Why are Kegels getting such a bad reputation? Are Kegel exercises going to help me?
During one of my 1st job interviews, my (now) boss got super excited that I was interested in the pelvic health and said ‘oh great! You must be like a Kegel personal trainer!’. I shook my head… there’s so much more to what we do as pelvic health physiotherapists and I got to educating him quick!
In fact, in the clinical setting, 95%+ of the time... I see an overactive pelvic floor muscle (PFM) presentation & I'm not surprised...
Pelvic floor muscles become overactive or hypertonic (tense muscles even when you’re not engaging the PFM) when...
- you be stressed
- you be sitting all dang day
- you be worried/anxious
- you be constipated
- you be in pain
- you be preggo (not always, but I find it can be overstrained by being asked to carry more load that usual in later months of pregnancy)
- you be postpartum with perineal scars or C section scars
- you be clenching for no good reason....
- you fell on your tailbone
and so many more reasons.... this is just to name a few. So if you think you fall into this category of a hypertonic pelvic floor presentation… then are KEGELS going help you??? The answer is… probably NOT! Performing these exercises are either not going to be helpful, or could make your symptoms worse.
The 1st step to managing hypertonicity of the PFM is to find a really great pelvic health physiotherapist to help you identify ‘the WHY’ of where the sources are coming from for your hypertonic pelvic floor muscles… and man oh man can these contributing sources can look so different, can be coming from body structures far from the pelvic floor, can come from a mental health contributor, can be coming from poor toileting habits, can come from different systems in the body, & or can be coming from diet! Everyone has their own unique reasons for why they have pelvic floor muscles dysfunction!
Then the 2nd step to managing a hypertonic pelvic floor muscle is to become familiar with where these muscles are anatomically and finding some cues that help you stay mindful of what your pelvic floors are doing yall!
Here are some of my favourite cues:
‘Dropping held berries from your urethra, vulva, & anus’
‘Letting go of a tampon’
‘Labia blossoms like a flower’
‘A descending elevator heading down to the basement’
& for penis owners, ‘Turtle head out of the shell’
Written with so much love and compassion,
Jane J. Bai MSc PT, MSc, BMSc
Pelvic Health & Orthopaedic Physiotherapist
200YTT
Instagram: @PelvicPro
YouTube: @BodyScanwithJane
Book an Appointment here: https://pelvicpro.janeapp.com/
www.pelvicpro.ca