Do a Kegel and Keep Your Marbles

It’s a wonderful photo. I snapped it when I was on a walk with a dear friend who had just turned fifty and we were up to our annual birthday banter. For decades now, we have taken turns light heartedly roasting each other on our respective special days. On this particular day, one wisecrack led to another and before we knew it, the birthday girl was clinging to a mailbox trying to stay upright and laughing so hard she was forced to cross her legs. In an effort to not wet her pants, she managed to twist her legs so many times over that she looked like a Dunkin’ Donuts cruller.

Most of us girls know what this tenuous moment is all about, but do as many of us know about the face-saving Kegel? Kegel exercises are so named after the gynecologist Dr. Arnold Kegel who introduced their routine as a formal regimine to his patients in order to strengthen pelvic muscles and vaginal walls. Kegel exercises are the timed and deliberate contracting of the pelvic floor that help patients control urinary incontinence and stave off adult diapers.

Men also can benefit from increased bladder control by practicing Kegel exercises regularly even though it is women are more likely to have heard of them. Earlier in life, women are most likely to use Kegel exercises in preparation for childbirth and during its recovery period. With the loss of muscle tone that can come later with aging, Kegels serve to preserve urinary continence.

How do you do a Kegel? One of the best descriptions found during my research provides a mental picture that works well because of its humorously graphic quality. It is from an NIH publication (http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/Kudiseases/pubs/bcw ez/insertC.htm): “The first step is to find the right muscles. One way to find them is to imagine that you are sitting on a marble and want to pick up the marble with your vagina. Imagine sucking the marble into your vagina.” Now that description is not likely to be quickly forgotten.

Men reading the above may not find that particular guidance very helpful for themselves but the actual contraction routine is the same for either gender: Contract and hold for 3 seconds. Release for 3 seconds and then repeat contraction and hold. Breathe normally throughout and consciously avoid tensing stomach, thigh or buttock muscles. Muscle isolation is of key importance. The routine need only be about five minutes long or a series of 30 repetitions.

Ideally, these exercises should be repeated throughout the day in the three basic positions of lying down, sitting and standing. However for starters, most people find them easier to do while lying down. This makes the time just before rising in the morning and drifting off at night ideal times to do Kegel exercises. A noticeable strengthening should seen in 6 to 12 weeks.

About the author: Kate Kew is an adult caregiver and is the Director of Web Community Outreach for an Adult Diapers Wholesale Discounter where she is building a library to inform and support those who are coping with adult incontinence. Kate invites you to visit, use and add to her online resource: Adult Diapers Library.