How to kegel exercises

Kegel exercises - self-care: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia

Kegel exercises can help make the muscles under the uterus, bladder, and bowel (large intestine) stronger. They can help both men and women who have problems with urine leakage or bowel control. You may have these problems:

As you get older
If you gain weight
After pregnancy and childbirth
After gynecologic surgery (women)
After prostate surgery (men)

People who have brain and nerve disorders may also have problems with urine leakage or bowel control.

Kegel exercises can be done any time you are sitting or lying down. You can do them when you are eating, sitting at your desk, driving, and when you are resting or watching television.

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 (for women), 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.

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 (morning, afternoon, and night).

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.

Call your health care provider if you are not sure you are doing Kegel exercises the right way. Your provider can check to see if you are doing them correctly.You may be referred to a physical therapist who specializes in pelvic floor exercises.

Pelvic muscle strengthening exercises; Pelvic floor exercises

Magowan BA, Owen P, Thomson A. Pelvic organ prolapse. In: Magowan BA, Owen P, Thomson A, eds. Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019:chap 10.

Newman DK, Burgio KL. Conservative management of urinary incontinence: behavioral and pelvic floor therapy and urethral and pelvic devices. In: Partin AW, Dmochowski RR, Kavoussi LR, Peters CA, eds. Campbell-Walsh-Wein Urology. 12th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2021:chap 121.

Patton S, Bassaly R. Urinary incontinence. In: Kellerman RD, Rakel DP, eds. Conn's Current Therapy 2021. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier 2021:1132-1134.

Anterior vaginal wall repair
Artificial urinary sphincter
Radical prostatectomy
Stress urinary incontinence
Transurethral resection of the prostate
Urge incontinence
Urinary incontinence
Urinary incontinence - injectable implant
Urinary incontinence - retropubic suspension
Urinary incontinence - tension-free vaginal tape
Urinary incontinence - urethral sling procedures

Multiple sclerosis - discharge
Prostate resection - minimally invasive - discharge
Radical prostatectomy - discharge
Self catheterization - female
Self catheterization - male
Stroke - discharge
Transurethral resection of the prostate - discharge
Urinary incontinence products - self-care
Urinary incontinence surgery - female - discharge
Urinary incontinence - what to ask your doctor
When you have urinary incontinence

Updated by: Kelly L. Stratton, MD, FACS, Associate Professor, Department of Urology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

Browse the Encyclopedia

Step-by-step guide to performing Kegel exercises

Doing Kegels right means find your pelvic floor muscles and working them.

Kegel exercises won't help you look better, but they do something just as important — strengthen the muscles that support the bladder. Strong pelvic floor muscles can go a long way toward warding off incontinence.

These exercises were developed in the late 1940s by Dr. Arnold H. Kegel, an American gynecologist, as a nonsurgical way to prevent women from leaking urine. They also work for men plagued by incontinence.

Although Kegel exercises themselves are simple, finding the right muscles to exercises isn't. One-third or more of women and men who do Kegels are actually working their abdominal, buttock, or inner thigh muscles. They don't reap the benefits of the exercises.

Locate your pelvic muscles

Several techniques can be used to find the right set of muscles to exercise.

Women:

Pretend you are trying to avoid passing gas.

Pretend to tighten your vagina around a tampon.

Men:

Pretend you are trying to avoid passing gas.

While urinating, try to stop your urine stream.

If you've identified the right muscles, you'll feel the contraction more in the back of the pelvic area than the front.

Practice contractions

Choose your position. Start by lying on your back until you get the feel of contracting the pelvic floor muscles. When you have the hang of it, practice while sitting and standing.

Contract and relax

Contract your pelvic floor muscles for 3 to 5 seconds.
Relax for 3 to 5 seconds.
Repeat the contract/relax cycle 10 times.

Keep other muscles relaxed. Don't contract your abdominal, leg, or buttock muscles, or lift your pelvis. Place a hand gently on your belly to detect unwanted abdominal action.

Extend the time. Gradually increase the length of contractions and relaxations. Work your way up to 10-second contractions and relaxations

Aim high. Try to do at least 30 to 40 Kegel exercises every day. Spreading them throughout the day is better than doing them all at once. Since these are stealth exercises that no one notices but you, try to sneak in a few when waiting at a stoplight, riding an elevator, or standing in a grocery line.

Diversify. Practice short, 2 to 3 second contractions and releases (sometimes called "quick flicks") as well as longer ones.

Kegel exercises in an emergency

If you leak urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh, bend over, or lift something heavy (stress incontinence), doing one or more Kegels before a "trigger" may be enough to prevent any leakage. If you have the urge to urinate and doubt you are going to make it to the toilet, doing Kegels may get you safely to a restroom.

Pelvic floor exercises (Kegel exercises) for men

Time to read: Approximately 2 min.

This information will help you learn how to do pelvic floor exercises (Kegel exercises).

About Kegel Exercises

The main purpose of Kegel exercises is to help you strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. These muscles support your bladder and intestines.

With Kegel exercises you can:

Control or prevent urinary incontinence. Incontinence is the leakage of urine and stool (feces) that you cannot control.
strengthen your sexual health.

About the pelvic floor muscles

The pelvic floor muscles line the pelvic cavity and support the pelvic organs (see figure 1). These are the muscles that relax during urination (when you go to the toilet in a small way) and during passing gases or bowel movements (when you go to the toilet in a big way). You also use these muscles to hold urine and prevent leakage.

Figure 1 Pelvic floor muscles

Pelvic Floor Muscle Test

Pelvic floor muscle test must be done before performing Kegel exercises. Think about what muscles you use to interrupt the stream of urine when urinating, concentrate on them. Don't do this often, as stopping the flow of urine every time you urinate can be harmful.

