Has anyone tried Kegel products for pelvic floors?

[Spidermama]

They're quite expensive and I would like to know if they are any good before considering them. I like the idea of passive exercise. There are also the cones which are much cheaper.

I went to a physio last year because my pelvic floor was terribly weak but I wanted to get back into running without wetting myself all the time. She lent me an older version of the Kegel machine for a while. (I bought my own electrode bit - no sharing of the bits that go inside!) It felt really wierd but you could feel it working. I didn't like it enough to buy my own one as my pelvic floor was pretty good by that point anyway.

The main thing I did was to use one of her machines that measured how hard you could squeeze, and then make sure I practised the normal pelvic floor exercises several times a day. I also bought pelvic cones and put them in for about 20 mins each morning, building up the weights gradually. In fact I think I'm going to start using them again to make sure I'm still toned. The physio seemed to think the machines were only good if you were doing the other exercises as well - and she pointed out they only exercised the internal muscles, whereas if you do normal pelvic floor exercises you usually end up toning your stomach muscles too.

So I would recommend the pelvic cones first and foremost, and being conscientious about doing the normal exercises.

hth

Just to say I suffered from pevic floor problems for years and finally had a day op where they support muscles with mesh .
Wish I'd had it earlier.

Hmm. I don't think I'm at the mesh stage yet but it's nice to know about it as I fear it's only a matter of time.

I'm very bad at doing my exercises highfibre. I think it feels horrible. I reckon I'll have to get a grip and give it a try though. Perhaps with the cones.

Thanks both.

I've got the cones and the def work. Only issue I have is that you're told not to use them when you have your period - so for me that's a week in which time a lot of your good work has been undone!

I remember embarrassing bodies or soemthing did a survey and the cones came out top for improvement over 6 weeks.

Hi guys, as a women's health physical therapist I would highly recommend a regular exercise regimen. Your pelvic floor tissue is such a thin tissue with more of an edurance role, so the use of weighted cones is sometimes a bit much as we don't need to bulk these muscles up by lifting weights. The approach of physical therapy is often to use e-stim or biofeedback until you get your muscles firing appropriately, then simply following an exercise program for postural muscles, your pelvic floor muscles, and learning how to coordinate this with the firing of your transversus abdominus, multifidi, inner thighs, and deep hip rotators is key. Sound like a bit much, but 1/2 the battle is learning how to fire these muscles and then the exercise can work well into your daily routine. You can refer to www.hab-it.com for more information and on a thorough exercise program and good feedback from others.

I've used the kegel8 for over a year now and I am really pleased with the results. Like violetqueen I too had the mesh (TVT) op 18 months ago and I thought that would be an end to my problems. Annoyingly it was not pointed out to me that the op repairs the bladder leaks, but still because the pelvic floor is still weak and this has not been addressed it happened again. When I went back to the (same) consultant, I asked him how many ops does one woman have, and he said about 3 or 4. I couldn't believe my ears, have one op yes, but then the NHS should be advising women to strengthen their pelvic floor or it will happen again. I honestly did not know and I felt angry that I went through this scary op only to have the same problem again. I have educated myself about this problem now and tell as many woman as possible! I use the kegel8 on a prolapse programme, in the morning before I get up so there is no pressure on my pelvic floor. I do my exercises regularly, except during my period. I have read many books about this, one of the best is Pelvic Organ prolapse (The silent epidemic/Palm). Like the last poster here, I have found that core muscles are vital too, its not just about the pelvic muscles, its your core that needs strengthening through exercise and posture. I watch my weight, try not to get constipation (a real no no!) and exercise, exercise exercise. My prolapse is still there - I can't 'cure' it but I have stopped it getting worse, and made sure I wont get further prolapses. Apparently when a bladder prolapses there is a big chance the bowel will prolapse too so I will avoid that at all cost. I hope this helps and would like to say to any woman, if you have a little bit of leakage this is a sign something is wrong, do not ignore it like I did for 3 years or you will pay the price like I did.