Pelvic floor exercises

Continence clinic nurse says:
Start with back muscles, pull everything and up
First 10 quick ones
Then 10 slow ones, hold for 10 secs (need to check, 20, 30?)
Relax for 3 secs
Repeat several (4?) times a day

Sorry I don't remember more precisely!

How do I tell which muscles I'm using?

When I do them, which is not that often as I am in a horse and stable door situation with regards to my nether regions, I do similarly to. Elrel. 30 at a time. When I asked my GP a couple of years ago about PF exercises, she said - without a word of a lie - they were a waste of time as no-one did them properly and it took months to feel any benefit !

Practice when you are going to the loo.
How I was taught it is, if you can stop your wee in mid flow, that is the exact thing you need to do, at other times, to do the exercise.

The exercises were not a waste of time for me ! I just followed the instructions on the leaflet and did as many as I could - when washing up, preparing meals etc. Worked a treat.

They were not a waste of time for me neither. I felt like I was heading from problems, but managed to stop it.

for

we used to tell Mums to tighten as if they were in MILs house and trying not to fart , and I have been doing them that way for over 50 years and after 6 big babies .( or in Church trying not to fart , got a snigger anyway )

only do the stop the wee as a test occasionally , not a good idea to do it too often , can lead to not emptying the bladder completely

I used to imagine there was an elevator inside me. Raise it up to the first floor and stop to let somebody out, continue to the second and so on (I forget how many floors, probably until you can't do any more. I did them when waiting at traffic lights in the car. Other drivers may have seen some odd facial exressions . You have reminded me that I should have kept up with the exercises.

I do them when I'm washing up, when I'm in a queue, sitting waiting, writing this, best described to me as 'trying to pull your nether regions up inside yourself'

kitty I am in the same boat as you (only in my case a leaky one )

Right, what I have learned so far. Do not stop half way through weeing as this could make matters worse.

Place one finger on the bit of skin between vagina and anus and try and pull up pelvic floor. If the bit of skin moves very slightly upwards you are doing it ok, if it bulges you are doing it wrong.

Your tummy and/or bottom muscles should not move and you should be able to breathe normally whilst doing the exercises. Try doing them when lying on your back with your knees bent. I have found you tube videos from Michelle Kenway (I think that's her name) very good.

Crafting - yes I was told only to stop part way to provide a midstream specimen, not as an exercise.
Which reminds me, a friend rowed with other female medics and called their boat Midstream Specimen! Great name!

Yes - its no longer advised to do the stop start when weeing thing. I smiled at Greydusters comment from her GP, I did the exercises and didn't find they helped. I have found pilates and yoga helpful because our instructor incorporates pelvic floor exercises in.

The medical profession do not advocate stopping and starting
mid stream. It can cause bladder problems.

There is another way to test if you are ding the exercise correctly

Trying to stop mid stream is a way of checking that you are moving the right bits. But if they are really weak you might not succeed in completely stopping flow.
Putting a finger or two in your vagina when you are in the bath, and trying to squeeze them?
With practice you can get some control of the different areas. The muscles that control the bladder are just where you'd expect them to be, just behind your pubic bone. It's a very small and subtle movement if you isolate them. Still working on mine...

I was very loose after having DS and used a machine to help. It was like a TENS machine but you put a little probe in your vagina and let it run for a couple of minutes. It worked well once I got the hang of it amzn.to/2pPvQkm
You can't do it in the bus queue though!

Yes I was taught it as a way of checking JessM. You then know you are doing the exercise the right way.

My old yoga teacher used to tell us to pull in the muscles of the an us then those in the vagina and then those around the bladder. Takes a lot of concentration! Probably should have done them more often as now have terrible cough and finding it hard not to leak when I cough really hard!

Does anyone on Gransnet still have sexual relationship? If so, do any of them actually use the muscles of the pelvic floor in the process? Did they ever? If not, why not? Best form of exercise ever for quite a few reasons.

Yes Absent that's what I was thinking , it used to make the Mums groan and mutter that he should be so lucky !

absent I think a lot of us will still be active. As for using the pelvic floor muscles in the process.... If I remember....

It seems that there is an app for everything!
www.perifit.io