The Kegel muscles are located along the pelvic floor of both men and women. These hammock-shaped muscles support the bowel, bladder and uterus of a woman. In the year 1948, Dr. Arnold Kegel developed some exercises that can prevent these pelvic muscles from weakening. Performing these exercises regularly can help women in correcting urinary incontinence occurring after childbirth. How to locate the Kegel muscles? The easiest way of locating these muscles is by trying to stop the urine flow during urination; the muscles you use during this act are your Kegel muscles.

According to American Pregnancy Association, performing Kegel exercises may help a woman to avoid two frequently occurring pregnancy side effects. They are hemorrhoids (a condition marked by inflamed veins in and around the lower rectum and anus) and leaking bladder, a common sign experienced by expecting women during the final weeks of pregnancy.

Women practicing Kegel before getting pregnant and after pregnancy are likely to find the process of childbirth much easier compared to women who do not perform these exercises. According to American Pregnancy Association, Kegel eases the process of childbirth by increasing the woman’s ability of controlling her muscles in time of delivery and labor.

Below we have discussed about different forms of Kegel exercises:

Basic Kegel Exercise: The first step of this exercise is identifying the pelvic floor muscles. Locate the muscles in the same way as instructed above. The main actions involves in the basic Kegel exercise is squeezing or contracting your Kegel muscles. This means you will have to perform the same action as you do while trying to stop your urine flow midstream. If you are a beginner i.e. performing Kegels for this first time, hold the contraction for 3 seconds; follow this up by another 3 seconds of relaxation. Repeat the exercise ten times. As you get used to the exercise, it is advisable that you increase your contract/release cycles to 4 seconds each. With time, you will be able to perform 10 seconds of pelvic floor muscle contraction at one stretch, with 10 seconds of relaxation after every contraction. For bet effects, perform Kegels 3 times every day. You must make sure that while doing Kegels you are not tightening up any other muscle of your body. Particularly, be careful about the muscles located close to the pelvic floor muscles; for instance muscles of your abdomen, thighs and buttocks. Breathing should be kept normal while performing Kegels.

Elevator Kegel Exercise: Once you have learnt the art of performing basic Kegels, you can start performing this exercise. This Kegel exercise involves tightening of the pelvic floor muscles for 1 second at one go in the same way as the elevator raises 1 floor at one go. Continue doing this up to count 4. Hold this contraction for 4 more seconds. Then, gradually start releasing the muscles; as soon as you reach the state of relaxation, begin the next cycle of the exercise. The elevator Kegel exercise must be performed 10 times.

Mini Kegels: The action involved in this exercise is same as that of the basic Kegel exercise. The differences between the two Kegel exercises are the times of contraction and relaxation. While performing Mini Kegels, you will have to hold the contract for 1 second and then follow it up with 1 second of relaxation; this should be continued for twenty seconds. Perform this exercise only when you can perform the basic Kegel exercise comfortably.

Kegel Exercise Using Biofeedback Devices: There are some women who cannot perform Kegel exercises on their own. There can be different reasons behind this; one of the most common one is failure in locating the right set of muscles. These women can perform Kegels by undergoing biofeedback training sessions. During the biofeedback training session, a tiny monitoring device gets inserted into the vagina of the woman; the therapist will then tell you to contract the pelvic floor muscles. If you contract the correct muscles, the inserted device will send visual signals, which will be displayed on the external monitor. After undergoing this training session for a few days, you will be able to perform Kegel exercises on your own without the assistance of biofeedback devices. Eventually, identifying the muscles will no more be a problem for you.

It is advisable that a pregnant woman should never perform Kegels without asking her supervising physician.