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The following article was published in Your Health Magazine. Our mission is to empower people to live healthier.
Jennifer Chu, PT
To Kegel Or Not To Kegel
ITR Physical Therapy, LLC

To Kegel Or Not To Kegel

Have you heard of Kegel exercises? Maybe you have been told by your gynecologist to do your Kegel exercises. Or maybe you have read about these muscles in a magazine. And maybe you are one of the few who are bold enough to talk about these muscles with your really good friends, over a glass of wine at a girls night out. If you have heard of these muscles, that is wonderful because everyone should have strong, healthy, functional kegel muscles. After all, these “Kegel”, otherwise known as your pelvic floor muscles, have a lot of important functions for our bodies. They help us maintain our continence so that we ideally don’t leak when we have a strong urge or cough, laugh or sneeze. They are an important part of sexual appreciation/orgasm. Your pelvic floor muscles are part of your “inner core” muscular group and help with lumbopelvic stability. And they help hold up and support your pelvic organs (bladder, uterus and rectum). All very important functions.

But, did you know that not everyone should be exercising their pelvic floor muscles (PFM)? It is actually quite common for women to have pelvic floor muscles that are actually too tight. Think of this like having too much tension in her upper trapezius muscles. Without even realizing there is tension there, too much tension in your upper traps can cause you to have shoulder pain, neck pain and even headaches. In a similar manner, excess tension in your PFM can cause a myriad of symptoms and you may not even realize these muscles are too tight. Bladder urgency/frequency (a happy healthy bladder should feel like it needs to empty every 3-4 hours during the day and not at all at night) and urge urinary incontinence. When the PFM over function it can cause or exacerbate constipation, difficult to attain or painful orgasms and of course all different types of pelvic pain including painful intercourse. When these muscles are not healthy and functional it can affect and even worse sacroiliac dysfunction, hip pain, groin pain, hip pain and even low back pain.

Now that you have read this article, the question to Kegel or not to Kegel is posed to you. If you have any one of these symptoms, you would most likely benefit from learning how to relax and improve your PFM range of motion before embarking on a Kegel exercise program and you would definitely benefit from an evaluation by a good pelvic floor physical therapist. Physical therapists specialize in treating all types of pelvic floor muscular issues.

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