Kegel Exercises | DryForLife Incontinence Advice

Posts Tagged ‘Kegel exercises’

Simple Overactive Bladder Treatment Offers Results

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

When you have an overactive bladder it can be annoying to say the least, and frequently it can prove to be debilitating. You may find yourself avoiding social situations, vacations and even family gatherings. Always in the back of your mind is the possibility of your overactive bladder problem causing your a publicly embarrassing moment. The good news is that an overactive bladder syndrome treatment can be just a doctor’s visit away.

Overactive bladder treatments range from behavioral changes to exercise therapy to medication, or maybe even a combination of treatments. This is why you want to start your search for the best treatment with the proper evaluation of your condition.

Bladder training is an effective overactive bladder treatment that does not have any side effects, and it is something that anyone can do. Typically you go to the bathroom when you feel the urge to go, but bladder training sets a schedule for your rest room trips, and you learn to control the urge and wait until your scheduled time. Then you begin increasing the time in between bathroom visits until you have a manageable schedule for your bathroom visits.

Along with bladder training pelvic floor exercises strengthen the muscles of your pelvic floor. You exercise your arms and legs, so it makes sense to exercise the important muscles along your pelvic floor as well. You simply tighten and hold these muscles several times a day to build their strength back up. If you are not familiar with your pelvic floor muscles, the next time that you are urinating, stop midstream. There is your pelvic muscle in action. These exercises are called Kegel exercises, named after the doctor who first recommended them, and pregnant women typically do them to prepare for childbirth. It takes several months to realize the benefit of your new workout, so if you are experiencing any urine leakage during this time you can wear a good quality absorbent incontinence pad to manage your situation.

Using drugs to treat an overactive bladder can be very effective when the problem is caused by nerves sending improper signals to the bladder muscles. Drugs can help to block these misfired signals and curtail the inappropriate bladder contractions. It is also possible that drugs can help to increase your bladder capacity, which also helps decrease the urge to go to the bathroom so frequently. Another contributor to overactive bladder problems in women is the decrease in estrogen production that happens after menopause occurs. So estrogen treatments can help alleviate symptoms in some women.

As you partner with your doctor to identify the cause behind your overactive bladder, you can work together to find the perfect overactive bladder treatment for you. And as you are learning to manage your condition you can find products to help you maintain your active lifestyle. At DryForLife we have been helping our customers manage incontinence for over forty years, and we are here to help you too.

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Tags: absorbent pad, Incontinence, Kegel exercises, overactive bladder
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Continence Problems Can Begin with Weak Pelvic Floor Muscles

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

While continence is rarely ever considered when you are young and healthy, as you get older continence problems begin to loom large. Women are affected with continence problems in greater numbers than men, largely as a side effect of pregnancy and childbirth. However, while pregnancy and childbirth increase the risk of having continence problems, they also arm women with the tools for maintaining continence health. Men, on the other hand, are really never forced to think about that region of their body, from a maintenance standpoint, until they are much older, and then they have a lot of catching up to do.

While women have had to deal with rebuilding that region of their bodies after childbirth, they are much more familiar with all of the working parts, including the pelvic floor muscles in particular. These muscles, which stretch from the tail bone up to the pubic bone, are what supports all of your pelvic organs including your bladder and bowel. When these muscles are young and healthy, they help to keep the bladder and bowel outlets closed tightly preventing any accidental leakage. With age, illness or injury the pelvic floor muscles can weaken causing them to relax allowing the bladder and bowel to empty. Once these muscles become weak, the ability to hold back the flow of urine or keep from passing wind during physical activity is diminished.

The good news is that like any muscles in your body that become weak, you can exercise to rebuild the muscles and regain the suppleness and strength that they once had. The more that you use these muscles, the better they will work for you, but first you have to find them.

Women generally find these muscles as they are instructed in Kegel exercises during pregnancy and childbirth, so even though these muscles get beaten up during the process of child bearing, women are generally aware of these muscles and how to exercise them to keep them in good working order. The easiest way to find these muscles is to stop the flow of urine mid stream the next time that you are going to the bathroom. These are the pelvic floor muscles in action. Once you have identified the muscles you can begin doing Kegel exercises to get them strong.

