Pelvic floor exercises help strengthen the ligaments, muscles, and the nerves that support your bladder and rectum. By strengthening these muscles, you can gain greater control over your bladder and its functions, reducing your risk of incontinence and even improving your core strength. Pelvic floor exercises are highly recommended, particularly over taking medication. Before you get started, it’s important to know how to do a kegel exercise. To do Kegels, you need to tighten the muscles used to stop urinating (the pelvic muscles) and then release them. It’s that simple! Let’s take a look at some specific pelvic floor exercises that you can start today!
1. Legs Up The Wall
Source Do the following steps to perform this yoga move: According to yoga teacher and physical therapist Bill Gallagher, the change in gravity puts a little pressure on your diaphragm, allowing you to breathe more deeply and to fully relax the pelvic muscles without any fear of leakage.
2. Wall Squats
Source How to do wall squats: This exercise allows you to strengthen not only your pelvic muscles so that you can better control your bladder function, it is also the perfect exercise to strengthen your upper legs.
3. Pillow Stretch
Source To do this pelvic floor exercise: This exercise relaxes your muscles a bit while still stretching and strengthening. The idea with the pillow stretch is that your pelvic bone is higher than your body. The pillow relieves it of the extra weight.
4. Bridge
Source Follow these steps to perform the Bridge exercise: The bridge exercise gives you the opportunity to isolate your pelvic floor muscles so that you can focus on strengthening that area specifically. Note of Caution: Always consult a physician before taking on a new workout regime. Featured photo credit: Prevention.com via prevention.com