Bladder leakage, also known as urinary incontinence, is an embarrassing and distressing problem that can occur after childbirth or pelvic surgery. Performing targeted exercises to strengthen weak pelvic floor muscles can help you reduce leakage. Exercises can be challenging to learn initially but must be practiced every day for best results.
Identification
Muscles in your pelvis support your bladder, the organ that holds urine. When muscles weaken, your bladder may not work as efficiently, resulting in urine leakage. In addition to childbirth and surgery, other causes of urinary incontinence include aging, pregnancy and being overweight. Pelvic floor exercises, also known as Kegel exercises, gradually make the muscles that support your bladder stronger, reducing urinary incontinence. Both men and women can benefit from Kegel exercises.
Isolating Muscles
Learning how to isolate your pelvic floor muscles is the first step to performing Kegel exercises. Stopping the flow of urine is one way to learn how to contract your pelvic floor muscles. The Mayo Clinic cautions against making a habit of starting and stopping your urine stream because this practice can weaken muscles and may increase the risk of a urinary tract infection if you aren't emptying your bladder completely. As an alternate method, women can isolate the pelvic floor muscles by tightening the muscles around a finger inserted into the vagina, while men can do the same by inserting a finger into the rectum.
Performing Kegel Exercises
Once you can isolate your pelvic floor muscles, you can begin doing Kegel exercises. Perform exercises only after emptying your bladder. Begin the exercise by tightening your muscles and counting to 10. Relax the muscles and count to 10 again. Perform 10 sets three times each day. When you first start performing Kegel exercises, you may find it difficult to complete 10 repetitions. Perform as many repetitions as you can and gradually increase the number until you can do 10 repetitions. Finding a comfortable position is important when you perform the exercises. Try performing Kegel exercises standing, sitting and lying down to determine the most comfortable position.
Warning
Doing more exercises or performing the exercises more frequently than recommended can actually worsen your problem. Medline Plus reports that overexercising can cause muscle fatigue and increase leakage. Only work the pelvic floor muscles when you perform Kegel exercises. If you feel pain or pulling in your abdominal, back or thigh muscles, you are using these muscles rather than your pelvic floor muscles. While Kegel exercises can be helpful for reducing bladder leakage, they won't deliver immediate results. It may take three months or longer until you notice an improvement in bladder leakage.
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