There are many causes of urinary incontinence, one is a weak pelvic floor possibly caused by age, childbirth, or a number of conditions. If you are suffering from incontinence, strengthening your pelvic floor could help stop accidental leaks or help them to become less frequent.
Before we look at how you can strengthen your pelvic floor, let’s take a moment to understand this area of the body a little more.
The Pelvic Floor’s Role
The pelvic floor muscles (also unofficially known as Kegel muscles) support the bladder and help to control the urethra, preventing urine from passing through at unexpected times.
If your pelvic floor muscles weaken, you may find that you lose the control that you once had. Just like with muscles in other parts of the body, they can weaken over time and with age, however, also like other muscles found in an arm or a leg, it is possible to strengthen these muscles with some simple exercises. Better yet, anyone of any age can start strengthening their pelvic floor muscles immediately! So, whether you suffer from mild, severe urinary incontinence or not at all, why not start working on making your pelvic floor muscles stronger right now, while you’re reading this article?
It’s worth noting at this point that exercise may not provide a solution, instead offer some relief by making accidents less frequent. Further, if you don’t suffer from urinary incontinence at all, strengthening your pelvic floor now could help to reduce your chances of experiencing it, or reduce the severity later in life.
Benefits of Kegel Exercises
Kegel exercises can also be known as ‘Kegels’ for short. One of the best things about Kegels – besides their effectiveness – is the fact that you can do them anywhere, anytime. If you know how to do Kegels, you might have caught yourself doing them already.
If you’re unsure, we’ll explain how to do a Kegel exercise just below. Once you know how to do them, you can strengthen your pelvic floor in your car while waiting at stoplights, watching TV, or while eating dinner! No one will know that you’re doing them, and best of all, you don’t need any equipment – just the motivation and commitment to keep at it!
A positive consequence of pelvic floor exercises is an improved orgasm due to the muscles contracting more powerfully!
How do you do a Kegel Exercise?
The most effective way to describe how to perform a Kegel exercise is to use a rather unfortunate (and ironic) example. A Kegel is simply contracting the muscles at the bottom of your torso as if you were trying to stop the flow of urine. When you squeeze – or contract the muscles – you would aim to stop the flow, then by releasing, you would allow the stream to start again. One contraction and release is one repetition (or ‘rep’).
Squeeze your pelvic floor muscles and count to 10 seconds (if 10 seconds is uncomfortable, last as long as you can with the goal to reach 10 seconds one day soon). Then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this exercise again for a total of ten reps, which should take just over three minutes (again if 10 reps are uncomfortable, try to do as many as many reps you can with the goal to complete 10 reps in one go, also known as a set).
If you do need to reduce the number of reps or amount of sets, please do. The most important thing is that you try your hardest. If you are put off by the exercise, you might find that you stop it altogether, which will mean that you won’t see any improvement.
Do your best to perform three or four sets throughout the day, each day. Just as other muscles such as biceps take time to grow and strengthen, so do the pelvic floor muscles; you should see some results within three to six weeks as long as you’re consistent and committed.
There are products out there for women that are inserted into the vagina, like weighted cones or balls. It isn’t necessary to use these products, however, it’s best to speak with your doctor for more information including if it’s right for you. Sorry gents, these products are only beneficial for women.
Kegel exercises are one of the easiest and most efficient ways to prevent and control incontinence. Regardless of the cause of the incontinence or the age of the person experiencing it, Kegels can often make a difference in the frequency of incontinence and the overall quality of life, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t start strengthening your pelvic floor. There’s nothing to lose and hopefully better control to gain.
Whilst Kegels may help to reduce incontinence thanks to improving the strength of your pelvic floor, therefore helping to control the flow of urine through the urethra, you may find that you will still experience some accidental leakage. If that’s the case, we recommend incontinence products, such as pads that are available in the Holistic Incontinence online store.
Now You Can Buy Incontinence Products Online at Holistic Incontinence
As the world has moved to online shopping, so has Holistic Incontinence. We understand that shopping online is more convenient and more discreet, which is why we offer a full range of products at the lowest prices in Australia, and all with no lock-in contracts – simply place an order when you’re low and it’ll be delivered by the time you need them.
Holistic Incontinence is an Australian-owned supplier of a full range of high-quality disposable incontinence products. We never run out of stock and offer free shipping on bulk orders, so when you’re looking to buy incontinence pads and other products online, check out our online store for great deals on outstanding products.
If you need to buy incontinence supplies, you’ll find them here. We have products such as incontinence pads designed for moderate urinary incontinence and/or light bowel movements, as well as an array of other products for light to heavy urinary or faecal incontinence. When you need to buy incontinence products, you’ll find that at Holistic Incontinence, we strive to be the best place to buy incontinence pads and other supplies in Australia.
At Holistic Incontinence, we truly care about your customer experience.
- We are here to help. Our team is on hand, ready to answer your incontinence-related questions and product queries free of charge.
- You can try before you commit. Many of our products are available in bulk, however, we understand that you would like to be sure that it’s right for you before you commit to a large order. Trial packs will allow you to use the product. If you’re happy with its performance (and we are sure that you will be), simply place a larger order and we’ll send it to your door free of charge.
- Cheaper prices. A perk of shopping online means that we can offer more competitive prices that are 30% to 40% lower than in stores.
- More discreet and direct shipping. Simply place your order and we’ll deliver it to your door. Plus packaging comes with minimal branding just in case you accidently ask for your parcel to be delivered to work.
We always aim to provide the best experience and with that comes superior quality. We’re certain that you’ll love the Allusive brand. Grab one of our trial packs today and see what we’re talking about!
A side effect of incontinence is the affect that cleaning up has on the skin – it can cause irritation which you may find just as uncomfortable as incontinence itself. Whilst our products are specifically designed for the best possible comfort you may require help from our range of wipes that are both gentle and soothing on the skin and effective in keeping germs at bay.
We also stock a bio-enzyme spray that will clean and remove all urine stains from clothing and furniture, whilst eliminating any smell. Many customers use this product to remove urine stains and odour from mattresses, bedding, and furniture like chairs and couches.
If you find that you are cleaning your furniture more than you would like, perhaps an underpad is right for you. This is simply placed under bedsheets, on top of the mattress. It will then soak up any urine, protecting the furniture from damage, and providing a more comfortable nights’ sleep. An underpad can also be used with furniture like a couch or lounge chair. There are two sizes for various applications.
For more information about incontinence in general and how the range of products available from Holistic Incontinence, simply give our team a call or simply browse the online store. Each product has a description outlining the features and benefits, plus if you’re unsure if a product is right for you, simply select the ‘product trial’ button in the menu on the ‘shop’ page.