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Pelvic floor exercises

The pelvic floor is one of the muscle groups in the body, providing support for your bladder, intestines and uterus. Located between your legs, the pelvic floor muscles run in a sling shape from your pubic bone at the front to the base of your spine at the back.

Because it can stretch in response to weight, the pelvic floor is sometimes compared to a trampoline. But because of the increasing amount of weight bearing down on your pelvic floor over nine months of pregnancy, it may not bounce back like a trampoline – instead, your pelvic muscles or tissues can become over-stretched and weak. Not to worry though, exercise can help.

Simple exercise to strengthen your pelvic floor

Before you begin this exercise, you need to first identify which muscles are involved. The pelvic floor muscles form a sort of sling around the pelvic organs, and can be identified by trying to stop yourself peeing mid-stream. When you try to stop peeing, you’ll feel the muscles around your vulva and anus drawing up: this is the action required to perform the exercises.

Now you're ready to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles.

Five step pelvic floor muscle (Kegel) exercise:

Draw up the muscles slowly by tightening your anus and pulling upwards in your vulva
Hold for a slow count of 10 (or as long as you can manage), then slowly relax the muscles
Repeat 10 times
When you have got the hang of the exercises, alternate slow contractions with a series of 10 fast tighten-and-release squeezes, then repeat the exercise again but slowly.
Repeat as often as you can throughout the day. For example, you can do the exercise while watching TV, working at your desk and standing in the shower. No one will know you’re doing the exercises, which can be performed sitting, standing or lying down. (Just be sure not to clench your face muscles at the same time in concentration and give away your secret!)

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