As you begin consciously using your pelvic floor muscles you can remember to tighten them when you are engaged in other strenuous activities or workouts. Even as you go through everyday activities like lifting, bending, laughing, sneezing or coughing, engaging your pelvic floor muscles will help to support your bladder and bowel. If your muscles are very weak, it is easiest to begin exercising them in a sitting position, but as they grow stronger, you can engage them while standing as well.

As you are working out the muscles of your pelvic floor, realize that it will take from three to six months for you really see an improvement in the functioning of the muscles. Once your muscles are strong again, like any muscle in your body, use it or lose it. So plan to fit your Kegel exercises into a regular workout routine that works for your schedule.

If you are not sure where to begin with your pelvic floor exercises, you may want to enlist the services of a physiotherapist who has experience with continence issues, and they can design a workout schedule that suits your needs. To help manage your continence problems as you follow your workout schedule, find appropriate supplies that work well for you. There are many, quality selections available in either washable or disposable styles, and you can use the product that you need when you need it. DryForLife has a full line of products for continence care ranging from light to heavy levels of absorbency. You can order the products from the privacy of your home and have them delivered there as well.

Further Continence Articles

Tags: Continence, Kegel exercises, pelvic floor muscles
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Bladder Weakness in Women is not Necessarily a Permanent Condition

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

All too often bladder weakness in women is seen as an inevitable part of ageing. It is also considered just plain embarrassing, which causes far too many women to never bother seeking help for their symptoms. This embarrassment is unfortunate, because four out of five incontinence cases can be completely cured.

While age, childbirth and menopause are factors that increase the risk of urinary incontinence in women, these factors do not guarantee that a woman will suffer from bladder weakness. Urinary incontinence occurs in women when they cannot control their bladder, and any number of things can cause this condition. For women, pregnancy and childbirth are two of the biggest threats to continence, and other factors like surgery, infection, genetics or injury can also cause the problem.

You cannot dictate whether or not damage occurs to your pelvic floor muscles when circumstances are out of your control such as in the case of injury, genetics, surgery or childbirth. However, there are some things that you can do to stack the deck in your favor when it comes to staving off bladder weakness as you age.

If you are overweight, you are putting additional pressure on the muscles of the pelvic floor, which eventually leads to bladder weakness. So, one of the best ways to let nature work in your favor is to give it a helping hand. By eating a healthy diet, getting regular exercise and exercising your pelvic floor muscles regularly, you are giving yourself a fighting chance of maintaining bladder health.

Kegel exercises, which you practice when you are preparing for childbirth, are a great way to maintain strength in your pelvic floor muscles. You are exercising the same muscles that you use to stop the flow of urine mid stream, and by keeping these muscles in good shape, you are keeping the muscles that support your internal organs strong. Keeping these muscles fit not only helps your urinary health, but it helps properly support all of your internal organs.

So while bladder weakness in women may occur at some point in their lives, most of the time, with proper treatment and care, it is only a temporary condition. And as you are working to find a solution for your bladder weakness problem, there are a variety of incontinence products available, which come in many different sizes and absorbencies. Some companies, like DryForLife, even deliver them discreetly right to your front door.

Further Bladder Weakness Articles

Tags: Bladder Weakness, incontinence products, Kegel exercises, pelvic floor muscles, Urinary Incontinence
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Incontinence and Alternative Medicine Offer Sensible Solutions for Managing Incontinence

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

The causes of incontinence are numerous and varied, and so are the treatments. Incontinence can be treated or at least managed by many different methods as well. Sometimes a simple behavioral change is enough to alleviate the symptoms of urinary incontinence, and other times medication or surgery may be indicated. If you are dealing with incontinence, you may want to consider supporting your doctor’s recommendations with a natural or alternative medicine.

