Pelvic floor exercises

What can exercising your pelvic floor muscles do for you?

• Pelvic floor exercises strengthen the muscles around your bladder, vagina or penis and back passage, helping to stop incontinence and treat prolapse (when one or more of the organs in the pelvis slip down from their normal position and bulge into the vagina).
• Doing these while pregnant will lower the risk of incontinence after labour.
• Strengthening these muscles can increase sensitivity during sex and create stronger orgasms for women.
• Strengthening these muscles can reduce symptoms of erectile dysfunction in men.

Find your pelvic floor muscles

When going to the toilet, try and stop the flow of urine, this is your pelvic floor muscles at work. However, don’t do this regularly as it can be harmful to the bladder.

NHS recommended pelvic floor muscle exercises

Sit comfortably and squeeze your pelvic floor muscles 10-15 times in a row. Try to not hold your breath or tighten your stomach, buttock or thigh muscles at the same time.

As you get used to doing these exercises, hold each squeeze for a few seconds.

Every week, you can add more squeezes, but be careful not to overdo it and always have a rest between sets of squeezes.

After a few months, you should start to notice the results. Carry on doing the exercises, even when you notice them starting to work.