KEGEL EXERCISES: THE COMPLETE GUIDE

When a woman becomes pregnant, she begins to hear about parts of her body that, perhaps, she had never worried too much. They talk about the perineum, because of the episiotomy, they tell him about the coccyx and the sacrum, so that during the birth he moves back so that the baby can leave, but only if he is not lying down and they talk to him, also about pelvic floor.

"Well, now I find out that I have a pelvic floor and that I have to strengthen it," some women say. And so it is. All have a pelvic floor and It is advisable to strengthen it before, during and after pregnancy to avoid problems such as urinary incontinence, prolapse, back pain, discomfort or sexual dysfunction. How do you get stronger? With Kegel exercises. If you know them, perfect, you can get with them. If you don't know them, keep reading, because today we offer you Kegel exercises: the complete guide.

What is the pelvic floor

Before explaining what are the kegel exercisesIt is interesting to know what the pelvic floor is, more than anything because that way you will know what needs to be strengthened. The pelvic floor, as the name implies, is the floor of the pelvis. It is a covering made of muscles and ligaments that joins with the pelvic bones to form the basis of the organs that are on top. To understand its layout a bit, it is said that it is like a suspension bridge, not rigid, but mobile and capable of adapting to posture and movement, but that it must be strong and stable enough to support those who live in said bridge.

As a picture is worth a thousand words, look closely at the drawing and you will see how the pelvic floor is. The organs it supports are the bladder and the urethra (the tube that leaves the bladder and carries urine to the outside), the uterus and the vagina (in pregnancy your job becomes more important, because you must hold the uterus with the baby inside) and the rectum. When we say sustain, we mean that you must keep them in the right place for everyone to function properly.

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If the pelvic floor is weaker than it should, if it is not strong enough, what we have said may happen, that the organs are not in the correct position, that they descend and that the ills already explained as a consequence occur, being the most frequent incontinence, to the point that urine leaks when the woman coughs or laughs.

Why does the pelvic floor weaken?

As we explained it seems that women are going to have weakened pelvic floor unless they do the exercises we will discuss. The reality is not that. In theory, a young (or relatively young) woman should have no problem in this regard. However, over the years or some experiences or lifestyles can help the pelvic floor lose strength more quickly.

The causes that can weaken the pelvic floor are:

The pregnancy: The pelvic floor can be relatively touched, because for several months you must hold the usual organs and also a baby.
Childbirth: The muscles must be opened and dilated so that the baby crosses the birth canal (in the middle of all the pelvic floor muscles). This can obviously leave the muscles lacking in tonicity.
Postpartum: in case you want to recover the figure quickly and do exercises with jumps, abdominals (which put pressure on the abdomen by lowering the organs against the pelvic floor). If we take weights, etc.
Sport: if we carry out any exercise that causes the organs to bounce against the pelvic floor (jumps, running, etc.).
Menopause: the hormonal changes that occur cause the muscles to lose elasticity and tone.
Obesity, Stress, Constipation, Cough.

What are Kegel exercises?

As all these factors can modify the tone of the pelvic floor muscles, to prevent or solve them, the so-called kegel exercises. They are also known as vaginal muscle contraction exercises, but since it is so long, everyone has already been left with "Kegel exercises", in honor of Dr. Arnold Kegel, who described them in order to strengthen the pelvic floor .

They are exercises that are based on repetition, on contracting and relaxing muscles repeatedly to increase strength and endurance. They can be done at any time of the day, whether you are sitting or lying down and often, in fact, they are done without others noticing (sitting on the bus, watching TV, etc.).

To know when you are doing the Kegel exercises well the first thing is to know which are the muscles that should contract and relax. For this, it is best to sit in the sink and, at the time of urination, stop the "jet" for a moment. That exercise it is the contraction of the muscles that must be done. Then you keep urinating (relaxation) and stop again (contraction). This is only done the first time to know what exercise should be done, because stopping the urine at intervals, if done often, can cause urine infections.

Another way to know what exercise should be done is to put your finger in the vagina. It is introduced and then one tries to imprison, to tighten it inside. If you get it it is a sign that you already know what exercise you should do and, therefore, that you already know how to do Kegel exercises.

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How are Kegel exercises done?

Like any exercise, there are always guidelines to do it in one way or another that can serve as a guide to do it in a minimally orderly manner. One possible way to do them is to count the times they contract and relax, to do 50 contractions and 50 relaxations a day, which will gradually increase until reaching 200 or 300. It is not necessary to do them all in a row, but to do 50 at some time of the day, 50 at another, and so on until reaching the daily total.

It is said that with 200 contractions and daily relaxations the results begin to be noticed at 6-12 weeks. When I talk about results, of course, I mean when they are done in order to solve problems that are already present. If we are doing them as prevention, the results will be, hopefully, the absence of problems, because the woman will have a toned and resistant pelvic floor.

Another possible way to do them is through shorter series. The following is done three times a day:

Tighten the pelvic floor muscles and hold them for 6-8 seconds.
Relax them and count to 10.
Do this 10 times.

This time the repetitions are less (they are 30 a day), but by maintaining the contraction for 6-8 seconds they are also effective.

Whether we do them in one way or another, the breathing should be deep, relaxed, and the body must also be relaxed. It is not necessary to tighten the stomach, the thighs, the buttocks, the back nor the chest, because if it is done other muscles will be exercising and fatigue, discomfort and even pain will appear.

When you've been around for a while, other Kegel exercises

When the woman has been there for a while and perfectly dominates the contraction and relaxation of the pelvic floor muscles, new variants can be added:

Lengthening the slow: in the series that a contraction is made for 6-8 seconds, the time can be lengthened until it reaches 20 seconds. He rests for 10 seconds and turns again to make a long contraction.
Fast exercises: If one day there is more hurry and you have to finish before (even if, as we have said, they can be done almost at any time) they can be done quickly. They contract and relax the muscles as quickly as possible for 2 or 3 minutes or earlier, if fatigue does not give up for that time. Once finished, it is repeated 5 to 10 times. As time goes by, series can be increased until they are repeated 50 times (it seems a lot, but when you have become used to doing it often, it is not so much).
Elevator exercises: to do so it is necessary to focus on the exercise, so it is ideal for the days when there is time available. The vagina is shaped like a tube, with different rings capable of exerting pressure. As if it were an elevator, the exercise consists of going up the floor. First it goes up to the first and the pressure is maintained there for a second. Then to the second floor, pressing the next section, and so on, from floor to floor, until the elevator reaches the top. Once up, we go down slowly, stopping a second in each section. Once down, we force a little to take it to the basement (press down as if you were in labor). Then relax the area for a few seconds and start over (again, avoid using the abdominal muscles).
Wave Mode Exercises: The muscles can also contract from front to back and vice versa, starting with the anterior part, the muscles of the urethra, passing through the vagina and reaching the anus. We can contract them from front to back and relax them from back to front.

Precautions when doing Kegel exercises

Like any exercise that is performed, there are precautions or notices to take into account. They are the following:

As we have said, once you know how to do the exercises you have to avoid doing it at the time you are urinating.
If they are done too strongly or too intensely, the vaginal muscles may become too stressed and cause pain during sexual intercourse. In this case, it is advisable to rest a few days until the discomfort disappears and continue with the exercises, but with a lower intensity.
If they are stopped, or if they are not done often, the effectiveness may be low. In case of incontinence, if it was resolved, could come back. In case of not suffering it, it could appear for not doing the Kegel exercises. Come on, which are really recommended exercises to always do. Since it starts on, every day.