Pelvic floor muscle strengthening – why it's important

I've seen a couple of "Embarrassing Bodies" episodes where there are ladies who approach the doctors about their unexpected "incidents". Perhaps you've even seen the ad.

Media coverage surrounding incontinence has been increasing steadily over the last few months. The advertising I've heard tells me that it's not just for the elderly, or pregnant ladies, or exclusively for females either – men also suffer but that's not very talked about either.

Incontinence stems from a weakening of the pelvic floor muscles, which can stem from any of the following: not keeping them active; constipation; heavy lifting; being overweight; coughing over an extended period of time (bronchitis, smokers cough or asthma); being pregnant and having babies; and growing older.

There are a range of activities which can assist you with your pelvic floor muscle strengthening, more commonly, Kegel Exercises (shown in the picture below) or participating in Pilates or yoga classes.

Or for the ladies, there are a range of other tools for you to assist in rebuilding your pelvic floor muscles.

Aquaflex Cones are clinically proven pelvic floor muscle exercise systems consisting of weighted vaginal incontinence cones, specially designed to improve pelvic floor muscle tone. They help to improve general pelvic health by strengthening weak pelvic floor muscles, restore bladder control, and can also improve sexual response and satisfaction.

The directions are easy to use, and two different sized cones to increase the challenge as your pelvic floor muscles increase their strength.