How to do Kegel exercises

Make sure you urinate to keep your bladder empty before doing Kegel exercises.

When you're ready, start doing the following:

To start, pull your pelvic floor muscles in and hold for 5 seconds. To do this, imagine that you are pulling in and lifting the genitals.
- Do not hold your breath. Counting out loud will keep you from holding your breath.
After 5 seconds, slowly and completely relax the muscles, holding them in this state for 5 seconds.
Repeat the exercise 10 times and do it at least 3 times daily.

Your pelvic floor muscles may become tired during this exercise. In this case, stop doing the exercise and start it later.

This exercise does not involve the abdominal muscles, legs, or buttocks. Exercising these muscles will not help you regain urinary control or improve your sexual health.

As you continue with these exercises, gradually increase the amount of time the pelvic floor muscles are contracted and relaxed. Start with 5 seconds and gradually build up the time each week until you reach 10 seconds.

When to do Kegel exercises

Most people prefer to do Kegel exercises while lying in bed or sitting in a chair. They can be done in any position convenient for you. Doing Kegel exercises while standing can be very helpful, as urine leakage usually occurs in this position.

To prevent leakage of urine, try a Kegel exercise before you:

stand up;
walk;
go to the toilet;
to sneeze or cough;
laugh.

Doing these exercises will help you strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and reduce urine leakage.

‌ Do not do Kegel exercises if you have a Foley catheter (thin, flexible tube) in place.

Pain and Kegel exercises

Kegel exercises should not cause pain. Many find them simple and relaxing. But if you use the wrong muscles when doing them, you may experience discomfort.

If you experience pain in your back or abdomen after doing Kegel exercises, you may be using your abdominal or back muscles instead of your pelvic floor muscles.
If you have a headache after doing Kegel exercises, you may be tightening your chest muscles and holding your breath.

When should you contact your healthcare provider?

Call your healthcare provider if:

concern about bowel, bladder or sexual function;
difficulty concentrating on pelvic floor muscles;
pain during Kegel exercises;
difficulty doing Kegel exercises;
pelvic pain;
questions requiring referral to a pelvic physiotherapist.

You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form.

Share your opinion

Give us your feedback

Your feedback will help us improve the information we provide to patients and caregivers.

Questions

Questions	Yes	To some extent	No
Was this information easy for you to understand?	Yes	To some extent	No

What should be explained in more detail?

Date last updated

Monday, June 27, 2022

Kegel exercises. What is it and why are they needed.

Advice from a gynecological surgeon Slobodyanyuk B.A. Dr. Arnold Kegel, an American gynecologist, developed the exercises as a non-surgical treatment for incontinence and pelvic prolapse in women. These exercises are recommended by many doctors as a treatment or prevention of various diseases. Today we will talk about the cases in which it is worth performing these exercises - who and how they can help, as well as the technique and correctness of their implementation.

Recommended for:

Pregnant women
To young mothers
Women and men over 50

Why do Kegel exercises?

If you have postpartum complications:
- stress urinary incontinence,
- vaginal looseness, making it difficult to achieve sexual satisfaction,
- prolapse of the reproductive organ and vagina.
Performing Kegel exercises allows you to quickly return to a successful sexual intercourse, as many women after giving birth complain that their vagina has become wider, and this leads to discomfort. Performing exercises allows you to narrow the entrance to the vagina and increase the elasticity of its walls, which leads to increased sensations during intercourse.
Problems with the bladder.
About 30% of women in labor naturally complain of urinary incontinence, that is, its involuntary release, for example, during exercise, coughing or even laughing. This is due to the stretching of the muscles and ligaments of the pelvic floor, as a result of which the bladder descends, and its wall compresses the urethra, as a result of which its opening expands.

Kegel exercises (and indeed sports in general, what is there) help get rid of this unpleasant ailment, as well as get rid of constipation and hemorrhoids that may occur.

Problems with urination are observed, of course, not only in pregnant women, so such gymnastics is useful for everyone who suffers from this - both men and women.

How to train Kegel muscles.

At the first stage of the exercise, you should tighten the muscles of the anus, hold them for a few seconds, and then relax. You need to repeat this exercise several times.

You can turn on breathing during training. Tightening the muscles, take a deep breath, and with relaxation - exhale. By squeezing the muscles, you can make some kind of movement, for example, raise your leg or stand up. Exercises can be performed several times a day for 10 repetitions (a total of 100-200 times a day is desirable).

There are also various types of items that facilitate exercise, such as vaginal balls or cones (special weights that a woman holds in her vagina for a certain time), etc.

There is a very good method - a portable vaginal electrical stimulator, when the necessary muscles are stimulated with an electric current. Subsequently, the woman understands how to properly contract these muscles herself.

You can also do squats, but shallow ones so that the angle at the knees is no more than 90 degrees.

The advantage of such workouts is that they can be performed anywhere, for example, at work, at the table, while walking, etc. “In general, yoga, and any physical exercise, physical activity has a very beneficial effect on the pelvic floor. If patients are overweight or obese, we definitely recommend correcting this.” Boris Alexandrovich says

He also advises, before starting training, to check with a doctor who deals with gynecology, urogynecology or physiotherapy and will be able to control both the strength of the development of these muscles and the correctness of the exercises: “Because many women tense antagonist muscles, such as abdominal muscles, which at the time of exercise should not participate. Therefore, we recommend that you keep your hands on your stomach in order not to strain these muscles.”

You can also try to "find" the right muscles in the toilet - just try to stop urinating. So you will understand what muscles you have to work.