Stop Doing Kegels: Here’s What A Pelvic Floor PT Wants You To Know
Should You Strengthen Or Relax Your Pelvic Floor? A PT Explains
Assistant Health Editor
Assistant Health Editor
Ava Durgin is the Assistant Health Editor at mindbodygreen. She is a recent graduate from Duke University where she received a B.A. in Global Health and Psychology. In her previous work, Ava served as the Patient Education Lead for Duke Hospital affiliated programs, focusing on combating food insecurity and childhood obesity.
January 01, 2026
We lift weights to build muscles, head to pilates class to tone them, and foam roll or use a massage gun to help relieve tension. But there’s a muscle that many women don’t know they need to pay attention to until something goes awry—the pelvic floor.
Like any muscle, the pelvic floor needs to be able to contract (for support and control) and relax (for release and comfort) when needed. But women who bring up concerns like bladder leaks, painful sex, or pelvic heaviness to a doctor are often met with generic (and in some cases, completely wrong) advice of doing Kegels.