I know that we women are told over and over, Do Your Kegels!
Are Kegels really the magic pill to help preserve our bladder control/prepare for birth?
Well, I came across this post Pelvic Floor Party: Kegels are NOT invited. Which blows that theory out of the water. She throws out the idea that squatting is a huge part of it.
Squatting is something that our ancestors did at least 3 times a day as they went to the bathroom. Many of us today can’t squat worth squat!
There is a follow up post, which says you don’t need to throw the kegels out with the bathwater. Pelvic Floor Encore
- As a mom who occasionally pees while I sneeze, this topic is very interesting to me.
- As an expecting mom (you, not me!) you will probably enjoy this post about The Hunting and Gathering MAMA
- As a Hypnobabies Instructor who has to demonstrate and teach squatting, I am going to be practicing and working harder to do this myself. Here is step by step instructions!
So the final point – squats and kegels work together to help you have the best pelvic floor ever!
Hi Sheridan! Followed your links in the post and found the information really valuable…and ultimately useful, your post!
My husband is from Algeria, they have mostly (although some of us from the West, myself included) Turkish toilets still. Women here still have issues with their pelvic floor muscles, peeing while coughing or sneezing as well as an occasional uterus prolapse… not that often, but still it does happen. Anyway, they also cook while squatting many traditional dishes as well as many people still sitting on the floor while eating and visiting (on very beautiful carpets as well as Arabic traditional sitting… like couches only not up high but directly on the floor). For this reason, I’m not too sure that this theory of squatting is right on, not to say it is way off either, just something to think about.
Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting. I guess it shows how we probably need both squatting and kegels. 🙂