Has your doctor asked you to do pelvic floor exercises? In today's video we are going to
learn how to do Kegel Exercises. This is Dr Amruta Inamdar, I'm a pelvic floor
rehabilitation specialist and I'm going to teach you pelvic floor strengthening exercises,
also called, Kegel Exercises. The easiest way to locate your Pelvic Floor
is by sitting on an exercise ball, just like this. Once you sit on an exercise ball, I
want you to make sure that you have a slight curve in your lower back. Now, keep one hand
under each of your sit bones, and move from side to side, the muscle between your two hands
is actually your pelvic floor muscle. We are going to learn how exactly to strengthen
this muscle that's located in between your hands.
In the beginning, pelvic floor strengthening can honestly be very difficult, or frustrating,
therefore, it's very important to know what positions to start in, in order to do a correct
Kegel routine. I recommend 3 very easy, but effective exercise positions in which your
pelvic floor muscles can be easily isolated. The first, is to lie down on your back, the
second position is sitting up on an exercise ball, just like this, you could also choose
to lie down on your side with a comfortable pillow, so that your body is well aligned
and you're not fighting gravity, just like this.
I want you to try each of these 3 positions and then decide what positions suits you best,
in which you are able to feel the pelvic floor muscles easily and more effectively.
Now that you have chosen the appropriate position for Kegels Exercises, we are now going to
learn how to do a Kegel in 3 easy steps. In the first step, I'm going to ask you to
be aware of your rectal opening, try to squeeze the muscle gently, as if you are trying to
avoid passing gas through the opening. This is the posterior or back part of your pelvic
floor, you have to, however, remember that when you do this you are not supposed to squeeze
your gluteal muscle, for example, when you are sitting on a ball and try to do the rectal
muscle contraction you have to make sure that you don't do upward movement, because of your
glutes squeezing, this could a little hard at the beginning, but with practice, this
does get easier. Remember? The posterior muscle contraction is just closure and lift of your
rectal opening without the use of your gluteal muscle.
In step 2 we are going to try to locate the muscles around your vaginal opening, the way
you do it is try and imagine that there is a string that is pulling your vaginal opening
up, this is the easiest way to visualize your vaginal muscles working, so in step 2 you
are going to practice vaginal opening closing, but not only close the vaginal opening but
also try and lift. In the beginning, it could be hard to locate this muscle, so I recommend
the easiest position to start with is lying down, once you get the hang of your first
kegel it gets easier and easier to train the rest of the muscle.
Okay, so now that you know step 1 and step 2 let's combine it in the final step, that
would actually be your kegel. In your third step, you are going to try and
isolate your rectal muscle, and your vaginal muscles together, imagine there is a chord
or a string that's pulling your pelvic floor up and then slowly let go, you have to make
sure your pelvic floor muscles do not get masked by bigger muscles like your abdominal
muscle and your gluteal muscles, specially in the beginning.
While doing your kegel exercises, there are 2 cues that I use often, which are very effective
with my patients in the clinic, one is to imagine that you're trying to stop your urine
mid stream, that is exactly and precisely the way your pelvic floor muscles work, second
cue is try to list a little structure, like a blueberry up into the vaginal cavity and
slowly release the blueberry down, these are the two cues that I find are very effective
clinically. There are a few words of caution that I would
like to extend, as you start your journey with the Kegel exercising the first and the
most important caution is: Do not use stopping your urine mid stream as a Kegel exercise
as that could really interfere with your brain and your pelvic floor connection. Secondly,
it is very important to get evaluated in person by a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist who'll
accurately know whether the kegels exercises are even recommended for you. Thirdly, if
you are experiencing painful urination, incomplete emptying, and symptoms like pain with sexual
intercourse, most likely, kegels are not the right exercise for you, so, getting evaluated
is very important, before you start your kegel exercises.
So, there you go! You have the basic and necessary knowledge to start doing a kegel routine,
all by yourself in a correct way. If you liked this video and find it helpful, don't hesitate
to share it with your friends, give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel! I hope to
do a new video every week, so you'll be the first one to get notified once you subscribe
to my channel Pelvic Rehab Doc, see you in the next video, soon! To your better health,
Dr Amruta Inamdar!