It is also a good idea to add regular Kegel exercises to your incontinence and alternative medicine efforts. By combining biofeedback, exercise, acupuncture and traditional medicine, you are setting yourself up for success when it comes to managing your urinary incontinence.

Biofeedback helps you understand what you are feeling when you flex your muscles, and what your body is telling you. It can be used to help you perform effective pelvic floor muscle exercises, and it can also help you control your bladder muscles.

Kegel exercises are the exercises that contract your pelvic floor muscles. By performing Kegel exercises correctly and contracting and releasing your pelvic floor muscles, you can strengthen these muscles to help you regain continence. The pelvic floor muscles are important because they support the bladder, urethra and uterus if you are a woman.

Other exercises like yoga and pilates, when practiced correctly can be very helpful for strengthening the muscles of the pelvic floor, which makes both of these exercise disciplines very valuable when it comes to managing urinary incontinence.

Acupuncture has also proven effective in relieving symptoms of urinary incontinence, because it helps to tone muscles and increases the blood flow to the bladder. Acupuncture can also restore hormone balance, reduce inflammation and give the immune system a boost.

Nutrition also plays an important part in maintaining urinary continence. Aside from maintaining a healthy weight, you will want to eliminate foods that can irritate the bladder like acidic foods, such as tomato and grapefruit, caffeine, alcohol, sweetener substitutes, sugar and spicy foods. If you are not sure which foods have an adverse effect on you, keep a food diary and see if any patterns emerge between what you ingest and your incontinence problems.

Incontinence and alternative medicine are a natural fit, and as you are working through the solution to your problem, absorbant pads can free you from the worry of having accidental leakage in public. They come in many different sizes and absorbencies to deal with any problem from mild to severe. They protect clothing and furniture, and they offer protection from skin irritation. DryForLife supplies incontinence pads, which may be ordered online and delivered discreetly right to your front door.

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Tags: absorbent pads, biofeedback, exercise, Incontinence, Incontinence Pads, Kegel exercises, pelvic floor muscles, Urinary Incontinence
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Bladder Weakness in Women More Common than you Think

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

There are many embarrassing moments caused by bladder weakness in women, and bladder incontinence is still an untouched subject. Because of the hush-hush nature of bladder incontinence, there is a lot of incorrect information floating around on the subject.

In the UK by the age of thirty-five one quarter of all women have experienced some sort of bladder weakness symptoms. Only about half of the talk to their doctors about their problem, while the rest suffer in silence. The average time that a woman waits before getting some sort of help is about fifteen years.

Bladder weakness in women can occur for many different reasons with pregnancy and childbirth right at the top of the list. Obesity, constipation and nerve damage can also cause the problem, and menopause can be a culprit as well. Frequently women who suffer from bladder weakness may withdraw from life a little passing up on traveling, exercising and even sex.

There are three types of bladder weakness in women, and they are as follows:

Stress incontinence, or unexpected leakage, can happen anytime undue pressure is exerted on the bladder, which can happen from coughing, laughing, exercise, sneezing or picking up something heavy.

Overflow incontinence occurs when the bladder does not empty all the way, which causes urine to continually build up and dribble out as if the bladder is overflowing.

Urge incontinence presents itself with a sudden strong urge to pass urine. With urge incontinence the bladder tries to empty itself despite a woman’s attempt to restrain the flow.

One of the conditions that all three of these problems frequently share making an environment ripe for incontinence is weak pelvic floor muscles. One of the functions of these muscles is to keep the urethra closed. As they become less elastic over time the slightest amount of undue pressure like laughing or coughing can be enough to cause leakage. There is good news though. Just because these muscles are weak now, does not mean that they have to be weak forever.

There are exercises that a woman can do to help restore the vibrancy of her pelvic floor muscles, and they are called Kegel exercises. Any woman who has had a baby has heard of them, and if you have not had a baby, and you are suffering from incontinence, see your medical professional, because they can instruct you about the proper way to do your Kegel exercises.

