About Kegel Exercises for Women

Kegel exercises are conditioning moves every woman should add to her regular routine. The best thing about these exercises are that you can do them while sitting just about anywhere and no one even has to know. They are actually used to strengthen the pelvic muscles and improve vaginal tone.
While Kegel exercises are especially beneficial for pregnant women, women or men can use them to help urinary incontinence and also to enhance sexual pleasure.

Definition

• Kegel exercises are conditioning moves developed to help women with vaginal or urinary prolapse, or incontinence. You can locate these muscles by squeezing your pelvic muscles to stop the flow during urination. The pelvic muscles used are called the pubococcygeal muscles, or PC muscles.
  The exercises are simple repetitions and variations of the squeezing method. Experts recommend contracting and relaxing the PC muscles up to 200 times a day.

Benefits of Kegel Exercises

• Benefits include strengthening the birth canal for easier labor, regaining vaginal tone after giving birth, improving urinary or bowel incontinence, treating prostate pain or swelling from prostasis, and aiding sexual intercourse.

History

• They were developed by Dr. Arnold Kegel in 1946. Dr. Kegel identified the stress on these muscles as being a cause of his patients' vaginal and uterinal prolapse, or weakening of these organs.

Exercises

• Squeeze the PCs 10 times, then hold on the last squeeze while counting to 8. Then release for a count of 8 and repeat.
  The "elevator Kegel" is when you try squeezing slowly at the bottom of the PCs and move up, tightening as you go. Then hold for a few seconds and release slowly in reverse. This method may take some practice.

Pregnancy

• Kegels can help women who want to have natural childbirth and/or avoid vaginal tears or an episiotomy.