Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises
Controlling Bladder Urgency, Frequency, and Incontinence (Bladder Leaks)
- All about bladder urgency and incontinence
- Doing urge suppression for bladder urgency
- Session of 10-second long muscle squeezes (muscle contractions)
Practicing “Slow” Pelvic Muscle Squeezes to Stop Incontinence (Bladder Leaks)
- Session of 10-second long muscle contractions
Practicing “Quick” and “Slow” Pelvic Muscle Exercises to Strengthen the Muscle and Stop Incontinence (Bladder Leaks)
- Overview on how to use the pelvic muscles to prevent urine leakage
- Session of ten 2-second fast muscle squeezes
- Session of ten 10-second slow muscle squeezes
Stress Incontinence (Bladder Leaks), Session of “Quick” and “Slow” Pelvic Muscle Strengthening Exercises
- Pelvic muscle training doing 2-second muscle squeezes
Doing 20 “Slow” Pelvic Muscle Strengthening Exercises
- Pelvic muscle training doing 10-second muscle squeezes
Doing 20 “Quick” Pelvic Muscle Strengthening Exercises
- Pelvic muscle training doing 2-second muscle squeezes
Doing Pelvic Muscle Exercises with 20 “Quick” and 20 “Slow” Pelvic Muscle Strengthening Exercises
- Doing training sessions of 20 “quick flicks” 2-sec and 20 “slow” 10-sec slow squeezes
Bladder Health Slides (PDF)
Patient Education Tools
CONTROLLING YOUR BLADDER URGES with BLADDER TRAINING is information about overactive bladder symptoms of urgency, frequency, and urgency incontinence. This tool detail bladder training strategies including methods for controlling urinary urgency.
HABITS THAT CAN AFFECT YOUR BLADDER is information about foods and liquids that can irritate the bladder causing urgency, frequency, and incontinence. The first page is a list of foods that are known to be bladder irritants, with a list of foods and liquids that contain caffeine. The second page lists other things that can cause bladder symptoms including herbs that have been shown to negatively impact the bladder and information on recommended daily intake of fluids and drinks.
How to Do Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises are instructions for performing pelvic muscle exercises. These are commonly referred to as “Kegels”. It details how to perform both quick and slow muscle contractions and provides tips for identifying the muscle when to do them. These instructions are for men and women.
Doing the “Knack” to Stop Bladder Leaks reviews the strategy for stopping incontinence, bladder leaks. Some refer to these as “stress strategy”. These instructions will assist a person in the use of the pelvic muscle at the time when urine leakage is most apt to occur.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Diane K. Newman is an Adjunct Professor of Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. She is the former Co-Director of the Penn Center for Continence and Pelvic Health, Division of Urology, Penn Medicine, in Philadelphia. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the Academy of Urologic Nurses and Associates. She is certified as an adult nurse practitioner by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and Board Certified in Biofeedback for Pelvic Muscle Dysfunction by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America.
Dr. Newman has 35+ years of experience practicing as a urology advanced practice provider and continence nurse specialist. Her clinical expertise involves the evaluation, treatment, and management of urinary incontinence, bladder dysfunction, and related problems, including the use of catheters and other devices in the management of bladder and pelvic floor conditions. Throughout her career, she has evaluated and treated men and women with urologic disorders in multiple settings: acute care, long-term, and home care, with 23 years in an ambulatory practice at the Division of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania.
