Kegel exercise, which strengthens the pelvic floor muscles, is beneficial in preventing urinary incontinence, facilitating normal birth, and facilitating orgasm by increasing the pleasure of sexual intercourse.
Kegel exercise, which consists of contraction and relaxation movements, can be done quickly at any time and in desired places.
These exercises, which have no side effects, can be performed by men as well as women.
What Is The Kegel Exercise?
Kegel exercises, also known as pelvic floor exercises, are exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and consist of repetitive contraction and relaxation.
Especially during pregnancy and menopause, regular exercise of the pelvic floor muscles, which will be worn out with advancing age, strengthens the muscles of the region and enables them to perform their functions better.
What Will We Learn?
What Are Pelvic Floor Muscles?
Pelvic floor muscles are responsible for preserving the anatomical structures of the organs in the pelvic region, as well as their important functions during sexual intercourse, orgasm and all stages of normal birth.
For this reason, the decrease in the functions of the pelvic muscles is an undesirable situation.
In which situations are Kegel exercises used?
Kegel exercises are used to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles.
Kegel exercises are frequently used in the situations listed below.
- Difficult or large birth in the woman’s past story
- Multiple pregnancy histories
- Urinary incontinence, especially in actions such as coughing, sneezing, straining, which are situations where abdominal pressure increases.
- Orgasm problems during sexual intercourse
It is beneficial for women who have these problems to include kegel exercises in their daily routine.
In addition to this, performing these exercises regularly in daily life prevents the loosening of genital structures during menopause.
How To Do Kegel Exercise?
Kegel exercises are exercises that you can easily practice at any time of the day, at home, at work, while watching TV or while driving.
Before starting the exercise, the person needs to find and feel the pelvic floor muscles.
These exercises can be performed while sitting, lying or standing with the knees slightly open.
When the application is started, the pelvic floor muscles should be slowly contracted at the highest level.
This contraction exercise should continue for 3-10 seconds, then the muscles should be relaxed.
-Exercises must be performed when the bladder is empty.
What Are The Benefits Of Kegel Exercise?
- Kegel exercises, which support medical treatment in mild urinary incontinence problems, prevent future urinary incontinence problems even when there is no such problem yet.
- Its application during prenatal pregnancy will ensure that the pelvic floor muscles are ready in normal birth and prevent the formation of problems such as uterine prolapse, bladder prolapse and intestinal prolapse that may develop after birth.
- During sexual intercourse, it increases your sexual pleasure for both men and women.
- Strengthening the pelvic muscles positively affects sexual performance.
- Thus, it supports the solution of sexual reluctance and orgasm problems.
How To Find The Pelvic Floor Muscle?
In order to perform Kegel exercises, the pelvic floor muscles must be felt very well.
The easiest way to distinguish the muscles of this region is to suddenly stop urinating while urinating and then start doing it again.
The muscles that contract while trying to hold urine form the pelvic floor muscles.
Again, the muscles used when trying to squeeze the index finger placed inside the vagina are the pelvic floor muscles.
Can Kegel Exercises Be Done While Urinating?
One of the most important points of Kegel exercises is not to apply these exercises while urinating. In addition, more than 5 sessions a day should not be done.
What Does A Kegel Exercise Ball Do?
Just like in gyms, he can use kegel balls for kegel exercise, just as weights are used to strengthen the arm muscle, for example.
There are many different weights of kegel exercise balls on the market. Performing the exercise with weight increases the performance of the pelvic floor muscles faster.
When the movements are done correctly, squeezing and releasing movements can be felt clearly with the effect of the weight. The heavyweights also provide resistance training.
Placing the vagina weight in the right place is very important in working with the exercise ball.
Before inserting the Kegel exercise ball, it is recommended to insert a finger into the vagina and squeeze the pelvic floor, just like trying to stop the flow of urine.
You should feel the muscles contracting around the finger while squeezing.
The weight should be placed just above this muscle so that it sits within about 2 cm of the vagina.
What Should Be Considered When Using A Kegel Exercise Ball?
Kegel weights must not be placed forward. Putting the weight too deep in the vagina will prevent the pelvic floor from contracting, thus preventing an effective exercise.
Doing against gravity while doing pelvic floor exercises allows these muscles to contract very effectively.
However, it is recommended that those who are just starting to use the exercise ball should do these movements in a lying down and comfortable position.
After some experience, it can be worked in slightly more challenging positions such as sitting, standing or even walking around.
In addition, those who have just started to work with the kegel exercise ball should prefer large vaginal balls, while those who have acquired the habit of using it should prefer small size vaginal balls.
The bladder must be completely emptied before the balls are placed. A water-based lubricant gel can be used with the balls to facilitate insertion.
The balls should be kept inside the vagina for at least 15 minutes a day to strengthen the pelvic muscles.
However, no matter what kind of vagina weight is used, it should be ensured that it is cleaned before and after use.
It is recommended to use antibacterial soap, water or a pH-balanced accessory cleaner for cleaning.
How Often And For How Long Should Kegel Movements Be Done?
Kegel exercise movements, which should be done 10 times in a row, should be repeated in 3 sessions during the day.
As the muscles get stronger, it is noticed that the contraction time lasts longer than 5 seconds. The longer the contraction time, the more exercise can be done.
How Long Does The Kegel Exercise Take Effect?
It takes time for the exercises to strengthen the pelvic muscles. Strengthening of the muscles can be noticed after weeks. For this reason, the exercises should not be left and should be done regularly.
Can Kegel Exercise Also Be Used For Vaginismus?
Kegel exercises, which aim to control and strengthen the pelvic muscles, are also very useful in sexual therapy.
Kegel exercises, which have the feature of increasing sexual desire as they intensify the blood flow in the vagina, are also very useful in sexual therapy.
For this reason, kegel exercises, also known as vaginismus exercises, are taught to vaginismus patients as a step of sexual therapy.
However, although kegel exercise is important in the treatment of vaginismus, it is not a treatment method alone.
Are There Any Side Effects?
These exercises have no side effects.
What Are The Recommendations For Kegel Exercises?
Anyone can and should do this exercise for life. To do this exercise, there is no need to buy special equipment that will occupy half the house. It can be applied at any time of the day, in any position.
No one notices that you are doing this exercise and it allows you to multitask at the same time.
Can It Be Applied To Men?
In men, as in women, the pelvic floor muscles weaken with age. Men can also practice these exercises, especially to increase bladder control.
How To Do This Exercise For Men?
The exercises target the pelvic floor muscles and bladder. The pelvic muscles contract as they hold urine. However, the hip should not be squeezed and the breath should not be held. It can be done 3 times a day for 5-10 seconds.
Is It Beneficial For Men?
It is useful for providing bladder control and strengthening the ability to hold urine.
Do These Types Of Exercises Cause Pelvic Pain In Men?
Although there may be low back and abdominal pain due to intense exercise, the probability of pelvic pain is low.
Does Late Ejaculation Help In Men?
It is known that Kegel exercises are beneficial in providing ejaculation control in men.
This article, in which you answer questions about having sex during your menstrual period, may also attract your attention.
