When it comes to your gym routine, exercises that strengthen your pelvic floor muscles probably arent at the top your list. But they should be. A stronger pelvic floor will help reduce your risk of incontinence, improve your sexual health, and boost your core strength and stability.
Pelvic Floor Exercises, also known as Kegel exercises, are essential to every woman’s exercise routine and they can be done anytime, anywhere, and without anyone noticing.
Pelvic floor muscle exercises can help:
- improve bladder and bowel control
- reduce the risk of prolapse
- improve recovery from childbirth and gynaecological surgery (in women)
- improve recovery after prostate surgery (in men)
- increase sexual sensation and orgasmic potential, and
- increase social confidence and quality of life.
Before starting a pelvic floor muscle training program it is important that you can identify your pelvic floor muscles correctly. Speak to a continence professional if you have difficulty identifying your pelvic floor muscles, are unsure if you are performing the exercises correctly or are continuing to experience bladder or bowel control symptoms.
It is best to have a continence professional assess your pelvic floor and develop an individualised pelvic floor muscle training program for you.