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

She can keep her abdominal muscles—already streng- thened by exercise and wise habits beforehand—in good condition, and her perineal muscles—on which will fall the main stress and strain—as well. During the process of birth itself, the practised and instructed woman should be able to exercise some amount of conscious control over her muscles, thus avoiding needless strain and suffering, and, so far as possible, accelerating birth without injurious interference. The acquired and cultivated aptitude of controlling the two main muscular systems of abdomen and perineum, and contracting them or relaxing them at will, is specially helpful in the final stages of expulsion, and spares the woman both local tears and some degree of pain. Moreover, rapid and convenient changes of posture (for instance, in the suspensory attitude known as Watcher's, as well as the attitude of extreme flexion*) may be employed to the best advantage, so that the pelvic entrance or exit may be more easily negotiated. What of the critical period of recovery and involution after Child-birth ? Pelvic exercises can restore the natural elasticity and contractile power of the muscles so severely tested in the perineum, as well as in the lower abdomen. They can help to restore the normal circulation in the genital organs, and thus also their normal position and condition. And, of course, these puerperal pelvic exercises have very much greater efficiency and chance of success if the muscles in question are in good condition through previous training, and the woman's whole body agile and " fit." A rational and appropriate pelvic physical culture will probably be able to diminish or cure certain morbid symp- toms, j* such as the persistent " pains in the back," so frequent among women, or even to " nip them in the bud " if taken in time. Finally, there can be no doubt whatever that pelvic exercises have a marked curative effect on certain gynaeco- * See " Ideal Marriage," Chapter XL, and Chapter XIII. in " Fertility and Sterility in Marriage," as well as Chapter VIII. in the present work. t Through static-dynamic compensation. Cf. the publications by Kermauer ffl and Jungmann <8>, cited in the Bibliography.