Did you know that you have specific muscles that hold your pelvic organs — like your bladder, reproductive organs, and bowels — in place? These are called your pelvic floor muscles. They play a key role in your sexual health and help to prevent incontinence — unintentional leaks of urine and feces.
Sometimes these muscles can be too weak, which causes dysfunction. For example, they can be damaged during childbirth, placed under increased pressure due to obesity, or weakened due to aging. This is called pelvic floor dysfunction, and it can lead to pelvic organ prolapse, uterine prolapse, or rectal prolapse.
The good news is that pelvic floor muscle training can help get these muscles working correctly again. But just what is pelvic floor therapy, and how can it help you? We’ll go over how pelvic floor therapy exercises work and their benefits.
What Health Conditions Can Pelvic Floor Therapy Help With?
Pelvic floor therapy is helpful for several health conditions. The main problem it can help with is bladder and bowel incontinence. This is when you leak urine or stool (pee or poop), even if you’re not trying to use the bathroom.
There are also other conditions and symptoms that can develop when you have a weak pelvic floor. These include:
- Prolapse — when the bowels bulge through the anus or the uterus drops down into the vagina
- Constipation – not being unable to poop
- Pain in the groin area — especially during sex or when going to the bathroom
- Sexual problems — including pain (usually affects people with vaginas) or problems getting or keeping an erection
- Overactive bladder — when you feel like you have to pee all the time or very frequently
When you strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, it can help treat many of these issues.
Pelvic Floor Therapy for Females vs. Males: What’s the Difference?
In addition to holding the bladder, intestines, and rectum, the pelvic floor also has some sex-specific roles. In people with female sex organs, the pelvic floor helps hold the uterus in place. It prevents prolapse through the vaginal canal or rectal vault. And in people with male sex organs, the pelvic floor holds the prostate in place to prevent prolapse through the rectal vault. Prolapse is much more common in people with female sex organs than in people with male sex organs. Because of these differences, pelvic floor therapy for people with male sex organs is slightly different from pelvic floor therapy for people with female sex organs.
That said, in both males and females, the goal of pelvic floor therapy is to either help strengthen or relax the pelvic floor. To know what type of therapy you need, it’s probably best to see a pelvic floor physical therapist (PT). They can evaluate your symptoms and make recommendations on how to stretch or strengthen muscles in your lower back, pelvis, and pelvic floor. Still, there are some at-home Kegel exercises you can try yourself — we’ll go more into that below.
How to Do Kegel Exercises at Home
Ready to try some pelvic floor therapy exercises — also known as Kegel exercises — at home? Great!
The sensations and movements vary a bit between males and females, so we’ll show you how to do a Kegel exercise, depending on your anatomy.
A good place to start with both sexes is to identify your pelvic floor muscles. One way to know where your pelvic floor muscles are is to imagine yourself stopping your urine in the middle of peeing. The muscles you use to stop peeing are your pelvic floor muscles.
You’ll likely feel muscle contractions around where your pee comes out and around your anus. If you have a vagina, you’ll also be able to feel muscles working around it — these are part of the pelvic floor as well. After you’ve found the right muscles, these will be what you’re targeting during the exercises.
Pelvic Floor Exercises for Males
A good pelvic floor exercise for males is simply squeezing and holding the pelvic floor muscles. Here’s how you would do that:
- First things first, relax everything! Make sure your thighs, butt, and stomach are all tension free.
- Then, activate your pelvic floor muscles by envisioning drawing your anus, penis, and testicles up.
- If you’re naked, you should be able to see your penis draw in and your testicles lift up.
- While you’ll feel movement around your anus, try and focus on the base of your penis instead.
- Hold this tight squeeze for three to eight seconds at a time.
- Rest for about eight seconds, and then repeat the process eight to 10 more times.
- Throughout the day, try to do three sessions of eight to 10 squeezes.
If that all sounds tricky, you might want to watch a Kegel exercises video for a male that can illustrate what areas you should be targeting. There are also a couple of kinds of Kegel exercise devices for males that help you automatically train your pelvic floor. One type drapes over your penis, while the other is a stimulating device you sit on.
Pelvic Floor Exercises for Females
Pelvic floor exercises for females are similar to males, but they involve different organs. Here’s how it works:
- First things first, relax everything! Make sure your thighs, butt, and stomach are all tension free.
- Then, activate your pelvic floor muscles by envisioning drawing your anus and vagina up.
- You can also imagine sitting on a marble and trying to lift it upward.
- Make sure you’re keeping your thighs, butt, and abdomen relaxed.
- Hold this tight squeeze for three to eight seconds at a time.
- Rest for about eight seconds, and then repeat the process eight to 10 more times.
- Throughout the day, try to do three sessions of eight to 10 squeezes.
Females also have devices that can help them do kegel exercises. One such thing is a vaginal cone, which you insert and then use contractions to keep in place. Talk with your doctor before trying any devices for pelvic floor training.
Find a Physical Therapist for a Tailored Kegel Exercise Program
It’s great to try some pelvic floor exercises on your own! You may be able to relieve your symptoms and start feeling better. But some people have pelvic floor muscles that are too tight rather than too weak. So we recommend reaching out to your doctor or a pelvic floor PT before beginning a new pelvic floor muscle exercise regimen. These are medical professionals trained in helping people work their pelvic floor muscles. If your symptoms persist after trying these exercises, some medical and surgical treatments are available. Your doctor will be able to offer more guidance to help you find relief for your symptoms.
Resource Links:
- “Pelvic organ prolapse” via Office on Women’s Health
- “Pelvic Floor Disorders: Frequently Asked Questions” via Columbia Surgery
- “Pelvic Floor Dysfunction” via Cleveland Clinic
- “Pelvic floor muscles in men” via Continence Foundation of Australia
- “What are the symptoms of pelvic floor disorders?” via National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- “How to find and exercise your pelvic floor muscles (for women and men)” via Queensland Government
- “Kegel exercises for men: Understand the benefits” via Mayo Clinic
- “Kegel exercises: A how-to guide for women” via Mayo Clinic
- “Pelvic Organ Prolapse” via StatPearls
- “Uterine Prolapse” via StatPearls
- “Rectal Prolapse” via StatPearls
