Kegel Exercises: Brief Version

How do Kegel exercises help?

Kegel exercises help strengthen your pelvic muscles. You use these muscles when you urinate or have bowel movements. If the muscles are weak, you may have leaking.

How are Kegel exercises done?

You can do Kegel exercises anywhere. You can do them while you sit at a desk, drive a car, or watch TV. No one will know you are doing them.

Here's how you do them:

• To find the muscles, try pretending that you are stopping a flow of urine.
• Squeeze these muscles and hold for 3 to 5 seconds. Then relax the muscles. Squeeze and relax the muscles 10 to 20 times.
• Do a set of 10 to 20 exercises 3 to 4 times a day.

Don’t do these exercises while you are urinating or having a bowel movement.

You will probably have less leaking of urine after doing these exercises every day for a few months. It’s important to keep doing Kegel exercises the rest of your life.