Author: susannaeun

Eliminate Incontinence with Two Acupuncture Points

• Sit, stand or lie with your knees slightly apart. Slowly tighten your entire pelvic floor muscles. Imagine that you’re tightening GV1 as hard as you can. Then, start squeezing CV1 which is located on the frontal aspect of GV1.

• GV1 (Governor Vessel No. 1, English Name: Long Strong, Pinyin Name: Chang Qiang, Chinese Character: 長強), which is right on the midway between the tip of the coccyx bone and the anus. (See the photo, GV1 in red color)
• Then, there’s  CV1 (Conception Vessel No. 1, English Name: Meeting of Yin, Pinyin Name: Huiyin, Chinese Character: 會陰), which is In the center of the perineum (Males: in between the anus and the scrotum, Females: between the anus and the posterior labial commissure).

• Don’t move your buttocks or legs (I know it’s hard not to; don’t worry about it too much).
• Hold to the count of five, then relax. These are called long squeezes (This long squeeze is to be done only once).
• Then do the same exercise as quickly as possible (short squeezes) for 10 consecutive times.
• Remember this consists of one LONG, and 10 SHORT squeezes.
• Repeat this cycle at least eight times. It should only take about five minutes.

Things to Remember

• You need to do the exercises every day.
• Try to do the above exercises at least three times a day.
•  If you can, do each set of exercises in different positions. That is, sometimes when sitting, sometimes when standing and sometimes when lying down.
•  As the muscles become stronger, increase the length of time you hold each long squeeze: hold it each time for a count of 10 (about 10 seconds) instead of 5.
• Do not squeeze other muscles at the same time as you squeeze your pelvic floor muscles. For example, try not to use any muscles in your back, thighs, or buttocks.

After several weeks the muscles will start to feel stronger. You may find you can squeeze the pelvic floor muscles for much longer (30 seconds or even 1 minute) without the muscles feeling tired.

It takes time, effort and practice to become good at these exercises. You should start to see benefits after a few weeks. However, it often takes two to five months for most improvement to occur. After this time you may be cured of incontinence.

If these exercises do not give you sufficient relief, you need to call an urologist, an acupuncturist and/or physiotherapist who can help you.

Do you have Incontinence?

Urinary incontinence occurs when there’s not enough support throughout the pelvic floor muscles. Medically speaking, there are two kinds of incontinence: stress incontinence,  childbirth-related incontinence.

• In stress incontinence, urine leaks when there is a sudden extra pressure on the bladder. Urine tends to leak most when you cough, laugh, or exercise. Many women start experiencing urinary incontinence around/after menopause; many men who have prostate issues and/or weak kidney/bladder functions also experience urinary incontinence.
• After childbirth. The pelvic floor muscles tend to become weakened after childbirth. Some new mothers, especially those who had gone through long hours of labour, can experience urinary incontinence intermittently for a few months. This may or may not develop into a full-blown incontinence later in life.

Need to Understand Pelvic Floor Muscles

The pelvic floor muscles are a group of muscles that wrap around the underneath of the bladder and rectum.

As you can see, the pelvic floor muscles cover the entire pelvic area, from the tip of the coccyx to the frontal pelvic bone.