Do Kegels work? And are Kegels bad for you?
The pelvic floor exercise known as the ‘Kegel’ has become a very popular and much publicized exercise which exerts and a recommended first – line treatment in women’s health, and more recently in men’s health and not without good reason.
This exercise is again to exert musculature, which is in an exerted state to make us physically stable in day to day posture and movements.
These exercises involve contracting the pelvic floor muscles deliberately so again you may feel temporary better but again contraction is our body’s passive and defensive mechanism so you won’t realize their stiffness and hardness and the process of deterioration continues till you get the next stock of disease.
So what happens in repetitive Kegel exercises?
This action pulls the musculature of the pelvic floor towards the centre that is on the coccyx bone and openings of Anus , urethra and vergina in females. and can aggravate tailbone pain, sacroiliac pain, and lower back pain .
Tail bones and sitting bones are weight bearing bones. Our structural weight gets transferred from the head and a spinal column towards the tailbone, which gets divided at sacroiliac joints to hips – knees – ankles – feet.
The pelvic floor is one of the voluntary muscular diaphragms. Its movement is very essential for creating pressure differences within the body cavities from below upward ( negative and positive). The movement of the pelvic and cervical diaphragm is essential for the movement of the respiratory diaphragm as well as all the organ systems situated within these body cavities.
Doing Kegel exercises while emptying your bladder brings disturbance in Spincher of bladder and can actually lead to incomplete emptying of the bladder — which increases the risk of a urinary tract infection.
Doing the Kegel exercises while you are urinating can weaken your pelvic floor muscles over time or cause damage to the bladder and kidneys. In women, doing Kegel exercises with too much force of contraction may cause vaginal inflammation or bacterial infection .This can cause pain during sexual intercourse and inflammation.
Pelvic floor disorders:
Pelvic floor disorders such as Urinary incontinence, prolapse uterus, prolapse prostate, pelvic pain, constipation or loose motions, piles, fissures, Urinary or vaginal infections, pain with intercourse, infertility and others are surprisingly common.
Reasons for pelvic floor disorders:
The stiffness and hardness of the pelvic floor does not mean a strong and won’t prevent developing pelvic floor disorders.
Our muscular architecture and nervous system has a strong dominating force of contraction for any stimulus to make us physically stable, and it is the defensive force of reflex action . Therefore, in life process and age advances, they get stiffer and harder more . So therefore again Tightening your urinary tract, anus and vergina forcefully, which are situated on the pelvic cavity or tightening or squeezing your stomach and tucking your tailbone and hips which creates positive pressure and compression force within that make it worse in long-run
People say Kegels are a discrete exercise as an added bonus that you can do just about anywhere and have a snappy and easy to remember name.
So, shouldn’t we all be doing Kegels?
In short, no. No.
Muscles of pelvic floor and it’s important function:
Our pelvic floor is a group of muscles that sits like a bowl within our pelvis.
The pelvic floor muscles have attachments to our sacrum , pelvis, pubic bone, tailbone, and sitting bones.
Muscles attached to these bones form a hammock-like structure that supports the pelvic organs, including the:
– Uterus (womb)
– Bladder
– Bowel (rectum)
– Urethra
These muscles play a crucial role in:
– Supporting pelvic organs
– Controlling urine flow
– Facilitating childbirth
– Enhancing sexual function
– Maintaining continence
They are working throughout our day and night in many ways we may not have ever realized.
The muscles of the pelvic floor wrap around, a circular band of voluntary muscles that encircles and controls the opening of our bladder and rectum. When there is an increase in abdominal pressure, for example, when you cough, sneeze, laugh, or jump, these muscles contract around our urethra and anus to prevent leakage.
Equally as important, these muscles have to relax and expand to allow us to urinate or have bowel movements easily.
Support: The pelvic floor muscles act as a basket to support our pelvic organs (bladder, rectum, and prostate in man uterus in female) against gravity and create in abdominal – pelvic pressure.
With excess strain on the pelvic floor (especially during pregnancy) or with weakening of the pelvic floor (with age or hormonal changes), the pelvic organs can start to protrude near the vaginal opening. This is referred to as prolapse ,in male prolapse prostate.
Stability: Because of their attachments to the pelvis and hips, the pelvic floor muscles are an important part of the “core”( central axis). These muscles assist other abdominal, hip, spinal columns, and ribcage muscles. Their movements can be done through the movement of both girdles through extremities. These all muscles are connected like a relay race and they have their own ancient memory with synchronized movements together with specific direction and sequential order in flow of movement of muscular architecture.
If you are trying to strengthen your core central axis ( torso or trunk)— your pelvic floor and cervical floor should be a part of your training program!
Sexual: During intercourse, the pelvic floor muscles help to achieve and sustain an erection and allow for penetration. Sufficient strength of the pelvic floor muscles is necessary not only for orgasm but health of reproductive organs and excessive tension or sensitivity of the pelvic floor can also contribute to pain during or after sexual activity and most importantly for fertility.
Pressure difference : They also contribute to all the organs below the respiratory diaphragm and have a direct effect on our respiratory diaphragm and create a pressure difference. Ideal pressure difference created by smooth movement of muscular architecture is also essential for reproductive health and sexual function as well as all working mechanisms of organ systems.
In the long run, distortion of spaces and disturbing inner environment with increased positive pressure within body cavities is the leading cause of metabolic diseases like Cardiorespiratory, vascular , diabetes and cancers related to organs or glapnds like colon and Breast, cervical or uterus Cancer in females and prostate in males are very common.
The action of these pelvic and cervical diaphragms which are formed by voluntary muscles are like a Sump-pump
Just like the smooth movement of calf muscles along with other muscles in our leg act to pump blood and lymphatic fluid back up towards our heart, the pelvic floor muscles act as a blood/lymph pump for the pelvis A loss of this “sump-pump” action can contribute to swelling or pelvic congestion, which affects organs situated within these cavities.
If you suspect your pelvic floor muscles may not be functioning optimally and may be contributing to some of your symptoms, then firstly stop the habit of contacting first as it’s not easy to relax or expand these muscles, hence need to work hard step by step with understanding and dedicated practice to improve physical and physiological state.
It all depends on the level of distortion and hardness of musculature, as they all are connected within our body, head to toes. How much strength and force we can apply within for voluntary movement of muscular architecture is an important factor to work on consciously in the right direction of efforts with their natural habitat.
Therefore, regular, sincere, consistent efforts with appropriate direction for sequential order and flow of muscles are the most essential factors.