In a nutshell, these exercises work on the same muscles that you would engage to stop the flow of urine midstream, so this can give you an idea of which muscles you would be conditioning. While it takes a while for a woman to realize the results of her pelvic floor exercises, up to six months, if she is diligent and patient she is almost guaranteed to see an improvement in her bladder weakness condition.

If you suffer from bladder weakness in women, as you are working to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, incontinence pads can free you from the worry of having accidental leakage in public. They come in many different sizes and absorbencies to deal with any problem from mild to severe and protect skin, clothing and furniture. DryForLife supplies incontinence pads, which may be ordered online and delivered discreetly right to your front door.

Further Bladder Weakness in Women Articles

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Treatment Options for Adult Incontinence

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Urinary incontinence in adults results from a broad range of health conditions as well as changes associated with aging. Any form of incontinence may cause emotional and physical discomfort, so it significantly affects your quality of life. If you have been experiencing urinary incontinence, keep in mind that there are various treatment options available. Successful treatment of urinary incontinence largely depends on its underlying cause and severity of symptoms. Some adults may favour conservative approaches such as non-drug therapies while others may need surgery.

Behavioral Treatments - Certain types of urinary incontinence may resolve with behavioral techniques. These may be recommended alone or in combination with other therapies. Bladder training involves delaying urination for a few minutes when you have the urge to go. Your should aim to lengthen the interval between your trips to the toilet until you are urinating every two to four hours. Scheduled toilet trips means going to the toilet on a routine basis instead of waiting for the urge to go.

Physical therapy - Kegels or pelvic floor muscle exercises help strengthen your urinary sphincter and pelvic floor muscles. To do this exercise, squeeze the muscles you would use to stop urine flow and hold for a count of three and repeat.

Lifestyle changes - Fluid and diet management may help improve bladder control. Try limiting or avoiding alcohol, caffeine or acidic foods.

Drug therapy - Antibiotic therapy is recommended for patients whose incontinence is caused by infections that affect bladder function. Incontinence resolves when the infection is treated. Anticholinergics are used to control incontinence in patients with overactive bladder syndrome and may be considered for adults with urge incontinence.

Incontinence products - Absorbent pads and protective garments ease the discomfort and inconvenience caused by leaking urine. Aside from promoting comfort, these products also prevent skin irritation.

Surgery - If drugs and other treatments fail, your doctor may consider surgery. Sling procedure is among the common surgical treatments for incontinence. This entails the use of a synthetic material or mesh to create a pelvic sling around your bladder neck and urethra. The sling prevents the leakage of urine because it creates tension, keeping the urethra closed.

Implanting an artificial urinary sphincter also corrects incontinence. This device is particularly helpful for male adults who have weakened urinary sphincters.

Incontinence can be quite embarrassing, hence, some adults with impaired bladder function tend to isolate themselves for fear of ridicule. They fail to realize that hiding incontinence may increase their risk for problems such as urinary tract infections, skin rashes, sores and skin infections. Adults experiencing incontinence must not hesitate to discuss their symptoms with their doctors. The evaluation of your doctor is extremely important in determining which treatment option would best suit you.

Continence Advise – Getting Healthy in 4 Minutes a Day

Monday, November 9th, 2009

When you are young and healthy you never give continence a second thought, but if you do not do anything to make sure that you stay continent as an older adult, you may find yourself facing problems later on. So here is a little continence advise tip that you can easily fit into your daily life now to make sure that you stay healthy.

The key to maintaining your continence health well into your later years is to keep the muscles of your pelvic floor strong and healthy. Most people never give these muscles a single thought until they are just about not working, and at that point there is only so much that you can do. However, if you pay a little attention to them now, you may never, ever have to worry about them.

Think of your pelvic floor muscles kind of like a sling stretched across your pelvis. The sling of muscles has two perforations in it, one for the urethra, and one for the anus. In women, there is a third perforation for the vagina. The purpose of the pelvic floor muscles is to support all of the body’s organs for evacuation and childbirth.

