Kegel exercises are a way of building up the muscles around your pelvis that are involved in sexual function. They are part of a group of exercises called 'pelvic floor exercises'.
If you want to improve your sexual function then you might have considered Kegels exercises. You may be wondering, if you put in the time and effort, are they going to work? And are there other options?
Kegel exercises strengthen the pelvic floor muscles – this is the group of muscles which help increase blood flow to the groin and are active during sex. Studies have found that strengthening the pelvic floor muscles can improve sexual function, such as erections, orgasms and ejaculations. After strengthening their pelvic floor muscles through exercise:
Doing Kegels properly to improve erections:
Locating the muscles – when you are urinating, try to stop the flow of urine whilst breathing normally and without clenching the muscles in your buttocks, legs, or abdomen. When you manage to slow or stop the flow of urine, you know that you have located the correct muscles. We do not recommend that you regularly stop the flow of urine because this can be harmful to your bladder.
The exercises – once you have located the correct muscles:
You could build it into your routine to make sure that you are doing the Kegel exercises regularly. For instance, you can do this exercise whilst you brush your teeth.
It may be worth seeing a healthcare professional for correct instructions on how to do Kegel exercises as some people may be exercising the wrong group of muscles, which can make erection problems worse.
Kegel exercises are recognised as part of a range of treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED) – for some men, these exercises alone or combined with lifestyle changes (such as stopping smoking, cutting down on alcohol, eating a healthy diet, and exercising regularly) can be enough to improve their ED symptoms to their satisfaction. For others, Kegel exercises are used as part of their management for ED with other types of interventions (such as medications, devices, or counselling).
Kegel exercises have been proven to improve ED symptoms – research has been done into pelvic floor rehabilitation, which is a programme of physiotherapist-led sessions to teach men and women how to strengthen their pelvic floor muscles using different techniques. These studies show that:
There is a little more to pelvic floor rehabilitation programmes than just the Kegel exercises – these programmes can use a variety of different techniques, including stimulating the pelvic floor muscles using electrodes. However, these Kegel exercises make up an important part of pelvic floor rehabilitation programmes and will still go a long way in strengthening the pelvic floor muscles.
Kegel exercises are just one type of exercise that you can do to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. There are other exercises which also use the same group of muscles, such as:
Are other pelvic floor exercises as good? – there are advantages to both types of exercises. Kegel exercises can be done discreetly at any time of the day whereas other exercises which use the pelvic floor muscles can be built into an exercise routine. It doesn’t matter which exercises you use to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, so you can choose the exercises which better suit your lifestyle or even do a mixture of both.
Strengthening the pelvic floor muscles can help improve sexual performance in several ways:
How else could you improve sexual performance? – there are other ways that you can improve sexual performance. These include:
Other benefits – strengthening the pelvic floor muscles have other advantages besides improving the hardness and length of erections. They can also help with conditions such as incontinence as the pelvic floor muscles are also the group of muscles that support the bladder.
Potential downsides – there are downsides to attempting to do Kegel exercises incorrectly. If you do not identify the correct group of muscles, you risk making the symptoms of erectile dysfunction (ED) or incontinence worse. Also, although stopping the flow of urine can be useful in identifying the correct group of muscles, if you do this too often it can be harmful to your bladder.
Kegel exercises should not be uncomfortable or painful – if you find that these exercises are painful as you are doing them or afterwards, you may be doing them incorrectly. Or, Kegel exercises are not suited to your body. Speak to a healthcare professional such as a physiotherapist if you find that this is the case.
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