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Want to know more about fitness, physical therapy, and exercise (Kegels and beyond)? Find out here.
Our expert Kendra L. Harrington (click here to read her bio) answers your questions. |
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Q:I'm a 35 year-old mother of four. I noticed after the last pregnancy that my bladder has decided to call it quits. If I don't cross my legs before I cough or sneeze, I will end up urinating on myself. Is there anything I can do to strengthen my bladder? |
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A:Your symptoms describe “stress urinary incontinence.” This involves urine leakage when increased abdominal pressure squeezes the bladder in an environment of weak pelvic floor muscles. Abdominal pressures on the bladder are common, and routinely occur during exercise or even with a mere cough, sneeze, or laugh.
The good news is that stress urinary incontinence can often be prevented or resolved with the strengthening of the pelvic floor muscles. This can be achieved with simple pelvic muscle contraction exercises, commonly known as “Kegel exercises.” To properly perform a Kegel contraction, you must isolate the pelvic floor muscles and try to limit the use of abdominal, buttocks, and inner thigh muscles. The pelvic floor muscles are contracted as if you were holding back gas. General guidelines suggest starting with 3 to 6 groups of 10 contractions, holding each contraction for 3 seconds. As you feel your muscles strengthening over time, increase the hold time for each contraction to 10 seconds. In addition, it is recommended that 10 contractions without any holding time be performed (“quick Kegels”) anywhere from 5 to 10 times per day. Kegels can easily be performed during routine daily activities, such as working at the computer, brushing and flossing teeth, reading the newspaper, etc. It is important to make these exercises a part of your daily routine, so you won’t forget to do them.
Symptom improvement begins slowly, but many women will begin to see a difference within approximately 3 to 4 weeks after starting the exercises. Maximum improvement usually occurs within a 6- to 8-month period, and continued regular exercise has been found to effectively maintain long-term symptom relief. |
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Q: I'm having incontinence problems. I drink a lot of fluids and feel the need to go constantly. I try to hold it as long as possible before finally going to the bathroom. Are kegels the best solution to this or is it just as helpful to keep stopping the urine flow when you are urinating? |
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A:Before making any changes to your diet or exercise, you want to see your physician to make sure you do not have a urinary tract infection. For some people, when urinary incontinence first begins, or worsens, this could be a sign of infection. You need to be treated with medications first to eliminate the infections.
Proper fluid intake should consist of about 60 to 80 ounces of water per day. By drinking water slowly and equally throughout the day, your bladder should be able to wait 2 to 4 hours between voids. On the other hand, consuming too little water can result in the production of concentrated urine, creating chemicals that can irritate the bladder and produce spasms with symptoms of urgency and/or frequency. There are also fluids and foods that are considered to be “bladder irritants,” which may produce these same symptoms. For more information regarding bladder irritants, please refer to the American Physical Therapy Association’s Section on Women’s Health at www.womenshealthapta.org. |
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