There are basically two different types of muscles that make up the pelvic floor. One set of muscles is strong and designed for endurance, and its job is to support the pelvic contents. The second group of pelvic floor muscles is designed for strength and speed, and it provides additional closing strength for the urethra when needed (i.e. when you laugh, sneeze or cough).

The best way to make sure these muscles stay healthy is simple. Just exercise them regularly. For the endurance muscles squeeze them (just as you would interrupt your urine flow) and hold for five to ten seconds. Then relax for two to three seconds between squeezes. For the second set of muscles squeeze as hard as you can for one second.

To build strength in these muscles do five of the endurance muscle squeezes and ten of the one second squeezes six times per day. You can do them anytime, anywhere. So build a habit of taking a few seconds throughout the day to build your pelvic floor muscles. If your muscles are already strong, you can do this same set for only three times a day to maintain the strength that you already have.

If you have lost some strength in your pelvic floor muscles, this continence advise may help, but it may take up to six months of religiously doing these exercises, which are known as Kegel exercises, to see a marked improvement in function. As you are rebuilding your muscles, incontinence pads can free you from the worry of having accidental leakage in public. They do a great job of protecting clothing and furniture. DryForLife is always available to deliver incontinence pads to you quickly and discreetly.

Further Continence Articles

Tags: Continence, Incontinence Pads, Kegel exercises
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Episiotomy and Faecal Incontinence

Friday, August 28th, 2009

An episiotomy is a medical procedure in which the muscular tissue between the vagina and the rectum is cut. An episiotomy is performed when there is a need to enlarge the vaginal opening during childbirth, and is usually done when there is a perceived need to “speed up” the delivery process. Women are more likely to have an episiotomy done during first deliveries than during subsequent ones.

Performing an episiotomy, however, is not a benign procedure. There are risks associated with an episiotomy, such as bleeding and infection. By far the most serious complication of episiotomy is tearing of the tissues into the anal sphincter, which may result in anal, or faecal, incontinence. In addition to uncontrolled passage of faeces, women may also pass wind uncontrollably, which may be equally distressing.

If you have had an episiotomy and suffer from incontinence, whether urinary or faecal, one of the most important things you can do is to perform Kegel exercises routinely. Kegel exercises will help to strengthen the damaged pelvic floor muscles. In addition, you should see your physician and discuss your incontinence with him/her. If you are planning to give birth, episiotomy is something you may want to discuss with your physician to clarify under what conditions an episiotomy may be done and other methods that can be tried first to speed delivery if the need arises.

Other Faecal Incontinence Articles

Tags: bowel incontinence, Faecal Incontinence, Kegel exercises
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Kegel Exercises for Bladder Weakness

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Kegel exercises are an important tool in maintaining the strength of pelvic floor muscles which can be weakened by pregnancy, childbirth and hormones. Your pelvic floor muscles are the muscles that support your bowels, bladder and uterus, so it is easy to see why keeping these muscles as strong as possible is important. Weakening of these muscles may result in bladder weakness.

Not sure where exactly these muscles are, let alone how to exercise them? You’re not alone; many women will admit to the same problem. To isolate your pelvic floor muscles, simply attempt to stop your urine while going to the toilet. If you can do this, you have found the right muscles. Still having trouble? Insert a finger gently into the vagina and tighten up your muscles around your finger. You will feel these muscles tense and your muscles will move upwards; when you relax these muscles, they will relax downwards. Once you are able to tense these muscles you are ready to perform Kegel exercises.

To perform Kegel exercises, simply tense your pelvic floor muscles and hold for 5 seconds, then release the muscles slowly over 5 seconds. Repeat 10 times, 3 times per day. Gradually increase the number of seconds you tense these muscles and how many “reps” you can do. Remember to breathe slowly throughout the exercises, and not to tense other muscles, such as your abdominal muscles.

It may take several weeks before you see a noticeable difference if you are practicing Kegels to improve bladder weakness. Don’t be discouraged if you do not see immediate results (Rome wasn’t built in a day!), but do set aside a time each day to perform the exercises; for example, while you are watching television or sitting at your desk.

If you would like to learn more about bladder weakness, please click here.

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