HERE WE GO 😮‍💨 — the bottom line is that kegels aren’t a functional representation of strength & aren’t going to be a helpful way to actually strengthen the pelvic floor either.

☝🏽While — yes — understanding what a kegel is & what it should feel like is important for motor control & neuromuscular activation of the pelvic floor —

— that doesn’t mean we should be practicing kegels for functional pelvic floor strength. Our pelvic floor needs to know how to adapt yet still support us during different types of everyday movements like walking, squatting, standing, lifting, laughing, etc. —which an isolated kegel is not going to help the body prepare for.

☝🏽Another large issue with kegels is that they’re super easy to do incorrectly! A lot of us over-recruit the wrong muscles like our glutes & abs while under-recruiting the actual ‘kegel’ muscles — this group of muscles is called the Levator Ani — & it acts like a sling that supports & LIFTS our pelvic organs. Finding the right balance of muscle activation here usually requires the help & feedback of a pelvic floor PT.

🧠 Once we have the proper muscle coordination & activation of the pelvic floor (& core) we can then keep our kegel motor pattern in mind during more general strengthening — & this STILL does not mean we hold kegels while performing normal exercises.

🏋🏽‍♀️Much like we exhale during the ‘up’ phase of an exercise (typically) we also only lift the pelvic floor & abs during this phase too. During the ‘down’ phase our pelvic floor needs to be able to lengthen. It can’t stay contracted during everything we do — as this is how even more tension & pelvic floor symptoms form.

🧘🏽‍♀️It’s super helpful to have a pelvic floor PT assess your pelvic floor as some of the muscles (especially comparing left side vs right side) can hold too much tension & create an asymmetrical pelvic floor contraction — this is where first releasing tension & relaxing the pelvic floor is essential BEFORE we dive into any type of kegel discussion.

🤸🏽‍♀️We need length of the pelvic floor before we can ask for functional strength!