Kegel Master

How and Why With the Kegel Master

How exactly does the kegelmaster work? This is a question that is easily answered. The kegelmaster works on the pelvic floor muscles in the same exact way that a barbell works on arm muscles. The kegelmaster supplies resistance to the pelvic floor muscles by providing a surface against which the pelvic floor muscles can contract. The resistance for your kegel muscles is supplied by springs, and the details of the exercise program will be discussed later on the Kegelmaster Details Page. The important thing to understand now is that the kegelmaster is like any exercise machine that you could use on any other part of your body, but the kegelmaster is for the pelvic floor muscles. As you can see in the image below the kegelmaster opens up, but don't worry it dosent stretch the pelvic floor. The kegelmaster simply engages the pelvic floor muscles as the user loosens the control knob until the resistance is felt. Click on the picture below for a larger version of this image.

So now the questions becomes... What are the benefits of having a strong pelvic floor, or strong kegel muscles?, why do I need to do kegels?, or How will I benefit by doing pelvic floor exercises? There has been much research done on this topic and now is a good chance to give a summary of some of the research that has demonstrated the positive effects of kegel exercises. The research in the past has shown overwhelmingly that a reduction of stress incontinence, and urge incontinence to a lesser degree, can be achieved by following a regimen of pelvic floor muscle exercises. Some of the newer studies, which tie in directly the sexual experiences of women who have been dealing with incontinence as part of their life, also show clearly the positive sexual impact of pelvic floor exercises. It has been demonstrated that incontinence impacts women by decreasing their overall sexual satisfaction (Handa 2004), and that a weak pelvic floor contributes to sexual problems including pelvic pain, prolapse, urinary tract symptoms, and is correlated with sexual dysfunction (Rosenbaum 2007). Furthermore studies have also shown an increase in sexual satisfaction as well as a decrease in incontinence when a regimen of pelvic floor exercises is followed (Zahariou 2007, Beji 2003). This correlation has been anecdotaly understood for a long time, but controlled studies now bolster the claims that have been made for years about kegel exercises and sexual health. What this all means is that improving pelvic floor muscle strength has been clearly shown to improve the sexual lives of women with weak pelvic floor muscles in addition to reducing or eliminating the symptoms of stress incontinence. In treating sexual dysfunction and incontinence associated with weak pelvic floor muscles the first line of treatment should always be kegel exercises. A short paper on the conservative treatment of incontinence may also be of interest as it cites some of the older research which correlates reduction in incontinence with kegel exercises. Links to the abstracts of cited references are below.

References
Goldstein, I. (2007 Mar). Current management strategies of the postmenopausal patient with sexual health problems. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 3, 235-53. Abstract

Rosenbaum, TY. (2007 Jan). Pelvic floor involvement in male and female sexual dysfunction and the role of pelvic floor rehabilitation in treatment: a literature review. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 4(1), 4-13. Abstract

Giuseppe, PG., Pace, G., Vicentini, C. (2007 May). Sexual function in women with urinary incontinence treated by pelvic floor transvaginal electrical stimulation. The Journal of Sexual Medicine,4(3), 702-7. Abstract

Beji, NK., Yalcin, O., Erkan, HA. (2003 Oct). The effect of pelvic floor training on sexual function of treated patients. International urogynecology journal and pelvic floor dysfunction, 14(4), 234-8. Abstract

Zahariou, AG., Karamouti, MV., Papaioannou, PD. (2007 Sep 18). Pelvic floor muscle training improves sexual function of women with stress urinary incontinence. International urogynecology journal and pelvic floor dysfunction. (ebpub ahead of print). Abstract

Handa, VL., et al. (2004 Sep). Sexual function among women with urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 191(3),751-6. Abstract

McKay, E., et al. (2001 Apr). Treating vulvar vestibulitis with electromyographic biofeedback of pelvic floor musculature. The Journal of reproductive medicine, 46(4),337-42. Abstract

Bř ,K., Talseth, T., Vinsnes, A. (2000 Jul). Randomized controlled trial on the effect of pelvic floor muscle training on quality of life and sexual problems in genuine stress incontinent women. Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica, 79(7),598-603. Abstract