How are Kegel exercises different from biofeedback?
The idea behind Kegel exercises is to strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor. This is often recommended for older women or for women after childbirth to reduce the occurrence of incontinence and restore the tone of the vaginal muscles, and is sometimes recommended for all women, to improve the strength of contractions felt during orgasm. You can practice contracting the muscles on your own, or you can buy (often very expensive) “Kegel weights” to assist you. If you practice on your own, you might want to meet at least once with a physical therapist first so that you can ensure that you’re doing the exercises correctly — done incorrectly, they can be harmful. Since the goal of biofeedback isn’t strengthening but relaxation, it is a very different process than Kegel exercises. Theoretically, if one were to use Kegels to exercise the muscles to fatigue, relaxation would result. It is difficult, however, without the feedback the machine provides, to isolate the correct muscles and hav
