Strengthen your pelvic floor

Your pelvic floor muscles and urinary sphincter help control urination. You can strengthen these muscles by regularly doing pelvic floor exercises, commonly referred to as Kegels.

The pelvic floor muscles open and close the tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside your body (urethra). These muscles also support the bladder during everyday activities such as walking, standing, lifting and sneezing.

• Practice Kegel exercises. To perform, squeeze your pelvic floor muscles — as if you're trying to stop your stream of urine — for three seconds. Relax for a count of three and repeat several times. Your doctor might recommend that you do a set of these exercises three or four times a day, lying down, sitting and standing.

  To be sure you're doing them correctly, ask your doctor or nurse to help you or to refer you to a physical therapist knowledgeable about pelvic floor exercises.

• Biofeedback. Biofeedback can help train pelvic floor muscles. Sensors placed near the muscles transmit exertion levels to a computer, which displays the levels on the screen. This immediate feedback may help you master Kegel exercises more quickly because you can see whether you're using the correct muscles. Biofeedback can be done with a professional or with a home device.
• Vaginal weights. Cone-shaped weights are another option used to help with Kegel exercises. You place a weight in your vagina and contract your pelvic floor muscles to keep it from falling out. Many cones come in sets of varying weights, so you can build up to heavier weights as your pelvic floor muscles strengthen.