The woman who thought she was going to “strengthen her uterus” is very much mistaken, as the pubococcygeal muscles are the ones which, among other things, can stop urination, as they surround the urethra. I’m kind of surprised you didn’t point that out to her. The Kegel exercises probably do, however, strengthen the vagina, judging by the arrangement of muscles on the anatomy illustrations.
Kegel exercises, like most exercises are not as specific as we would like. I’m pretty sure any exercise has peripheral effects in the surrounding areas. (And if done to aerobic limits :eek:, would strengthen the body in general.)
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Several years ago, I worked on a project to write and market a set of books touting Kegel excercises. The books included a manual, an exercise journal and a wall chart. The first part of the manual was a rundown on the medical literature supporting the Kegel exercises, the second part was a slapdash exercise program put together by my boss.
Most of our markteing focused on the benefits Kegels were supposed to bring to dealing with incontinence. We also touted improvements to the love life. Unfortunately, the boss had our direct-mail campaign on the wrong track - we were literally targeting old ladies to describe how this would spice up their sex life, and then we would target young, athletic women to tell them how they didn’t have to live with incontinence.
This was the most ridiculous project I have ever worked on. I was very glad to leave that company, but it is an endless source of amusing anecdotes. And, I walked away with a detailed knowledge of the circumvaginal muscle that most men don’t have. (For what its worth…)