How can Kegel exercises help me control my bladder?
Kegel exercises are often taught to women initally after vaginal delivery. The way one can recognize their pelvic muscles are to practice stopping and starting your urinary stream. Though if that once one recognizes those muscles, they can then practice holding their muscles and we say hold them in count to ten slowly, hold them in, and then repeat that several times in a row, maybe ten times in a row. And you can't do many Kegel exercises but we usually say that doing that three times a day. And that stronger those muscles are, the more protected from stress incontinence and if someone has cough coming, they can actually squeeze their pelvic floor and stop stress incontinent episode. If an urgent incontinence, squeezing those muscles could actually give them a little more time to the toilet. Some patients does not recognize their muscles, one way is that, woman can place her fingers in their vagina and squeeze their muscle so she could actually feel the muscles contracting, then she's doing it right. For patients who don't recognize Kegel muscles, often they can work with the pelvic floor rehabilitationist and actually learn them. They can do with what we call floor rehabilitation. The best way for men is to practice stopping and starting their urinary stream. Men, also, after prostate surgery are often instructed on Kegel exercises and they are just effective for men. Unfortunately, there are a group of men and women who don't get enough dryness from the Kegel exercises and that's when the urologist or your gynecologist fit in.
