I have a friend who did these exercises when braking at traffic lights while driving her car.
Kegel exercises they are a highly recommended practice to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles before and after delivery.
Originally, they were born as a method to control urinary incontinence, but today it has multiple benefits such as contributing to labor, being a good method to avoid episiotomy.
Its success depends on the proper application of the technique and the strict fulfillment of a regular exercise program.
It is not easy to identify and isolate the pelvic floor muscles to exercise them. We tend to use the muscles of the buttocks or abdomen. To identify them, simply cut the stream of urine when we are in that task, repeating it several times. That is the group of muscles that must be worked. The exercises are very simple, just follow these steps:
- Start by emptying the bladder. Relax and concentrate on the pelvic floor muscles.
- Contract the pelvic floor muscles and count to 10.
- Relax the muscle completely and count to 10.
- Execute 10 exercises, three times a day (morning, afternoon and night).
An improvement should be noticed between 4 and 6 weeks, but it is best to perform the exercises for at least three months before delivery.
One caveat: do not overdo these exercises more than recommended, since it could cause muscle fatigue and increase urine leakage, for example.
