0 Pelvic Floor Exercise during Pregnancy

Pelvic floor exercises, also referred to as kegels, are helpful to prevent urinary stress incontinence during pregnancy and post-pregnancy. Expectant mothers should be fit and active to adjust with the body changes and weight gain. Pregnancy fitness, which includes pelvic floor exercises, help pregnant women cope with labour and lose weight after childbirth.

Pelvic Floor Exercise in Pregnancy

• The pelvic floor muscles are layered muscles, from pubic bone at the front of your pelvis to your tailbone at the back. These muscles are responsible for regulation of passing urine and opening bowels. Besides, pelvic floor muscles support the organs including a growing baby and uterus during pregnancy.
• Health experts advise pelvic floor exercises (kegels) during their first pregnancy to strengthen pelvic floor muscles, to bear extra weight of pregnancy.
• Pelvic floor exercise improves your circulation, shortens the second stage of labour and helps to heal the perineum after birth.
• Post-pregnancy exercises assure that women strengthen their pelvic floor muscles and are more likely to reach orgasm during sex and have pleasurable sex life.

Pelvic Floor Exercise for Women

1. If you're trying to prevent a bowel movement, close up your anus.
2. Tighten the muscles if you want to stop the flow of urine when going to the toilet, without holding your breath or pulling in abdominal muscles.
3. Hold it the up to 10 seconds and then relax slowly.
4. Pull your muscles up tight and fast.
5. Tighten your muscles again and practice these exercise several times a day, in sets of five or six.

Weakened pelvic floor muscles can lead to the following:

• Feeling urgency to get to the toilet frequently, and pass urine more often both night and day.
• Unnecessary urine leakage due to full bladder. (it may also happen during after delivery)
• A leakage of urine if you cough, laugh or sneeze.
• Unable to hold your faeces or to empty bowel efficiently.
• Prolapse of the internal organs.
• Unable to retain a tampon when menstruating.

Pelvic muscle exercises prepare pelvic floor muscles to hold the bladder, womb and lower bowel. All expectant mothers must practice pelvic floor exercises, even if they are not suffering from stress incontinence. It is also the solution for women who feel that their muscles have become weak after having a baby. To prevent unnecessary complications during pregnancy and post-pregnancy, it’s important for women to engage in pelvic floor exercises.