One of the best things you can do to avoid becoming incontinent, and to improve the symptoms of stress incontinence is strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. These muscles control the bladder, and along with the urinary sphincter help to control urination. These muscles open and close the urethra, and support the bladder as you exert yourself. If they become weak, even simple exertions such as walking, standing or lifting something can lead to a urine leak.
How can you strengthen pelvic floor muscles? Try the following:
1. Kegels. This is going to be one of the first things your urologist or doctor suggest doing. A Kegel is an exercise where you squeeze your pelvic floor muscles as if you are trying to stop urine midstream. You hold for 3-5 seconds, then release. Doing 3-4 sets of 10 each day can help to strengthen these muscles, and improve stress incontinence, as well as reduce the risk of urge incontinence.
If you are not sure if you are using the right muscles, talk to a nurse or doctor. They can help you determine if you are tightening the right muscles, and getting the best results possible. Many mistakenly practice incorrectly, and thus as not getting the results they want to see. It is best to first begin Kegels lying down. It can take 3-6 weeks before seeing improvement, but if you keep at it, doing 3 sets or more a day, you will find that your pelvic floor muscles are stronger and you leak less.
2. Biofeedback. This is a behavior therapy that is used to train the pelvic floor muscles using Kegels. It helps you to target the right muscles. The way it works is sensors are placed near the muscles being monitored, and they provide feedback when you tighten those muscles or do Kegels. This is very helpful because you get to see if you are doing the Kegel exercises correctly. Using biofeedback until you feel confident about your ability to exercise without equipment can help you make sure you are strengthening the muscles that need to be strengthened to reduce incontinence episodes.
3. Vaginal weights. Vaginal weights are another option for strengthening the pelvic floor in conjunction with Kegel exercises. Basically a cone-shaped weight or weights are placed in the vagina, and you contract the pelvic floor muscles to keep it from falling out. There may be a variety of weight levels so that you can build up your muscle strength and gradually move up to heavier weights as your muscles become stronger.
No matter what option you choose, doing it on your own, using biofeedback to target specific muscles, or using vaginal weights, it is important to do these strengthening exercises three times daily. Exercise lying down, sitting up, and then standing. One of the great things is, that while this takes about five minutes each time, Kegel exercises can be done anytime, anywhere, as they are discreet.