Why does social media hate Kegels?
If you’re on social media and have spent any time, liked, engaged with or commented on posts for pelvic health, prolapse or leaking, it’s likely you’ve been exposed to this: post after post promising to fix your pelvic floor issues with “this exercise instead of Kegels” or claiming that Kegels are outdated, harmful, or just plain wrong.
It’s enough to make any pelvic health professional scratch their head. After all, pelvic floor muscle training remains the gold standard, evidence-based treatment for numerous pelvic floor dysfunctions. So what’s really going on here?
The Instagram Effect
A brilliant question came through recently from one of our course participants: “The internet is flooded with certain exercises and captions saying do this instead of kegels… is that because they don’t sell – if people are taught correctly they could do on their own?”
And honestly? There’s something to this.
The Unsexy Truth
Here’s the thing about properly prescribed Kegels or pelvic floor exercises: they’re not particularly content-worthy. They don’t look impressive on camera. You can’t see them working. There’s no before-and-after transformation photo. And perhaps most importantly for the social media economy – once someone learns to do them correctly, they don’t need to keep coming back for new content.
Compare that to the latest trending exercise with resistance bands, fancy equipment, or complex movement patterns. These are:
- Visual
- Shareable
- Novel
- Monetizable through equipment sales or ongoing program subscriptions
- Endlessly modifiable into “new” content
Let's not overthink pelvic floor muscle training
The evidence is clear: pelvic floor muscle training works. It’s first-line treatment for stress urinary incontinence, recommended by every major professional body, and backed by decades of research.
Yes, pelvic health is absolutely more than just the pelvic floor. Yes, we need to look at the whole person – breathing patterns, posture, movement strategies, intra-abdominal pressure management, and more. But that doesn’t make kegels obsolete or a useful place for someone with limited awareness of their pelvic floor to start.
The nuance gets lost on social media
What social media struggles with is nuance. The reality is:
- Some people need to strengthen their pelvic floor (kegels are brilliant here)
- Some people need to relax their pelvic floor (kegels might make things feel worse or need more cueing around the relaxation over contracting part)
- Some people need to learn coordination (timing kegels with functional activities)
- Most people need assessment to figure out which category they fall into
But “it depends – you need individual assessment” doesn’t make for engaging social media content or viral posts.
The real problem....
The issue isn’t kegels themselves. The problem is:
- Poor teaching – Many people have never been taught correctly or assessed properly
- One-size-fits-all advice – What works for stress incontinence might worsen pelvic pain
- Lack of assessment – Not knowing if someone has an overactive, underactive, or poorly coordinated pelvic floor
- The algorithm rewards controversy – “Kegels are bad” gets more engagement than “Kegels are appropriate for some people when properly prescribed”
So, what can we do?
Pelvic floor muscle training isn’t going anywhere, and nor should it. It’s still gold standard care when appropriately prescribed and taught correctly.
But here’s what we can take from this social media shift: maybe it’s pushing us to think more holistically, to consider the whole system, and to remember that every client needs individualised assessment and treatment.
The best approach? Understand that pelvic floor exercises can be appropriate, integrate whole-body strategies when needed, and never let the algorithm dictate clinical reasoning.
Because at the end of the day, our job isn’t to go viral…
Beth Davies is a highly experienced personal trainer and coach with over 10 years experience in coaching pregnant, post-natal, or female pelvic health clients. Her programmes educate, empower and support women back to training or their active life, eliminating symptoms and building strength and confidence. She has been featured in women’s lifestyle magazines and websites, including Stylist, Metro, Woman & Home and Marie Claire UK
Beth’s trains and coaches women with pelvic organ prolapse or who are pregnant or post-natal, and provides 1:1 and face-to-face personal training in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and online across the UK and Europe.