KEGEL BLADDER EXERCISES:

There are a variety of ways to perform an exercise which is known as
Kegel bladder exercise. The goal of these exercises is to strengthen the
bladder supporting musculature and sphincter muscles. When conducting
these exercises, you need to make sure that you are not confusing the
exercise with simple tensing of the abdominal or belly muscles.

To best know the group of muscles to exercise, sit on the toilet and begin
urinating with a full urinary stream. stop the urinary flow. Those muscle
groups which you have used to stop the urinary flow are the muscles that
need strengthening with Kegel bladder exercises. These are not the
abdominal or belly muscles. You can determine whether or not you are
correctly conducting this exercise by placing your hand on your abdomen.
When you are contracting the bladder base or
sphincter muscles, your abdominal muscles should be lax and not
contracted.

The best method to perform Kegel bladder exercises is to contract the
lower pelvic sphincter muscles which include those around the rectum,
vagina, and urethra and hold them in a state of contraction as hard as you
possibly can for a slow count of five. Mentally image a board of wood. Try
to get those muscles as tight as a board of wood. This exercise may
initially be uncomfortable.

Once you have contracted the muscle to a slow count of five, relax the
muscles, imaging bread dough. Allow the muscles to relax until any
discomfort of contraction has passed.

Once again, repeat this cycle of contraction with a slow count of five
followed by relaxation until discomfort has resolved. Then for a third time,
repeat the contraction, slow count of five, and relaxation cycle. This
constitutes a "set of three" Kegel bladder exercises.


You should conduct a set of three, twelve times throughout the course of
the day. To do this with regularity, develop mental cues such as
performing the bladder exercises before or after meals, while watching TV
during commercial breaks, reading the paper and like activities during the
day which you can link your exercises, performing them regularly.

A fair trial of Kegel bladder exercises is approximately six weeks.  
Remember that this constitutes a set of three contractions/relaxation cycles
performed twelve times a day for those six weeks. Progressively over that
period of time the muscles should get stronger yielding improved urinary
control.  Some women note that progress with the Kegel bladder exercises
can be assessed by inserting their finger into the vagina and noting the
strength of pressure felt during the muscle contraction. In any respect,
improvement is best assessed by the patient's evaluation of her urinary
control.


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