Should I exercise my pelvic muscles?
Yes! It is important for pregnant women to exercise their pelvic muscles because failure to do so can lead to many complications and problems with your bladder, uterus, vagina and bowels.
The best exercises to help strengthen the pelvic muscles are called "Kegels."
The benefits are as follows:
- Helps the treatment of sexual difficulties such as vaginismus and dyspareunia which are pain experienced during vaginal intercourse. This pain can increase during pregnancy.
- Helps prevent incontinence (urine and bowel control), prolapses and other pelvic floor problems.
- Helps strengthen and tone the pelvic muscles which can make vaginal childbirth easier.
How do I find my pelvic muscles?
Kegel exercises will tone strengthen your pelvic muscles. These muscles are called the pubococcygeus or commonly known as your "PC" muscles. These muscles actually form the floor of the pelvis. Here is how you find your PC muscles.
- Go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet.
- It is easiest to locate your pelvic muscles while urinating. Once you have begun urinating stop and start your urine stream. Do this several times. You have just found your pelvic muscles. You may also find out that you are squeezing your anal muscles but as you become more experienced in exercising your pelvic muscles you can leave those muscles alone. You do not have to wait to urinate to exercise those muscles.
Now that you have found your PC muscles, here is how you exercise them. First, squeeze your PC muscles. Flex your PC muscles as hard as you can for a count of three to four seconds. After four seconds let them relax for a couple of seconds. Then repeat the exercise again do this until your PC muscles feel tired.
Once you have the basic exercise you can vary your routine. You might try fluttering the muscles for a few seconds and then relaxing. You might try doing the basic exercise and doing three sets of 10 exercises. You might try holding or flexing the muscles for 30 seconds and then relaxing for 10 seconds. Varying your routine allows the muscles to develop better.
