Exercises for Urinary Incontinence in Women

Urinary incontinence can be extremely embarrassing, especially if you're a younger woman. Sometimes all you have to do is cough or sneeze and you find yourself running to the bathroom to change your clothes. If you feel all hope is lost, think again. There are exercises you can do to help prevent these incidents of incontinence from occurring; they are called Kegel exercises.

How Kegel Exercises Work

• Urinary incontinence occurs when the floors of the pelvic area become weak. This weakness causes you to lose control over the opening and closing of your bladder, leaving you incapable of stopping any leakage on your own. Kegel exercises help restore strength to the muscles of the pelvic floor, toning them so they may better support the organs located in the pelvic area. With consistent practice of Kegel exercises, you may find yourself experiencing fewer episodes of incontinence, along with a greater ability to control your urge to urinate.

Locating the Muscle

• Before you can begin the Kegel exercises, you must first locate the muscles in the pelvic floor area you will be exercising. This can be done a number of ways.

  One of the easiest ways to locate the muscle is to wait until you feel the need to urinate. As you begin to urinate, stop midstream; the muscle responsible for this is the same muscle you will be exercising. Repeat this one or two more times to familiarize yourself with the muscle and where it is located.

  Another option is to lay on your back in a private area like your bedroom or bathroom. Then insert your finger into your vagina and tighten your vaginal muscles around your finger. These are the muscles you will be exercising.

  The last option involves squeezing your rectum as if you are trying to prevent yourself from passing gas. As you do this, pay close attention to the feeling of the muscles as they pull in and up; these are the pelvic floor muscles.

Performing the Exercises

• Once you have successfully located the pelvic floor muscles, you can begin the exercises. They can be done anywhere, anytime, and no one will ever know what you are doing. You should get yourself on some type of schedule though, incorporating them into your daily routine just as you do an aerobic workout. Three sessions a day is sufficient, and many women find that morning, noon and evening are the easiest times for them to remember.

  When you first begin your exercises, start with 10 repetitions, three times a day. As your muscles become stronger you can slowly increase the number of repetitions to 20. Squeeze your muscle slowly and hold for 10 seconds, then slowly release the muscle and relax for 10 seconds; this counts as one repetition. As you release your muscle, maintain complete control over it rather than pushing it out.

Things to Remember

• As you do your Kegel exercises, be sure your thigh, stomach and buttocks are relaxed; your focus needs to be on your pelvic floor muscles and if these muscles become tense, your are defeating your purpose and losing progress.

  Keep track of the amount of leakage and/or episodes of urinary incontinence you experience. As you progress with your exercises, you should notice a decrease in the number of incidents.

  It may take six to 12 weeks before you see any results. If you do not notice any marked improvements with the log you are keeping, talk with your health care provider about alternative forms of treatment.