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Heather Jeffcoat, DPT
Why Your Pelvic Floor Muscles Don’t Always Benefit From Kegels
According to a Pelvic Floor Therapist
If you have a vagina, you’ve probably been told to “do your Kegels” as if the exercise is comparable to taking your daily vitamin or brushing your teeth.
Whether you saw it on Sex And The City, Oprah, or even TikTok—in pop culture, Kegels are widely considered as beneficial as daily push-ups or hamstring stretches. The thing is, Kegels aren’t like brushing your teeth: not everyone needs to do them. Sometimes they can even cause more harm to your pelvic floor muscles than good, according to Heather Jeffcoat, DPT, owner of Femina Physical Therapy in Los Angeles.
What are Kegels anyway?
Kegels are a repetitive strengthening exercise that involve the contraction and relaxation of the pelvic floor—a combination of muscles that act as a hammock at the base of your groin, bladder, uterus, rectum, and prostate area. To do a Kegel, you clench the muscles and release them. If you’re curious about how to locate this area of your body, one method is to lay down on your back and take a few deep breaths to relax your body. Then clench your groin as if you were trying to stop yourself from peeing. This is your pelvic floor, according to Dr. Jeffcoat.
The problem that arises with Kegels is that not everyone can clench their pelvic floor muscles correctly, and some people don’t need to. In fact, a 2014 study showed that one-third of participants could not contract their pelvic floor for various reasons.
It’s easy to say, ‘Hey, just do some Kegels for your pelvic floor dysfunction,” says Dr. Jeffcoat. “But that doesn’t align with normal muscle function and how underlying dysfunction can be exacerbated by performing inappropriate exercises.”
Pelvic floor disorders fall into two categories and Kegels don't help with both
Hypertonic (non-relaxing) pelvic floor muscles occur when the muscles are overly tight, contracting at the wrong times, and potentially weakened. This is where Kegels could do more harm than good, Dr. Jeffcoat says. Symptoms of a hypertonic pelvic floor include chronic pelvic pain, vulvar burning or itching, painful intercourse or orgasm, constipation or urinary urgency, and frequency with or without bladder pain—all of which could worsen with repeated Kegels.
When performing Kegel exercises, the contraction creates a shortening of the muscle fibers. If your pelvic floor muscles are already overactive, tight, or non-relaxing, this shortening can worsen symptoms or at least not improve them,” says Dr. Jeffcoat.
So if you’re dealing with non-relaxing pelvic floor symptoms like pain in the area, constipation, trouble with bladder and bowel function in general, painful sex, and painful orgasms, it’s best to consult with your provider.
For the full story on why pelvic floor muscles don’t always benefit from kegels, continue to the full article here.
