Kegel Exercises: Prevent Urinary Incontinence after Pregnancy

Kegel exercises

Pelvic Floor Muscles

The pelvic floor is made up of a layer of muscles stretching like a tight hammock from the pubic bone in the front, to the base of the spine.

Your pelvic floor supports your bladder, vagina, uterus and bowel and is very important for bladder and bowel control. Your pelvic floor muscles also play an important role in sexual pleasure.

If the pressure is increased on the pelvic floor during pregnancy and childbirth, can stretch and damage the pelvic floor muscles .

So you may have slight leaking of urine, especially when you laugh, cough or run. This is known as urinary stress incontinence.

Kegel Exercises for Urinary Stress Incontinence:

Urinary stress incontinence is common during pregnancy and after childbirth. More than half of women having their first baby, and 1 in 3 women who have already had a baby, experience some amount of leaking of urine.

To prevent little leaks of urine, squeeze and lift up your pelvic floor muscles each time before you:
  • laugh
  • cough or sneeze
  • exercise
  • lift, push or pull
  • sneeze
To protect this area from strain, try to form the habit of tightening and lifting the pelvic floor muscles and abdominal muscles before heavy lifts, pushes or pulls.
Also during pregnancy, hormones soften all the ligaments and muscles of the pelvic outlet so that the baby’s head can be pushed out during birth.

Even women who have a Caesarean section to deliver their baby may have a weakened pelvic floor simply due to the strain and weight of the pregnancy.
It is important to do pelvic floor exercises/Kegel exercises to strengthen these muscles. These exercises should become part of your daily routine, not just while you are pregnant but throughout your life.

Try to do Kegel exercises. several times each day. If you have discomfort from overworking the muscles when you first start, then reduce the number of exercises you are doing and gradually increase them after the discomfort stops. Kegels exercises can be done sitting, standing or lying down. But importantly, make Kegel exercises part of your daily routine and do them regularly to build and maintain the strength of your pelvic floor muscles.

Video for pelvic floor exercises/kegels exercises.