10 Minute Tip #26: Busting the Kegel Myth: Kegels Are Probably Not the Answer for Powerlifters (And Most People) & Here’s Why

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10 Minute Tip #26: Busting the Kegel Myth: Kegels Are Probably Not the Answer for Powerlifters (And Most People) & Here’s Why

Kegels are the most well known “exercise” for the pelvic floor and most people believe that if you accidentally pee yourself you should do kegels. However, in most cases of incontinence in powerlifting, kegels are not the answer!

Kegels are a pelvic floor muscle exercise that was coined by a male physician many years ago. However, most people do not understand how to properly perform a kegel nor properly implement in the treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction and urinary incontinence.

The general population believes that accidentally peeing yourself is a function of weakness of the pelvic floor and therefore you must strengthen it by doing Kegels. But the problem with this is that most pelvic floor dysfunction is powerlifters is a product of fatigue, mechanical failure, and significant tension, for which Kegels are not the answer. The other problem with Kegels as a treatment for powerlifters is that there is no way to load the Kegel as heavy as your lifts.

In this episode of the PRS Podcast, Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC sits down with the PRS Pelvic Health Specialist, Dr. Breanne Maruca, PT, PRSCC, CLT, WCS discuss the misconceptions about Kegels and pelvic floor dysfunction in powerlifters and how to properly use a Kegel within the treatment plan as a whole.

Experiencing powerlifting urinary incontinence and need help resolving it? Book a free consultation with Dr. Breanne HERE!

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Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:00:10] I'm your host, Dr. Rori Alter, with my lovely co-host for this month on the podcast, we are talking all things related to the core and pelvic health here in the powerlifting and barbell training realm. So I'm back with my lovely co-host, Dr. Bre, here at Progressive Rehab & Strength she's also a clinical coach with us. And in this episode we are going to bust one of our favorite pelvic health or women's health, even though men can do these also. So we typically say pelvic health, but typically people associate the kegel with a female, but men can do them also. So we're going to bust the myth that kegels are this fantastic, magical exercise that will cure all pelvic floor related issues. So I want to just read a listener question that we received from one of our followers on Facebook and Instagram, and she listens to our podcast too. So she submitted a question related to Kegel. So I'm going to read that quickly and then we'll answer that. Hopefully this myth busting episode will answer that question, but we'll make sure we answer her question specifically. So this is from Riki Quinn. She asked us if a woman says she leaks when she sneezes or when she jumps, do you have her do exercises like Kegels? Do you refer her to a pelvic health physical therapist? Would you worry about making things worse when the weights start getting heavy? And how about for women in general? Do you believe everyone should be doing pelvic strengthening relaxation exercises even if they don't have symptoms? Since odds are that a high percentage of women do eventually develop these symptoms. So this is a very packed question. It's a loaded question, but it's a really thoughtful question because it's a very common belief that kegels are the answer, that if you leak, you should do kegels and it's not always the answer. So, Bre, what is a kegel and what is the purpose of a kegel?

Dr. Breanne Maruca, PT, PRSCC, CLT, WCS: [00:02:31] Yes. So first, Riki, thank you for your question. This is a great question. And let's take it piece by piece, because, if you don't know, I am pregnant and I was just telling Rori I have pregnancy brain to the max. So let's take it piece by piece so I don't miss any of your questions. So first off, your question. The first part is what is a kegel and should everyone be doing Kegels? As we get through these episodes, you'll hear me saying this a lot, that it just depends because everyone is it's individual for everyone. So first off, what a kegel is in general, it's just a general name for a pelvic floor muscle contraction. And if you have any questions on what the pelvic floor even is, definitely go and listen to our Functional Anatomy podcast episode because that goes dives deep into like what exactly? Pelvic floor and what these muscles are and what they do. So first off, refer back to that. But a kegel is just a contraction. The name that we have for a contraction of these muscles. So I don't know why someone decided to give it a fancy name for these muscles compared to like any other muscle in our body. But the Kegel just has its own fancy name because it's in this pelvic area, I guess, and it's more of a mystery for most people.

Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:03:50] So I know like a bicep curl is a bicep curl. Why do we have to call a pelvic floor contraction, a kegel? Like should we come up with some fancy name for for a bicep contraction? I think so. A bicep curl?

Dr. Breanne Maruca, PT, PRSCC, CLT, WCS: [00:04:03] Exactly.

Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:04:04] So it's just so the kegel, you know, there are some exercises that are named for the person who like a Pendlay Row or a Croc Row, those are all people who came up with that exercise. So for that specific muscle group Doctor Kegel came up with it. And he's a male.

Dr. Breanne Maruca, PT, PRSCC, CLT, WCS: [00:04:19] Yes. Came up with this kegel contraction. And so to sum it up, no, everyone should not be doing kegels, in my opinion, because most at least from my experience seeing women and men and women in person actually assessing their pelvic floor muscles, strength or their problem is not usually a strengthening or contraction problem. Most people have more of a relaxation problem. Not always, but, um, so. So in a general sense, no, most people should not everyone should not be doing kegels. And I was telling Rori this that like, even if you're told to do kegels, it might not be the wrong thing to do. But most people don't even know how to do them correctly. So think of any other muscle in our body. The contraction also comes with a relaxation of that muscle. So a muscle, you know, reflexively relaxes after contraction. So if we are forgetting with the Kegel, you know, if we're thinking just tighten, tighten, squeeze flick, do all these, you know, these squeezes and we don't relax that can you know, that can lead to a problem in and of itself or not be the resolution to, you know, your problem.