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What is a “Kegel” exercise?

A Kegel exercise is a contraction of your pelvic floor muscles. These are the muscles that encircle the urethra, vagina and rectum. When the contraction is performed correctly, the above “openings” of the body should close. Urinary incontinence can occur when your pelvic floor muscles are weak. This can happen during and after pregnancy and delivery, after surgery, trauma, or from lack of exercise or lack of use and affects both women and men.

There have been many studies published that look at the performance of the Kegel exercise after brief verbal instruction and results showed that only 49% of women performed the contraction correctly and 25% of the women tested performed the contraction in a way that would actually PROMOTE incontinence. The conclusion was that simple written or verbal instruction alone was inadequate in teaching pelvic floor strengthening.

A trained physical therapist can help men and women learn how to properly contract the pelvic floor muscles. The physical therapist will perform an evaluation and use forms of biofeedback training to help teach a proper contraction.

Ask your physician, nurse practitioner or midwife for a referral to a Women’s Health Physical Therapist (PT). Women’s Health PTs are trained in identifying the appropriate type and amount of pelvic muscle contractions you should be performing to be successful. They may also identify other areas of weakness that would need to be addressed and provide you with valuable education in order to maximize your outcomes.

This post was written by PRO’s Women’s Health specialist, Amanda Keatts.