Your anal sphincter is made up of thick bands of muscle.
They surround the entrance of your anus and can open and close.
The anal sphincter keeps stool inside your body until you are ready to have a bowel movement.
Kelvin Murray / Getty Images
These muscles can be strengthened through exercise.
Bowel control problems are surprisingly common.
It will also talk about how a healthcare provider might help you.
The anus has two rings of musclesthe internal anal sphincter and the external anal sphincter.
The internal sphincter is programmed to stay shut.
This is why most adults do not leak stool while they sleep.
This muscle can be exercised and strengthened to help you keep control of bowel movements.
Working with your anal sphincter, the pelvic floor muscles help you stop gas and stool leaks.
These are the muscles that you squeeze tightly when you feeldiarrheacoming on and there’s no nearby restroom.
Likewise, these muscles also help you control urine flow and flatulence (gas).
A Word From Verywell
Pelvic floor dysfunction can also occur with sexual trauma or PTSD from trauma.
You may tighten or tense up these muscles as a result of memory of the trauma.
Excessive tensing of these muscles can cause hypertrophy, constipation, and worsen pelvic floor dysfunction.
Weakness may occur in younger people as well.
It might begin as having less control than usual over passing gas.
Or maybe you leak a little urine or stool when you sneeze or quickly stand up.
But it can progress to the inability to control your bladder or bowels completely.
A new health issue like this should always be evaluated.
See Your Healthcare Provider First
There are many treatable conditions that can lead to fecal incontinence.
In those instances, simply tightening the pelvic floor muscles with exercise would not be effective.
It could even interfere with you getting the right treatment for an underlying medical condition.
It will take just a few minutes of exercise each day.
TheKegel exercisesconsciously tightening your pelvic floor muscleshas been around for decades and is very simple to do.
Women may have had Kegel exercises recommended after childbirth.
How to Do Kegel Exercises
you’re able to practice your Kegels standing or lying down.
As you contract (squeeze) them, the elevator slowly rises to the top.
As you gently release the tension on your muscles, imagine the elevator returning to ground level.
you might do Kegels sitting at your desk or waiting in your car at a stoplight.
When you’re trying to strengthen any muscles, it’s important to be patient.
Don’t overdo it.
In this case, more is not better.
you might actually fatigue these muscles and cause a little bit of temporary incontinence.
Other people may find that their symptoms don’t go away.
When this is the case, there are other options to treat fecal incontinence.
Your healthcare provider may refer you to a physical therapist to assist you.
It’s important to find a therapist who has experience working with people who have pelvic floor muscle dysfunction.
During this treatment, you are connected to electrical sensors.
The sensors give the healthcare provider information about your body so they can coach you during the exercises.
In addition, adding electrical stimulation (sacral nerve stimulation) to these two therapies improved results even more.
Summary
The anal sphincter is a band of muscles that surrounds the entrance of your anus.
Bowel incontinence, also known as fecal incontinence, is a common problem.
It triggers when you leak stool or gas.
Your healthcare provider can help identify what is causing the incontinence.
MedlinePlus.Pelvic floor muscle training exercises.
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Michigan Medicine.Accidental bowel leakage (fecal incontinence).
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Symptoms & causes of fecal incontinence.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Kegel exercises.
