Do Kegel’s exercises help, and how should I do them?
First, for patients who have severe damage to the pelvic muscles and ligaments, from pregnancy childbirth, trauma, radiation or prior surgery, Kegel’s exercises probably won’t have a major impact. However, many patients with mild stress urinary incontinence will find that they can gain significant improvement in their leakage through Kegel exercises. Unfortunately, most women who fall in this category don’t may not do the exercises correctly, may not do them consistently enough or long enough, to see the benefits. Like any exercise program, it takes time before one sees the improvement in strength or endurance. And, when we don’t see immediate results, we may get annoyed with the inconvenience, or simply forget about doing them. In addition, even when we see improvement, we will rapidly lose the benefit if we stop doing the exercises. Kegel’s exercises are best implemented as part of a general fitness and exercise program along with diet and weight control. They should be performed thr