How to make inserting and removing a menstrual cup easier

Whenever you insert or remove the cup, it helps to work with your vaginal muscles (pelvic floor) and make the whole process much easier.

How to proceed – inserting the cup:

Insert the folded cup into your vagina as far as feels comfortable (holding the folded cup between your thumb and index finger). Do not try to insert the whole cup into your vagina at once. Part of the cup will remain outside, usually about half. Now press on the very bottom of the cup with your index finger so that you can push the cup fully into your vagina. This is where your vaginal muscles come in. While pressing the cup with your index finger, use your vaginal muscles to draw the cup inward. Continue until the whole cup, including the stem, is inside. Then put your index finger at the place where the cup was bent when you folded it and feel whether it has fully opened. If it has not opened completely, it will still be bent inward at this spot, and you can easily tell. This means you do not need to run your finger all the way around the cup to check that it has fully opened and created suction.

Visual aid/training: imitate sucking air through a straw with your mouth and draw the air as if from your lower abdomen up into your lungs. At that moment, you will instinctively use the correct contraction of your pelvic-floor and vaginal muscles too.

How to proceed – removing the cup:

Push with your vaginal (pelvic-floor) muscles in the opposite direction. You will expel the cup and push it out of your vagina until the bottom of the cup is showing. At that point, squeeze the bottom of the cup firmly (between your thumb and index finger) to release the suction, then remove it while holding it by the bottom. If it is more difficult, continue using your vaginal muscles or use gentle side-to-side movements (rocking).

With this method, you do not reach inside your vagina or use the cup's stem. You simply grasp the bottom of the cup as soon as your vaginal muscles have expelled it. It is possible to push the whole cup out this way without releasing the suction first, but it would spill. That is why it is enough to expel about one third, so that the bottom of the cup is sticking out.

Visual aid: when expelling the cup, you use your muscles in a similar way to bearing down during childbirth.

How can you easily learn to control your pelvic-floor muscles?

First, test how you are doing:

The test is quite simple: insert a finger (index or middle finger) into your vagina and contract the muscles as if you wanted to stop urinating while on the toilet. If you feel ring-like pressure on your finger, everything is working properly. Whether the pressure is only slight or absent, start exercising and check after a week how much you have strengthened your muscles.

Test which muscles you are contracting:

First, you need to learn to contract the right muscles – only the pelvic-floor muscles.

Use this test to check that you are contracting the right muscles. Notice that when you contract only your abdomen or buttocks, there is no contraction in your vagina. When contracting your pelvic-floor muscles, keep your abdominal and buttock muscles and the inner sides of your thighs relaxed, and contract only the pelvic-floor muscles until you feel ring-like pressure. Keep a natural breathing rhythm throughout; do not hold your breath.

How do you recognise and use the right internal vaginal muscles?

Practice before the actual exercises:

Strengthening the vaginal muscles consists of repeatedly contracting the muscles of the lower pelvic floor. To begin with, it is suitable to practise while you have a slight urge to urinate on the toilet and stop urinating for a few seconds. It takes a little concentration, because to control only the right muscle, you must not hold your breath or involve the external muscles of the pelvic area – your abdomen, buttocks, or anything else… It is simple; it just takes practice.

Once you have found and learned to control the right muscles inside, you have won half the battle! Now you only need to exercise them preferably 2 to 3 times every day. These are small muscles that need to be handled and moved gently. The relaxation phase is just as important as the contraction.

Strengthening

Why should I work on strengthening my pelvic-floor muscles?

- it can help with incontinence (uncontrolled urine leakage) and serve as prevention against this unpleasant problem

- it contributes to better sexual experiences and can help when you are unable to reach orgasm.

Strengthening exercise

You can exercise lying on your back with your legs bent and your feet level with your pelvis, or you can exercise standing up.

Lying down is best, with your legs placed on a chair so that your knees are at a right angle.

How to do the exercise:

- First hold the contraction for three seconds, followed by three seconds of relaxation. You can gradually increase this to 10 seconds.

- Inhale through your nose. Draw in the pelvic floor. Tuck your pelvis forward.

- Exhale through your open mouth (ideally relax your lower jaw and chin as much as possible while exhaling). The pelvic floor relaxes. Move your pelvis distinctly backwards.

- Continue moving and breathing this way until you feel warmth/energy in your pelvis.

Always relax for at least 10 minutes after each exercise. During relaxation, keep your legs open and your knees apart, and exhale deeply into your pelvic floor and lower abdomen so that everything can relax.

Tip: You can also combine this exercise with your breathing: as you inhale, draw the muscles inward and tuck your pelvis; as you exhale, release and relax, and let your pelvis move backwards.

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Keywords: pelvic-floor muscles, inserting the cup, removing the cup

You may also be asking: How can I strengthen my pelvic-floor muscles?