Take back control of your sensitive bladder! Physical therapy is one of the best ways. The easiest type of therapy is pelvic floor exercises, which strengthen your pelvic floor and help treat both stress incontinence and urge incontinence. So let us help you how do to pelvic floor exercises – read on for more!
Many women – in fact, 1 in 3 – experience some form of urinary incontinence. Strengthening your pelvic floor muscles can greatly increase your ability to avoid little leaks throughout the day. Pelvic floor exercises for women can help you regain control of your bladder, your life and your self-esteem, making those little leaks more manageable.
What is your pelvic floor?
The pelvic floor is a system of muscles, ligaments, tissue, and nerves arranged at the bottom of the pelvis that form a hammock supporting your bladder and uterus. As women, our pelvic floor goes through a lot, especially during pregnancy and childbirth. In fact, natural childbirth and C-sections can increase your chances of developing urinary incontinence after having children. Exercising your pelvic floor muscles helps to prevent and manage incontinence and can make sex more pleasurable.
Pelvic floor exercises are easy and you can do them any time, anywhere. Just follow this simple how–to guide to start strengthening your pelvic floor muscles right now!
How to do pelvic floor exercises
You can start toning your pelvic muscles as you read. Just follow these simple steps:
- Squeeze the muscles that you use to stop your urine flow. Make sure that you focus on only your pelvic muscles. Now pretend your vagina is a lift and you are going upwards. Be careful not to squeeze the muscles of the leg, buttock or abdomen instead.
- Hold for at least 4 seconds. The more often you do this, the “higher” you can go. Try holding for up to 10 seconds.
- Slowly exhale through your mouth and gradually release the hold. Repeat 10–20 times in a row at least 3 times a day.
- You can test your pelvic floor muscles with a simple stop–start test. When going to the toilet, begin to urinate and cut off the flow by contracting the muscles. If you experience better control than before, you know the pelvic floor exercises are working.
Progressing your exercises
To maximise the benefits of your pelvic floor workout, exercise the muscles with both long and short squeezes, repeating until the muscles feel tired. There are two types of exercises:
- LONG SQUEEZES Tighten your pelvic floor muscles and hold for several seconds and then relax for the same length of time. Start with 5 seconds and work your way up to 10 seconds as you get practice.
- SHORT SQUEEZES Tighten your pelvic floor muscles for one second, then relax.
Making pelvic floor exercises routine
Here are some ideas for fitting pelvic floor exercises into your schedule. Try to work your pelvic floor exercises into existing routines to help to make your pelvic floor stronger. That way, you can use it when you need it.
- Driving. As long as your pelvic floor exercises don’t distract you from driving, flex and release on your way to the shops, as you leave the bank, or en route to any other errands you run regularly.
- Cooking. Try to focus on your pelvic floor muscles as you carry out simple, routine cooking tasks, like stirring a pot or washing up dishes.
- Watching TV. Have favourite programmes you never miss? Exercise as you view – no one around you even knows you’re busy re–claiming control of your bladder!
- At work. Do you work at a desk for extended periods? Use any down time to work out those pelvic floor muscles.
- Reading. Whether it’s the morning paper or that newest novel you can’t put down, reading as you exercise helps your repetitions to fly by.
- Bedtime. As you wind down each night, finish your last set of pelvic floor exercises before drifting off to sleep. If you keep at it, the nightmares of bed pads may be a thing of the past.
Additional exercises that strengthen your pelvic floor
Although you may not feel it, your pelvic floor is activated in conjunction with other muscles when performing certain movements, and not just during exercises that specifically target the pelvic floor. Here are a few body weight exercises that help to strengthen those important little muscles. They don’t require any equipment and are easy to do in the comfort of your home.
Squats
- Keep your feet hip width apart
- Engage your ab muscles (and tighten your pelvic floor, too!)
- Keeping your lower back braced, lower your body into a squat
- To avoid injury, make sure your knees stay in line with your toes
- Rise back up to standing position
- Repeat
Bridges
- Lie on the floor
- Bend your knees and place your feet firmly on the floor, keeping your knees in line with your hips
- Tighten your pelvic floor muscles and push your hips up off the floor, keeping your back straight
- Hold this position for 10 seconds
- Release
- Repeat
Bird dogs
- Start on all fours, making sure to keep your wrists aligned under your shoulders, and your knees under your hips
- Keep your head facing down so your spine is in alignment
- Tighten your abs, lower back, and pelvic floor muscles
- Simultaneously raise your right arm and left leg until they are straight. Do not raise your head. Hold this position for 5 seconds
- Lower your arm and leg back to the starting position while maintaining stability. Perform the same movement, but with your left arm and right leg. Hold for five seconds
- Repeat 5 times on each side
What’s next?
Once you’ve learned how to do pelvic floor exercises, after 4–6 weeks of working out your pelvic floor muscles regularly, you may start to notice an improvement in your urinary incontinence symptoms.
If you’ve made a habit of pelvic floor exercises and don’t notice an improvement in your sensitive bladder symptoms, it’s time to talk to your doctor. They may recommend combining pelvic floor exercises with other treatments like sensitive bladder training or other medications, devices or procedures to help you to manage your incontinence.
Other methods for improving bladder control
Biofeedback
If you’ve tried and have trouble doing pelvic floor exercises, you may want to see a physiotherapist who specialises in women’s pelvic health. A physiotherapist may suggest biofeedback. Biofeedback is a training technique that may be useful if you have problems locating the correct muscles. With biofeedback, you're connected to electrical sensors that help you to receive information (feedback) about your body (bio). This feedback helps you to focus on making subtle changes in your body, such as flexing your pelvic muscles, more successfully.
Try a bladder-friendly diet
Avoid foods like caffeine, chocolate, alcohol, carbonated beverages and spicy foods. All of these can alter the acidity of your urine, making your incontinence symptoms worse.
Stay hydrated
While drinking too much of anything will create an urge to go, a critical tool for dealing with incontinence is to drink plenty of water. Now, this may sound counterintuitive. After all, if you feel like you have to urinate, it might make sense to limit your fluid intake. However, not drinking enough water results in highly concentrated urine, which will irritate your bladder. Make sure that you drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day.
Get moving
Weight management can help to alleviate the symptoms of adult incontinence, as extra pounds put pressure on the bladder’s muscles, which can lead to stress incontinence. Simply going for more walks around the neighbourhood is an easy, straightforward way to get moving.