One of the best ways of helping your kiddo address their urinary or bowel leaks is to target core strength. When we talk about the “core”, we are referencing four muscle groups: the pelvic floor, back muscles, the diaphragm, and abdominal muscles. These four groups work together to build and control pressure in the abdomen so that we can run and jump and play and sneeze and laugh and do ALL the things we need to do without losing our balance or having leaks.
Kegel exercises as guided by your kid’s Pelvic Floor PT are key but so are exercises that target the other core groups. While it may seem less straightforward, doing exercises that challenge balance and build endurance of the core are incredibly important too. Both in research and in our own clinical practice we find that when kids improve their core stability, their bowel and urinary symptoms drastically improve.
Core exercises for kids can take many different forms and can be incorporated into enjoyable play. Simple exercises like planks, squats, and bridges are great options (just make sure your kiddo doesn’t fly through them! Slow and controlled movements are best!). If you begin to hit a wall with willingness to participate though, you can certainly make it more fun! Wheelbarrow walks, putting a puzzle together from a plank position, or trying to toss a ball back and forth while standing on one leg can be much more enjoyable for both kids and their adults. Exercise should not be seen as a punishment, but rather an enjoyable way to connect with our bodies, build strength that will help us do all the things we love to do, and help those pesky leaks go away. Exercise can be play!
We’ll list some options for inspiration below, but feel free to be creative and come up with your own fun options:
1. Wheelbarrow Walk – Hold their ankles as they “walk” on their hands. If this is too challenging when first starting, hold closer to their knees. Encourage them to keep a straight body and not let their bellies drop down towards the floor.
2) Balloon Kicks in a Crab Walk Position – I love the crab walk! Sometimes space is limited so I like to have kids get in the crab position and just lift their legs. Kids often need a game and a target. A punch balloon or a balloon on a string works really well!
3) Ball Toss in a Squat – Stand facing your child at a good distance to play toss. Squat down like you are going to sit in a chair and hold this position. How many ball tosses can you do before one of you has to stand back up?
4) Puzzle Plank – From a plank position, see how many pieces of a puzzle you can put together at a time. Drawing pictures, playing tic-tac-toe, or playing a card game are other great options!
5) Single Leg Ball Toss – Stand facing your child at a good distance to play toss. Lift one leg and try to keep your body quiet as you hold this position. How many ball tosses can you do before one of you loses balance? You can make this trickier as your kid gets more confident by tossing further from their center or by having them stand on a pillow during the game.
6) Car Ramp – Have your child lie on the floor with their knees bent and feet about a foot from their bodies. Lift up into a bridge (or in this case ramp!) position and hold. Pretend that your child is a ramp for cars to launch off from. Have fun racing cars from their bellies up towards their knees. Make sure their ramps stay frozen – we don’t want the cars to fall off the side! If this gets too easy, see if they can hold this same position but make their ramps longer by extending one leg. You can also have cars go under their bridge for added fun. How many cars can race under before the bridge falls?!
7) Superman – Let your kiddo fly like a superhero and strengthen their back. Have them lie on their belly on the floor and try to lift their arms up off of the floor so that their upper chest comes up too. How long can they fly for before needing to rest?! Once this motion gets easier, see if they can lift their legs and arms up off the floor at the same time!