45. Are you doing Kegels properly?
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In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to do a pelvic floor self-examination and check if you’re doing Kegels correctly. Contrary to popular belief, you do NOT need someone to insert their fingers inside you in order to confirm whether or not your pelvic floor works. Trust yourself and your body. Just like you don’t need someone to hold your elbow while you do a bicep curl, you don’t need someone to confirm that your pelvic floor is contracting properly. You can check for yourself using your senses! I teach you how to use your eyes to look, your nose to smell, your hands to feel, and your ears to listen while you breathe and perform pelvic floor contractions and relaxations.
For pelvic physiotherapists and practitioners: I am definitely not against internal examinations. They can give you a lot of information, and are often considered the gold standard, but we also have to acknowledge that they are not accessible to most people. We can’t leave people without support just because they don’t live near an in-person pelvic physiotherapist, because they cannot afford care or because they don’t want an internal examination. We need to remember that many people don’t have the interest in getting an internal examination (cultural reasons, religious reasons, personal reasons, history of trauma etc.). And frankly, most people don’t need an internal check from someone else to tell them whether or not something works or hurts in their body. Let’s start trusting the humans we work with. Each person knows their own bodies the best. My philosophy is that we need to educate and empower our clients so they can be the experts of their own bodies. And sometimes that’s referring them to see someone in person, and many times it’s helping them learn to check their own pelvic floors.
Links & Resources:
Through virtual physiotherapy and coaching, I help you resolve pelvic floor symptoms like leaks, manage prolapse and pain, and return to exercise with confidence! I also offer in-person physiotherapy in Toronot, Ontario. Book your consultation: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/book-with-surabhi
Are you a practitioner wanting mentorship? Book your mentoring session here: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/book-with-surabhi
If your pelvic floor feels tight or sore, and you want simple ways to release your own pelvic floor, buy my Release your Pelvic Floor e-guide: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca/release-pelvic-floor-e-guide
Connect with Surabhi:
Website: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca