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Lifestyle and home remedies
By Mayo Clinic staffDepending on the severity of the condition, self-care measures may provide the relief you need.
Kegel exercises, exercises designed to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, can help both prevent and treat incontinence. To perform Kegel exercises:
- Pull in your pelvic floor muscles — the muscles you use to stop urinating.
- Hold them for a count of three and then relax for a count of three.
- Work up to 10 to 15 repetitions at a time.
- Repeat three times daily.
Kegel exercises may be most successful when they're taught by a therapist using biofeedback. Biofeedback uses information from a variety of pain-free monitoring devices to help teach you to control certain involuntary body responses, such as muscle tension. In this case, biofeedback can help ensure you're contracting the proper muscles, and that the intensity and duration of the muscle contractions are optimal.
Other measures
Other self-care measures can help you reduce the strain on your pelvic organs. Follow these recommendations:
- Avoid heavy lifting.
- Avoid straining with bowel movements.
- Avoid constipation by eating high-fiber foods.
- Lose weight if you're overweight or obese.
- Try to control coughing.
