About Kegel Excercise

For almost 50 years doctors have instructed women how to do kegel exercises. It has been proven that normal kegel exercises alone do not provide the muscle development that is needed to stop incontinence

Stress incontinence, pelvic relaxation and even sexual dysfunction are common problems. They are usually a result of over stretching or injury to the floor and roof of the vagina during childbirth. It can be worsened with each subsequent birth. These conditions can also occur unrelated to childbirth. Most commonly they first became a problem for women by the late 40's however they may not become a problem until after menopause when estrogen levels are low and the lining and muscles of the vagina and bladder become atrophied.

Often stress incontinence is associated with some vaginal or uterine prolapse (falling vagina or uterus). When extreme they are generally treated as a surgical problem however, for many women surgery can be avoided by using a series of exercises to strengthen the muscles of the vagina and the floor of the bladder and roof of the rectum. These exercises are commonly referred to as the Kegel Exercises. Developed by the late Dr. Arnold Kegel, a Los Angeles Obstetrician and Gynecologist, these exercises were originally designed for women who were poor surgical risks. Dr. Kegel realized that for many women surgery would be an extreme hazard. He investigated the anatomy and physiology of the vagina and bladder and soon found that by strengthening the vaginal muscles most women could reduce their symptoms to a sufficient degree where surgery was no longer necessary.

What Dr. Kegel found was that the Pubococcygeus (pew-bo-kok-cye-gee-us) or PC muscles which makes up the major muscular support of the floor and roof of the vagina were in excessively relaxed or overstretched in women with stress incontinence. The PC muscle groups start on the back of the pubic bone in the front and passes toward the back to insert posteriorly at the edge of the spinal bones on both sides of the body. In doing so it creates a kind of sling which holds and supports the vagina. Joining with it are two other sets of muscles which encircle the vagina and make up the floor of the bladder and roof of the rectum. When these muscles are relaxed both the bladder and the vagina can pouch down, the uterus and vagina can also fall or prolapse down under the pull of gravity toward and even through the vaginal opening. He concluded that all women should be doing resistance pelvic floor muscle exercises for their general health. The principle behind "Kegel exercises" is to strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor, thereby improving the urethral and/or rectal sphincter function.

Kegel exercises alone are NOT good enough!

This was the biggest discovery in helping women with many different problems. Dr. Kegel also proved that simply giving women instructions to do squeezes without resistance resulted in less than a 5% cure rate. It is now medically proven 25% of women who attempt to do kegel exercises unknowingly do them improperly, causing greater damage and worsening their incontinence.

The most common problem with women who do just kegel exercises without resistance to determine if they are doing the exercise properly is contraction of the abdominal muscles at the same time as the PC muscle. When this occurs the abdominal muscles which are bigger and stronger push down on the pelvic floor and can actually make the problem worse.

This is exactly why the Original Kegelmaster™ was invented. It is the first and only patented kegel exerciser to provide progressive resistance. This easy to use device makes it simple for you to know how you are doing by using the 15 levels of resistance. There is no question if you are using the PC muscle when using the Kegelmaster™. None of the other supposed "kegel exercisers" available on the market today do this.