Top Kegel Mistakes When Trying To Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor

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You’ve likely known about Kegels for about as long as you’ve known about sexual health. Kegels (pronounced kee-gulls) were invented by Dr. Arnold Kegel, a gynecologist, in 1948. Since then, both men and women have used these exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor. However, many people are making Kegel mistakes without realizing it.

Kegels, put simply, are pelvic floor muscle exercises that involve contracting and releasing the muscle that runs from your pubic bone to your tailbone. When done correctly, they can help treat issues like urinary incontinence, fetal incontinence and even a pelvic organ prolapse. Women can develop these problems after giving birth or from hormonal changes. The National Library of Medicine reports that Kegels can successfully treat incontinence in most cases. Some women even report that they can tighten the vagina, which can lead to more intense orgasms. But, if you’ve been doing your Kegels for a while and are not seeing improvements, there are a few reasons they might not be working for you.

How To Do A Kegel

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First, here’s a quick look at how to properly do a Kegel.

• Completely empty your bladder before you begin
• Sit or lie down (one popular position is to sit on a medicine ball)
• Picture a straw or similar item in your vagina that you want to suck up into it
• Tighten your pelvic floor muscles in a way that would move that straw inward
• Fully relax the muscles for three to five seconds
• Repeat 10 times. You can do this a few times a day

Signs Your Kegels Aren’t Working

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Let’s cover signs that your Kegels aren’t working. These include:

• New lower back pain following Kegels
• New or increased pain or discomfort during intercourse
• Symptoms of incontinence are worsening
• New pain when sitting

When performed correctly – and if Kegels are enough to solve the problem – the above issues should improve over time.

Common Kegel Mistakes

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If you’re still noticing symptoms, there are a handful of reasons your Kegels might not be working.

First, you could just be doing them incorrectly. Many women unknowingly push the muscles out rather than suck them in. One sign you could be doing this is if you hold your breath during Kegels. If you’re worried you are doing this, consider actually inserting a light tampon into your vagina during Kegels and make sure you see it moving inward – rather than outward – when you do the exercises.

You might also be accidentally engaging other muscles, like the abs, glutes or upper thighs. The pelvic floor muscles are the only muscles you should be engaging during Kegels. If you are engaging the other muscles, there’s a good chance you are not engaging the pelvic floor muscles enough.

It’s possible that you are not relaxing your pelvic floor muscles throughout the day, too. In order for these contractions to be useful, it’s important that your pelvic floor has a chance to relax between sessions. If you are under a lot of stress and feeling tense, you might be contracting these all day without realizing it. But, these muscles need to exist mainly in a state of relaxation for the exercises to work.

If you’re still struggling to see results, you might consider working with a pelvic floor physical therapist (yup, that’s a thing). When Kegels or physical therapy do not work, surgery might be necessary. The good news is that most of the symptoms associated with a weak pelvic floor can be treated through Kegels or physical therapy.