Source-researched guide. Clinical review is pending.
How to move
- Sit, stand or lie comfortably and breathe normally.
- Squeeze and lift as if you were stopping yourself passing wind and stopping the flow of urine at the same time.
- Keep your buttocks, thighs and stomach relaxed, and keep breathing.
- Slow holds: hold the squeeze for as long as you can, up to 10 seconds, then relax fully for the same time.
- Quick squeezes: squeeze and let go straight away.
- Do three sets of eight squeezes every day, for example one set with each meal.
- Squeeze before and during a cough or sneeze.
Form cues
- Lift up and in; never push down.
- Relax completely between squeezes.
- Avoid: holding your breath, or squeezing your buttocks or thighs instead.
Practice and cautions
Three sets of eight squeezes a day, mixing slow holds of up to 10 seconds with quick squeezes: the routine one NHS maternity service teaches. Routines vary between services. A Cochrane review of 31 trials found high-quality evidence that this training cures stress incontinence in women more often than no treatment.
See a GP or pelvic health physiotherapist for pelvic pain, a dragging or bulging feeling, or leaking that is not improving after a few months of regular practice; a specialist can check you are squeezing the right muscles. This is movement education, not an assessment or treatment prescription. Stop for sharp or increasing pain, dizziness, numbness or tingling; seek individual guidance for symptoms, injury or restrictions.