Sex efficiency through exercises : special physical culture for women / by Th. H. van de Velde ; [photos, by E. Steinemann].

C. Exercises of the Muscles of the Pelvic Floor An indirect exercise is afforded her by a sufficiently vigorous voluntary contraction of the buttock or gluteal muscles and of the inner surface of the thighs (adductor group) to affect the adjacent area. If the adductor and gluteal contractions are not very vigorous, there is generally no effect on the pelvic floor, and this special benefit is as a rule illusory. And this is especially the case during pregnancy, because vehement exertion is then contraindicated. More- over, such indirect exercise of the perineal muscles, even if effective, can only increase power and not control. Control, i.e., the capacity to contract and relax by voluntary effort, is the essential here, and this essential is not promoted by indirect perineal exercises. Nevertheless, there is some value in these exercises during pregnancy if attention is not limited to the action of legs and trunk, but is also consciously directed to alternate tension and relaxation of the pelvic floor : gluteal and thigh muscles must move together with the perineal. Among the general exercises already cited (under A) for use during pregnancy, the " Lifting and Lowering of the Pelvis " (No. 15 of this chapter) is appropriate, in combina- tion with movements of the pelvic floor. The feet should be somewhat apart and the knees more or less open. The pelvic floor should be drawn taut as the pelvis lifts and relaxed as it is lowered. Further, and especially suited for combined movement of the pelvic floor are No. 17 of this chapter, " Opening and Closing the Knees in Resistance to Pressure " and " Opening and Closing of the Knees against Pressure with raised Pelvis," which we shall describe more fully as No. 27 in the next chapter. But it is much better for the woman not to exercise the counter-pressure in No. 17 with her own hands. There is too much risk of overdoing effort. If, as is here suggested, the gymnastic instructress exercises the counter- pressure, she can judge the necessary amount of exertion by her own " muscular sense." And there is a good test of excessive exertion, which is immediately followed by