PT wants me to do kegel?

[Whyohwhy]

I am a little confused today. I had my first 2 hour visit with my physio today. She only works with pelvic pain and pudendal nerve pain, so I assume she know what she is talking about. I got a few excercises I should try every day for two weeks to begin with. But one of the excercises are a kegel.....I thought that was a no..no? She sad if I did a kegel then relaxed the bloodflow would rush through the muscle and pelvic and that is what we wanted?

[janetm2]

I moved to a different state this summer and started getting treatment with a new PT. She also has me doing Kegels, although it is limited. She said the same about the blood flow and that it can strengthen the muscle. If it hurts I should stop. So far she has said to do them 10 on a row but slowly ensuring I relax fully before doing each individual kegel. I do a set of 10 morning and night. She is very well trained and had a whole presentation on the web she gave at a conference. She did start by explaining that generally Kegels are not recommended as a long term treatment.
Janet

[Ray P.]

When I tried doing Kegels years ago it flared things up.
Please keep us up to date on your progress with them.

[Violet M]

Kegals tighten the pelvic floor and they flared things up for me but I wasn't relaxing the pelvic floor between each kegal. I was sort of in a state where it was pretty difficult to relax the pelvic floor because the pudendal nerve was so irritated and the pain was severe it was kind of an impossibility but if you can relax the pelvic floor, maybe there is some sense behind what your PT is saying. I would say approach it with caution. If it flares things up, my instinct would be not to do them but that's just based on my own experience.

Violet

[Whyohwhy]

I moved to a different state this summer and started getting treatment with a new PT. She also has me doing Kegels, although it is limited. She said the same about the blood flow and that it can strengthen the muscle. If it hurts I should stop. So far she has said to do them 10 on a row but slowly ensuring I relax fully before doing each individual kegel. I do a set of 10 morning and night. She is very well trained and had a whole presentation on the web she gave at a conference. She did start by explaining that generally Kegels are not recommended as a long term treatment.
Janet

.

Same here 10 reps and pause and breathe between each one.....I haven’t dared trying them yet.....just doing the stretches for now...so afraid to make anything worse....u also doing stretches? She also told me don’t avoid sitting and stairs if I do not have any pain....Is kinda the opposit of what I read here on the website

[Violet M]

I don't see any reason to avoid sitting or stairs if they don't cause pain. Maybe you don't want to go running up and down lots of stairs for exercise or sit for many hours at a time if you can avoid it but that's good advice for pretty much everyone.

Violet

[janetm2]

I and my PT agree with Violet that if the Kegels cause you pain and/or flare you then stop doing them. So sorry I didn't say that before. I may also be in a different place than others. I had PNE surgery on 2011 and have ups and downs but mostly stabilized over time. Currently I have been recovering from the flare-ups from moving across a few states. So I am doing well and just trying to keep from causing a flare and strengthening before they release me from PT so yes doing stretches. I usually do just a few stairs at a time and maybe once every week or two I might slowly do a flight but mostly avoid that! Sitting is limited for me and only with my cushions. Of course with holidays I am trying to enjoy and bring back my family baking and cooking to pass on to my nephew. Luckily my sister in-law is very helpful. Take care and go slow.
Janet

[Lelej]

Kegal was pretty much one of the worst things I did before i knew I have PN.

[Ethan1989]

Kegal exercise are the very good. I don't think they have any bad impact.