Pelvic Floor Exercises

Pelvic floor exercises might be for you!

Pelvic floor dysfunction can present as incontinence, heaviness in the pelvic region, or simply as a lower body muscle pain! Contrary to popular belief, pelvic floor dysfunction does not only affect postpartum or older women. Young active women and men in high impact, high resistance sports can also be affected by this as well.

Pelvic floor muscles do not only function as sphincter control or for sexual pleasure. It also helps with sump pump (blood and lymph) for the pelvic region, support pelvic organs, stability of the body, breathing and posture. 

Pelvic floor exercises are more than just kegels.

Just like any muscle in the body, your pelvic floor muscles should have full range. Full length (bear down) and full contraction (kegels). And just like any part of the body, having full range of motion allows optimal muscle contraction.

Start with these exercises:

1. Diaphragmatic breathing

Inhale through your nose, stomach expands and breathe all the way down to your pelvic floor to elongate it.

As you start to exhale, gather your pelvic floor muscles and lift them up (imagine this as stopping the flow of your urine). Your stomach goes down and you exhale through your mouth.

Repeat this exercise for at least 10 repetitions. Try and focus on finding a full range of motion on your pelvic floor muscles with this exercise.

Diaphragmatic breathing tips:

• Shoulders should stay down during breathing.
• Diaphragmatic breathing is 360 breathing! Make sure that you are also working on opening up the ribs laterally.

2. Kegels

Now that you’re familiar with how much range you have with your pelvic floor, let's try isolating those muscles! Gather and lift your pelvic floor muscles just like how you did with the start of your exhale. Start with a contraction of 3 to 5 seconds. Easy? Now progress it to 10 seconds. Work your way up to 10 repetitions for 10 seconds and hold. 

Kegel tips:

• Make sure that your stomach, butt, and inner thigh muscles are relaxed when you do the exercise.
• Do not hold your breath.

3. Quick Contractions

Now that you’ve worked on finding the full range and then isolating and holding your pelvic floor muscles, let’s work on improving quick contractions. Perform your kegel contraction followed by a relaxation to its full length. Perform this exercise as much as you can for 30 seconds and take note.

Work on improving the number of repetitions in 30 seconds! Quick contractions will help in agility exercises.

Quick contraction tips:

• Make sure that you are working in your full range: full pelvic floor contraction and full length.
• Stomach, butt and inner thigh muscles stays relaxed.
• Do not hold your breath.

This is just the start

Do not stop with these exercises. Rather, incorporate them into your daily activities and exercise regimens.

*If you notice any difficulty breathing all the down to your pelvic floor or feel that “things are dropping” when you bear down, make sure you see a pelvic floor specialist (medical doctor or physical therapist).

Clarice Sinson is an Advanced Clinician Physical Therapist at HSS Westchester Rehabilitation and Sports Performance Center. She’s a board certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, certified PCES (Pregnancy and Post Partum Corrective Exercise Specialist) practitioner, and certified SFMA practitioner with Pilates training. Her practice covers physical therapy for non- and post-surgical orthopedic conditions as well as women’s health, including peri- and postpartum care.