Top tips for pelvic floor exercises please.

[stardice]

I didn't really do much to exercise them after having my dc. Every now and then i leak when sneezing, jumping etc. I am determined to sort this out and have read really good reviews of SensaTone pelvic floor exerciser, but would really appreciate your top tips before i go ahead and get one.

go to your gp and get a referral to a gynae physio

I did and its the best thing

they teach you how to do pelvic floor exercises correctly and can offer other tips, advice & Treatment including electric stimulation. I was recommended to use the pelvic cones to train muscles

I would really recommend you contact GP first

Stop and hold your pee mid flow - start with 5 seconds and built it up to 30.

Repeat.

Stopping pee mid flow repeatedly is a sure fire way to get a urinary infection...
Stop once, maybe, to find the 'right' area.

Like Chablislover I saw a gynae physio - she was fab. I was given all kinds of exercises to do which made a huge difference. It is important to see someone trained in this because the first thing she asked me to do was to demonstrate a pelvic floor exercise and apparently I had been doing them wrong! I was squeezing but not pulling up deeply enough. When you do them right you actually get quite out of breath to begin with!

Agree with gynae physio - I never knew there was so much to know about pelvic floor exercises.. FWIW I was told it is better to do fewer well, than loads inefficiently. Also, it is important to concentrate on the relaxing and make sure you relax fully in between each 'clench'. Can be good to do them lying down. I find it hard to describe what you actually do - sort of lift up the muscles between fanjo and bum - but in terms of repetition I was told do five, holding for five, then five sets of five rapid lifts, and gradually build the length and frequency. Once a week, do one where you hold the clench/lift for as long as you can.

Agree BlooCow about not stopping pee mid flow.

Gynae physio told me not to stop pee midflow - leaves yourself open to infections. Once a month to ensure muscles still working was sufficient.

I was told to mix rapid lifts with more slow lifts and hold for 10

Seriously get to your GP and get a referral - the physio will be more help than the toner.

Plus cut out all (most) caffeine drinks - switch to decaff tea and coffee. less irritable to your bladder.

Lay on your back, squeeze your pelvic floor. As you so, you should tighten your anus and pull in your lower tummy muscles. Hold for 10 and work up to 30. Once you've grasped this, you should do it seated, then standing, then on the move. Being overweight can increase leaking.

This is what physic told me to do.

I could never remember doing Kegel exercises. Instead, stated wearing the Aquaflex training cones (increasing weights) every morning during breakfast peparation /showering/ makeup (20 or 30 minutes) - problem solved in 4-6 weeks! Five stars, really recommend them!

Aquaflex.

Get a GP's referral. However...... I did in the UK and had the urine-holding-tests-while-medical-students-watch-you type of thing, and did all the exercises. I should say I had no damage of any kind via childbirth, etc.

My incontinence was intermittent stress rather than urge, and got bad lately. Was referred by my GP here in Australia to a specialist therapist who made a different diagnosis of the problem, i.e. I should be relaxing, NOT holding. Every single exercise I'd been doing had been making the problem worse. And yes, stress of the emotional kind was part of the issue. It was an eye-opener, I can tell you.

Within 4 days I was dry and have remained so, with only 2 exercises of 10 hold/relaxes a day.

This is not to say Oz is better than the UK, only that my problem was completely misdiagnosed, I'd put up with it for about 12 years, and am now fine.

The correct diagnosis is what matters.

I have not done the trampoline test yet, though.:o

Good luck, OP.

DonaAna I love the fact that you can order it gift wrapped!

Echt could you explain more what you mean by you should have been relaxing not holding?

are the aquaflex any thing like love balls? I was always under the impression that they toned you up. will get some and report back

googlenut, it's called downtraining.

Basically the problem is that the muscles are always slightly tightened and so have no extra hold when under stress, e.g lifting a weight. The therapist compared it to carrying heavy shopping in the crook of your arm, then finding it hard to heft the shopping onto workbench - the arm was knackered holding the weight at such a height.

The exercise she showed me has to be done lying down and twice a day.

Hold and lift the pelvic floor muscles towards belly button, the anus should feel as you're holding in wind. Thighs and buttock muscles should be relaxed - I found this bit hard! Hold for 2-3 seconds then let go breathing out letting the lower abdominal muscles bulge The perineum should this, too. Visualise the PRM relaxing, holding it for 10 seconds. Repeat 10 times. Relaxing for 10 seconds takes some effort because the urge will be to clamp down.

The therapist obviously showed me how to do with her checking the muscles in my fanjo until I got it right.

It felt very weird to be doing something so counter-intuitive; letting go instead of holding on so as to be able to hold on, IYSWIM. Anyway, I've found it very effective, though I should emphasise my incontinence was slight compared to what so many women experience, though of course it was distressing for me.