4 Reasons “Just Doing Kegels” Doesn’t Work

It’s very hip to be on the “Kegels are bad for you” bandwagon right now, so I want to take a moment to repeat the following: There is SO much more to your pelvic floor than ‘just kegels.’

Allow me to introduce myself :) My name is Dr. Kelly Sadauckas (sed-OW-skiss, thanks for asking). I am one of a handful of Doctors of Physical Therapy IN THE WORLD who are double board certified in Pelvic Health and Orthopedics. That means that I am a HUGE geek, but luckily I also know how to talk to people, and explain interesting things.   Today, I’d like to demystify kegels.

It’s TRUE that “just being told to do kegels” doesn’t work.

Pelvic floor exercises are about SO much more than kegels.

And if someone is told to “just do kegels” to fix their pee, poop, seggsy time problems…it won’t work.  Because the “kegel” is only a small part of the big picture in true pelvic floor muscle reeducation.

In general, "just doing kegels" implies that someone has been told to work on their pelvic floor, so they "just try to tighten their vag/butthole ALL THE TIME.  This is not only not helpful, but unfortunately always worse for the pelvic problem, and usually worsens it :(. 

A person is told to "just to kegels" by a medical practitioner who is either in a rush, or who was never educated fully in pelvic muscles themselves, and who falsely believes that the pelvic problem is from the muscles being 'too loose...and therefore weak'...when in reality, in 99% of the cases, the leaks come from the muscles being "too tight...and therefore weak." (confused, no worries, check out these posts that use bicep and wall sit analogies to help make it make sense!). Then, without further ado, let's move on!

4 Reasons Why “Just doing Kegels” fails to fix our pee, poop or seggsy time problems:

1. "Just Doing Kegels" doesn’t teach us about our pelvic organs, and how the heck they are supposed to function (or not), in the first place.
2. "Just Doing Kegels" doesn’t teach us about proprioception (position sense) of the muscles.  It doesn’t teach us ‘where’ our pelvic muscles are, how they function individually, and as a group (and as a part of our whole body). 
3. "Just Doing Kegels" doesn’t teach us that the relaxation of the pelvic muscles is usually the most important part.
4. "Just Doing Kegels" doesn’t teach us about the myriad of social-envioronmental-behavioural-nutritional contributions that are likely contributing to our pee, poop, seggsy-time problems.

Luckily, here at Pelvic Floored, we teach you more than kegels ;)

Pelvic Floored is rewriting the Pelvic Wellness Playbook.

•  We are teaching you about YOUR BODY so you are unafraid and unashamed. 

•  We are teaching you about your muscles, your organs, and how different ways of moving might increase or decrease our chances of leaking or hurting (or having poop issues)

•  We are teaching you about how things we drink, foods we eat affect our pelvic functions, and tips on what can speed up, or slow down, pee, poo or seggsy time functions.

We are teaching you REAL information about pelvic problems AND SOLUTIONS, so you can spread the word and change the pelvic culture in the world, so that others don’t have to suffer this fear, betrayal and uncertainty.

This blog post is the tip of the iceberg in your pelvic health journey.  I am so glad you’ve found  your way to Pelvic Floored and I sincerely hope we can be a meaningful part of your journey.  You are not alone, and you are not permanently broken.  You will not regret reaching out, because YOU ARE WORTH IT.

Ready to learn more?! 
Check out this blog post on Everything You Never Knew About Your Pelvis! 

Thanks for reading! 

XOXO ~ Dr. Kelly 

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