Do men need pelvic floor physical therapy?

When most people think of pelvic floor physical therapy, they think of women who have had babies. Yes, that population does 100% benefit from pelvic floor therapy, however, the rest of the people who don’t have children can also benefit from pelvic floor therapy. This includes people who have penises. 

What types of things are men treated for?

Men are treated for various symptoms and conditions. They can benefit from pelvic floor therapy for:

• Pelvic pain

• Prostatitis

• Erectile dysfunction

• Post and pre-surgical rehabilitation

• Urinary incontinence or frequency

• Urinary retention

• Chronic constipation

• Hemorrhoids

• Coccydinia

• Hernias

• Interstitial cystitis

Let’s break all these conditions down.

Pelvic Pain

Pelvic Pain can be caused from an accident or an injury or it can start for what seems like no reason at all. If men are big cyclists, they might experience some sort of pelvic floor pain in their lives. Men can experience pain that causes them to have pain in their testicles or their penis. Sometimes men report feeling like they are sitting on a ball. Pelvic floor therapy can help decrease pain.

Prostatitis

Prostatitis is when there is inflammation of the prostate glad. If there is an infection, seeing a physician is important to get on medication to fight the infection. However, it can then lead to pain and discomfort in the pelvis, penis, or scrotum that therapy can help with. Prostatitis can be a result of the prostate not moving as well as it should and pelvic floor therapy can help with this to prevent it from recurring.

Erectile dysfunction

This is caused from decreased blood flow to the pelvis, causing less blood flow to the penis, which will then cause difficult getting an erection. This can be caused from the muscles being too tight to allow blood to flow to the penis or not strong enough to hold the blood in the penis once it is there. Pelvic floor therapy can help the pelvic floor muscles be healthy to allow for proper blood flow to the penis to allow for an erection.

Post and pre-surgical rehabilitation

If someone needs to undergo any sort of pelvic or hip surgery, this can include removing the prostate for prostate cancer, radiation, hip replacement or any other surgery in the pelvis or hips, it is very beneficial for them to receive therapy before their surgery and after to ensure proper healing to not have any issues after their surgery.

Urinary incontinence or frequency

Men can experience urinary incontinence or frequency for various reasons. Sometimes the muscles of the pelvis and core are too weak and sometimes they are too tight. If the muscles are too weak, they can cause increased urinary incontinence. They can get weak after having surgery, from aging, or for no reason at all. Pelvic floor therapy can help get them stronger to decrease urinary incontinence.

If the muscles are too tight, it can cause the nerve to the pelvic floor muscles to be irritated which can cause increased urinary frequency. Many men are told that their frequency is caused from their prostate enlarging as they age. Yes, this can happen, but the frequency/urgency can decrease with pelvic floor therapy which can calm the nerve to the bladder and prostate down.

Urinary retention

If the pelvic floor muscles are weak, too tight, or have no coordination, men can experience urinary retention. Pelvic floor therapy can help get the muscles strong, relaxed, and coordinated to allow a man to have a steady and consistent flow of urine.

Chronic Constipation

Men can experience chronic constipation. If a man has to sit on the toilet for longer than 10 minutes to have a bowel movement or has to strain at all to have a bowel movement, he would benefit from pelvic floor therapy. In both of these cases, it is likely that the pelvic floor muscles are too tight or they are uncoordinated, which therapy can help with.

Hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoids can appear all of the sudden or they can come after a certain event in someone’s life. Pelvic floor therapy can help decrease the discomfort of hemorrhoids and even decrease hemorrhoids all together.

Coccydynia

Coccydynia is also known as tailbone pain. It can be caused from sitting too much, cycling, a hard fall on the tailbone, a tailbone fracture, or it can start from no reason at all. Pelvic floor therapy can help calm the muscles and nerve down and get the bone moving the way it should to decrease and even eliminate someone’s tailbone pain.

Hernias

Men are more likely than women to have hernias. This is mostly because they have an area of weakness in their abdomen where the testies have to descend (this happens when they are in the uterus or as a baby). Many boys have surgery to fix a hernia when then they young. However, older men can get hernias. This is usually caused from there being a muscle imbalance. Seeing a pelvic floor therapist can help make sure all the muscles are firing properly after a hernia repair surgery so the hernia does not reaccure and to make sure their are no other issues from the muscle imbalance.

Intertitial cystitis

Intertitial cystitis (IC) is a condition that causes bladder irritation. Both men and women can get it. Pelvic floor therapy is the #1 treatment for someone who has this. Pelvic floor therapists will go over diet, life style, and then work on the abdominal and pelvic floor muscles to help decrease the irritation from IC.

As you can see, there are many reasons why men might need to see a pelvic floor therapist. Not all pelvic floor therapists treat men. At Insight Pelvic Health, we specialize in the whole pelvis and we are trained to treat both men and women of all ages.