To Kegel or not to Kegel?

JustSomeChick

It seems that the standard advice from friends, family members and even OBs and MWs is to do Kegels to aid with delivery and protect against pelvic floor damage, but I read an interesting interview with a biomechanical scientist and why she feels that Kegels do not help protect against pelvic floor damage but actually worsen the issue, and why she feels that squats are the best pelvic floor exercise. The interview is here: https://journeytocrunchville.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/why-you-should-stop-doing-kegels/

To me, what she says makes perfect sense!  I'd like to clarify that what I got out of the article is that squatting and doing kegels is best. What do you ladies think?

Edit: DH thinks that it'd be best to do kegels while squatting. thoughts?

JustSomeChick

Starbuck128:

I dont' know.  What I took away from the article was that both kegels and squatting help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and that simply working the kegel muscles alone creates an imbalance that can make things worse.

 I do both.  I learned a lot about the importance of strong kegel muscles and what can happen if they are weak in my Bradley class, and it made sense to me.  Having strong glutes also makes sense.

This is pretty much what I got out of it and what DH thinks. It just kind of seems like she is anti-kegel, but she could have a bias (she is involved with a business that profits from restoring health.) The only other person I could find that is also anti-kegel is a plastic surgeon named David Matlock and his bias is obvious lol. I'll stick with squats and kegels.