EXERCISES THAT CAN REALLY HELP

DOING pelvic floor exercises can significantly reduce the risk of incontinence — and lead to an improvement if you already have it, says specialist physiotherapist Myra Robson. However, too often women aren’t exercising the right muscles. To identify your pelvic floor, pull up and in as if you’re trying to stop passing wind and passing urine at the same time — pulling forward from the back passage. There are different muscle fibres that make up the pelvic floor and each needs a slightly different version of this exercise, says Myra Robson.

‘Any woman new to pelvic floor exercise, or who has symptoms such as leaking urine when laughing, should do a set of these exercises three to six times a day. ‘This can be reduced to once a day when women feel they’re getting better at them or symptoms reduce.’ How quickly you see results varies — but, potentially, it could be in just weeks. You do need to persist with the exercises, adds specialist urologist Jeremy Ockrim. ‘The exercises give you more muscle tone to the pelvic floor, but as soon as you stop, you lose that tone.’ FIRST do a maximum contraction and hold for ten seconds — then repeat ten times, leaving a gap of four seconds between each to allow the muscle to relax. THEN do ten quick contractions at the rate of one per second. FINALLY you need to squeeze as hard as you can and then let it go half way; then contract to that level ten times leaving 20-second gaps.