Uterine prolapse and weakened pelvic floor muscles... 3 Kegel exercises to strengthen

Don’t underestimate the role of your pelvic floor muscles! The strength of the pelvic floor muscles is very important to a woman’s “practical” and “sensory” life! However, if you want to successfully exercise and strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, what should you do in your daily life to be effective? Let the well-known fitness coach "Muscle Mom" ​​demonstrate it to us in person!

The pelvic floor muscles work great! Loss of function may lead to incontinence and vaginal relaxation

The well-known fitness coach "Muscle Mom" ​​mentioned in her latest book "Use Resistance to Meet a Better Self" that the pelvic floor muscles are located at the "bottom" of the core muscles, like a hammock, with both ends connected to the pubic bone and coccyx.

In addition to its hammock-like shape, the pelvic floor muscles, which are composed of muscles and other tissues, do act like a hammock, fixing organs such as the uterus, bladder, and large intestine inside the torso. Even a girl's vagina, urethra, and anus pass through it. From this we can see that if the pelvic floor muscles are not strong enough, it will cause great trouble in daily life.

When the pelvic floor muscles begin to lose their function, the following conditions may occur, including urinary incontinence, vaginal relaxation, fecal incontinence (some people experience constipation symptoms instead), or more frightening problems such as prolapse of the uterus, bladder, and colon. Be careful!

Be careful of these 5 situations! Neglecting your pelvic floor muscles can weaken them

But why is it so important to exercise your pelvic floor muscles? Muscle Mom emphasizes that this is because changes in physical fitness and lifestyle such as childbirth and aging can cause the pelvic floor muscles to weaken, especially the following five conditions need special attention:

Situation 1/ Pregnant or childbearing mothers: Because the uterus is enlarged, the pelvic floor muscles bear weight for a long time.

Condition 2: People with a sedentary lifestyle: This causes the core pelvic muscles to become inactive and eventually begin to lose strength.

Condition 3/ Overweight people: Excessive body fat creates a burden on muscles and joints.

Condition 4/Constipation: People with long-term severe constipation.

Condition 5/Aging: Loss of muscle strength due to aging.

Train your pelvic floor muscles to do this! Kegel exercises can be done by both men and women

If you want to train your pelvic floor muscles, Kegel exercises are the easiest to perform and the most convenient to practice anytime and anywhere. It is also worth noting that Kegel exercises are not only for girls. Boys who do more Kegel exercises may also see unexpected improvements in their "lasting" problems!

Kegel exercises

step:

1. Sit on a resistance ball or a chair.

2. Keep the spine neutral and extended, retract the shoulder blades and press down, and relax the thighs and buttocks.

3. Inhale first, and then contract the pelvic floor muscles when exhaling. At this time, the entire core muscle group is involved in the contraction and the tailbone is retracted.

【Contraction method】

A. Imagine holding back urine and fart at the same time, instead of squeezing your buttocks and thighs and simply contracting your internal muscles.

B. Imagine there is a raisin at the opening of the vagina, and use the contraction of the pelvic floor muscles to suck the raisin into the vagina.

【Advanced Contraction Method】

When you relax, imagine that your pelvic floor muscles are an elevator on the first floor; when you exhale, raise your pelvic floor muscles to the second floor, then pause, advance to the third floor, and finally return to the first floor.

frequency:

Keep each contraction for at least 5 seconds, gradually practice contracting for 10 seconds, and finally be able to hold for 20 seconds.

frequency:

Repeat 8 to 12 times (one round) and then rest and relax. Do at least 3 rounds each time (the principle is the same as exercising other muscles in the body).

【Tips】：

1. Once you have mastered the method of contracting the pelvic floor muscles, you can exercise them while standing, sitting, walking, or even when you are doing any kind of muscle strength training.

2. In addition, you can do Kegel exercises throughout the pregnancy to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. It is also necessary to start doing them as soon as possible after delivery. Doing Kegel exercises frequently during the first six weeks of recovery after delivery will be of great help to the mother's physical recovery.

3. When doing Kegels, if you squeeze with all your strength, you may use other muscle strength to compensate (for example: squeezing your buttocks). Therefore, just control your strength to 60% to 70% when practicing.