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Exercises for Your Pelvic Floor Muscles
By Dr. Alan Riley, Medical Consultant
 

Exercises aimed to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles are frequently helpful in the treatment of incontinence. They are especially useful if you suffer urinary stress incontinence or if you leak faecal material when you cough or sneeze.

What is the pelvic floor?

The pelvic floor, as its name suggests, is the structure that extends across the bottom of the pelvis that holds the pelvic organs in place. The floor is composed of several different muscles that are arranged like a hammock passing from front to back. Some of these muscles form slings around the urethra and anal canal (the lowest part of the bowel) and in women, the vagina. Contraction of the muscle slings around the urethra and bowel contributes to urinary and faecal continency.

Why pelvic floor exercises?

If the muscles of the pelvic floor become weak or are damaged through injury or disease, they sag and do not provide adequate support for the pelvic organs. When this occurs, weakness of the slings around the urethra and the anal canal may give rise to urinary and faecal incontinence respectively. A logical approach to this problem is to carry out exercises specifically designed to strengthen these muscles.

What are pelvic muscle exercises?

Muscles get stronger when they work. Think of the biceps, the muscles in the upper arm which make the arm bend at the elbow. When body builders want to build these muscles, they do so by bending the elbow whilst holding weights in the hand. In other words they make the muscles work hard. The same is true for the pelvic muscles. They can be strengthened by making them work hard, that is by intermittently contracting and relaxing them. The first step in doing pelvic muscle exercises is identifying which muscles to work on. The two sets of muscles to focus on are those around the urethra and those around the anal canal.

 
 
To identify the muscles around the urethra, imagine you are passing urine and want to stop the stream. To stop the stream you tighten up the muscles around the urethra. Try this now and note the lifting sensation contraction of these muscles causes.
 
    To identify the muscles around the anal canal, imagine you have the feeling of wanting to pass wind and to contract the muscles that stop you from doing so. Try this now and note the feeling of the anus being tightened and pulled up.
 
 
Print the full Guide to Incontinence
A full version of Dr Alan Riley's Guide to Incontinence is now available as a printer friendly 'PDF' document. If you click on the link above you can print a full copy of the guide NOW from your own computer or if you would prefer you can call us and we will send you a copy FREE of charge.

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