hello mummies,
wah biang, everytime I go out of action for a day or 2, the thread is super active! Had a hard time catching up!!!
I just tot to share something which I read from a book I borrowed from the library: pelvic floor exercises.
Basically the pelvic floor muscles are used to support our baby, uterus, the vagina, bladder and its outlet, the back passage and anus. As the pregnancy progresses so we should tone up the muscles hence the evolution of kegel exercises.
This book recommends 3 different types which I tot sounds useful so here's to share:
Strengthening exercises:
Find a comfortable position, sitting down or lying with your knees a little apart. Tighten the muscles around your back passage, then the front passage. Hold tight for a count of five. Make sure you keep breathing while you are counting. Checking by putting a hand on your abdomen. Now relax. Concentrate. Tighten the muscles from back to the front again; hold for a count of five (keep breathing!) Relax. Start by repeating this exercise 5 times and then day by day until you are doing ten repeats.
Drawbridge exercises:
Imagine that your pelvic floor is like a drawbridge. Tighten the muscles around your back passage and then the front, just a little and then a little bit more as if you are gradually raising the drawbridge. Now tighten them as hard as you can as if the drawbridge is closing. Keep breathing. Start to let the drawbridge down, relaxing the muscles a little and then a little more and then let them fully relax.
Quick tightening exercises:
To exercise the fast twitch muscle fibres, tighten your pelvic floor muscles as quickly and as tightly as you can. Relax them. Then immediately tighten them again, and relax them. Repeat 5 times. Relax.
Basically the exercises aim to strengthen and tighten 2 muscles fibres - slow fibres that control the strength of the pelvic floor and the fast fibres that help you tighten everything quickly when you cough or sneeze.
Hope this is helpful ladies!