Kegel Exercises for Urinary Incontinence

Kegel exercises for urinary incontinence : A how-to guide

Always in fear of the bathroom being too far away? Or dreading embarrassing accidents in public? Many people who have urinary incontinence are afraid to even do their normal day-to-day activities, they don’t even let their family members know about their condition and suffer in silence, alone.

“Pata hi nahi chalta kab control choot jata hai. I lost all my army friends, thank God I have retired. Pant geeli kar koi dushmanon se kaise lad sakta hai? I feel so ashamed of myself,” says Abhijit Sarkar, a retired army officer who served in the military for more than 20 years!

Urinary incontinence is the loss of bladder control and leaking of urine without your control. As you age, the muscles around the bladder (bladder holds your urine until it is expelled from your body) tend to weaken, this can result in urinary incontinence. Many other problems like kidney stones, infection, cancer, or an enlarged prostate can also result in urinary incontinence.

Many people think urinary incontinence is an inevitable part of aging and nothing can be done about it. We are glad to say that is not the truth; while the risk of developing urinary incontinence does increase with aging, it can certainly be managed or treated.

If you have urinary incontinence, talk with your doctor and they can find the best treatments for you. There are also many exercises to help incontinence which you can do alongside your prescribed treatment. In this blog, we’ll particularly focus on Kegel exercises.

How to Do Kegel Exercises to Control Urinary Incontinence?

Kegel exercises also known as pelvic floor muscle training strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, which support the uterus, bladder, small, large intestine and rectum and it is one of the many pelvic floor exercises for urinary incontinence.

Many factors can weaken your pelvic floor muscles, like pregnancy, childbirth, aging, surgery and constipation. But how can Kegel exercise help?

Kegel exercises can help you strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and gain a better control over your bladder. They could prove very useful with urinary incontinence!

To do Kegel exercise:

• Find the right muscles

  To start with, you must first find your pelvic floor muscles. One of the methods is to stop urinating midstream. The muscles you just used to stop your urine are your pelvic floor muscles.

  Once you’ve found the muscles, you can do Kegel exercise in any position. In the beginning, lying down might be the easiest position to start with.

• Perfect your technique

  Once you’re comfortable with your position, tighten or contract your pelvic floor muscles for three seconds, then relax for three seconds. You have just performed one Kegel exercise.

  This is good for beginners. Gradually increase the duration of contraction and relaxations and work your way up to 10 seconds each over time.

• Maintain your focus

  Make sure to empty your bladder before doing Kegel exercise. Focus on tightening only your pelvic floor muscles. Confirm that you are not tightening your leg, buttocks and stomach muscles when you do Kegel exercise. Moreover, avoid holding your breath and breathe freely during the exercise, there’s nothing stopping you.

• Repeat three times a day

  Try to do, at the least, three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions each day for best results.

Conclusion of Kegel Exercises for Urinary Incontinence

Make Kegel exercises a part of your daily routine. You should see results by the 4th to 6th week and see improvements in your urinary incontinence symptoms.

If you are experiencing pain while doing Kegel exercise, you are not doing it properly. Ask your doctor for guidance if you are having trouble with it. You can also try other pelvic floor muscle exercises for urinary incontinence if you find Kegel exercise hard.

If you feel you can’t get to the toilet on time, doing Kegel exercises might be of help. You can also use adult diapers to get you through the day without any trouble from urinary incontinence.

Friends is India’s No. 1 Adult Diaper Brand, and for good reason too. We give you:

• Maximum absorbency with SAP which turns the liquid into gel form at lightning- fast speed.

• Leak protection with standing leak guards, so you can go about your day stress- free

• Mask odor and wetness indicator for ease of use.

• Up to 16 hours’ protection (depending on the variant)

• No pooling or spillage because of deep channels.

• Diapers that are 100% Sulphur, paraben, bleach and chemical fragrance- free.

• A range of incontinence products to cover all your needs, from pant style and tape style diapers, economy and premium adult diapers, overnight adult diapers to additional incontinence products like bed bath towels, adult insert pads and classic and premium underpads. When we say we’ve got you covered, we really mean it.

With Friends adult diapers, Azadi Mubarak!