagina, and anus and is often referred to as ‘Kegel’ exercises after Dr. Arnold Kegel, the US gynecologist who developed them in 1948.

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How can I do Kegel exercises?

Here are some simple steps for performing Kegels:

1. Find the right muscles: Contract your pelvic floor muscles (at the same time as passing urine), and you should feel a muscle pull, not an ache.

2. Practice: Make sure you can identify which muscles you are using – tense and release – and do this at different times of your day for about 3-5 minutes each time.

3. Train: Once you have mastered this, your pelvic floor muscles can be trained to respond quickly and help prevent leakage.

Is it safe to do Kegel exercises during pregnancy?

Kegel exercises are not harmful during pregnancy or when you have just given birth because they don’t involve any overstretching of the tissue in the genital area. In fact, doing regular pelvic floor exercises can help to speed up your recovery.

Kegel exercises are the safest way of strengthening your pelvic floor muscles, but there are other ways too:

1. Pelvic Floor Biofeedback. This is a technique where electrodes measure how well you contract and relax your pelvic floor muscles in response to electrical impulses.

2. Electronic devices. Devices like Ferticare (available on prescription) focus ultrasound onto the area around your urethra, and this creates a picture of how well your pelvic floor muscles are working.

3. Vaginal weights or cones. These come in various weights to strengthen different areas of the pelvic floor.

4. Lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, stopping smoking, and cutting down on alcohol, can also improve your pelvic floor muscles.

What are the benefits of strengthening my pelvic floor?

Strengthening your pelvic floor muscles is good for more than just preventing urinary incontinence; it also reduces some of the pregnancy-related risks to you and your baby during birth, such as:

• Pregnancy-related high blood pressure (pre-eclampsia)

• Difficulty in getting pregnant again after the birth, if you have given birth before

• Shortness of breath towards the end of pregnancy

• Stress incontinence during or after pregnancy.

How long will it take for my pelvic floor to get back to normal?

Once you’ve done the exercises, it may take three months or more for your pelvic floor muscles to recover their original tone and size. It’s important not to lose heart. Even if you don’t seem to be achieving much, your pelvic floor muscles are getting stronger every day.

Conclusion

Even though Kegel exercises are safe, natural, and widely practiced in pregnancy, they do require skill and practice to master.

It is important that you speak with your health professional to find out what kind of exercises are suitable for you.

You may also want to look into other available techniques that can strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, such as Biofeedback, vaginal weights/cones, and lifestyle changes.