Before you start to exercise your pelvic floor you need to gain an awareness of the actual muscle. Lie down or sit comfortably, relaxing your belly, thighs and buttocks. Concentrate on tightening your anus as if trying to stop yourself passing wind or diarrhoea. This is your pelvic floor muscle tightening.
You can tense your pelvic floor muscles by attempting to interrupt the flow of urine. This tests the strength of your pelvic floor. Try to stop the flow of urine for a few moments after starting, and then empty your bladder fully. If you are unable to stop the flow at all, you may need to seek help from a
physiotherapist or a
continence advisor.
NOTE: This exercise should be limited to once a week as a guide. Repeating it frequently can interfere with the normal function of your bladder.
Another exercise for awareness and testing is to place 2 fingers into the vagina and then trying to squeeze your muscles around them. You may prefer to try this squeezing exercise during intercourse and gain feed back from your partner. It is normal that frequent repeating of this exercise at short intervals will decrease the strength of the muscle. This is even more so in pregnancy as the progesterone hormone relaxes the pelvic floor.
Updated November 2007
Information sources
Stables D. and Rankin J. Physiology in Childbearing with Anatomy and Related Biosciences. 2004, Bailliere Tindall, Edinburgh.