Pelvic Floor Exercises: Not Just For Women

When people think of pelvic floor exercises, also known as Kegel exercises, they often think they are only recommended to women for certain medical issues. However, men often benefit from them, as well. The exercises involve both the strengthening and relaxation of the pelvic floor and often include repeating the movements several times.

Pelvic floor muscles serve many essential functions. They stabilize the pelvis, including the hips and back, support internal pelvic organs like the bladder and rectum, help you go to the bathroom easily, assist in moving fluid through the body and improve sexual function.

Optimize your pelvic health

While differences in anatomy, life events such as childbirth, and hormonal fluctuations make women more prone to pelvic floor muscle-related issues, men can also benefit from optimizing their pelvic floor muscle function. For example, The National Library of Medicine says that a pelvic floor exercise program for men is often helpful for urinary stress incontinence that may commonly occur after prostate surgery.

“Pelvic floor exercises are useful for any disorders or problems related to the pelvic floor in both men and women,” says Raveen Syan, M.D., a urologist with the University of Miami Health System. “This can include urinary leakage, going too often or urgently, stool leakage, constipation, pain with sex, pelvic pain, prolapse or a spastic pelvic floor.”

At their most basic, the Kegel exercises involve:

• Tightening the muscles of the pelvic floor
• Holding them tightly (usually for a count of 10)
• Relaxing the muscles (usually for a count of 10)
• Repeating the motion in three sets of 10.

To do the exercises, people often pretend to hold in urine or gas. Men may visualize shortening the penis or lifting of the testicles using their muscles. Be mindful of common compensations as you perform these movements, such as sucking in the abdominals, holding your breath, squeezing the legs together, or clenching the glutes.

People with specific medical issues may need a more formal exercise program to help resolve them. In fact, some patients may have worsening of symptoms if they focus on tightening the pelvic floor muscles alone.

Andrea Wood, PT, DPT, Ph.D., a physical therapist specializing in pelvic health at UHealth, says that patients in these circumstances should be referred to a qualified physical therapist for an assessment and an individualized treatment plan. You can also find physical therapists who specialize in pelvic health through the American Physical Therapy Association’s Academy of Pelvic Health.

“As a pelvic health physical therapist, I typically see three primary issues with the pelvic floor muscles, and often these issues can overlap,” says Dr. Wood. “These issues are pelvic floor muscle tightness, pelvic floor muscle weakness and pelvic floor muscle incoordination. Thus, different types of issues going on with the pelvic floor require a different approach.”

With regular exercise, women and men can strengthen their pelvic muscles, and prevent or reduce certain health conditions.

“Men can benefit highly from a tailored pelvic floor muscle program after seeing a specialist,” says Dr. Wood. “Improvements they may see are less urinary incontinence if they are experiencing any, greater ease of bowel movements or fewer bowel accidents, improvements in pelvic pain, and improvements in erectile dysfunction.”

However, Dr. Wood emphasizes that it’s best for everyone — both men and women — to work with a physical therapist on an individualized program before doing pelvic floor exercises on their own. Some approaches recommended on the internet, such as doing too many exercises, doing the wrong exercises, or using assistive devices on the market can cause additional problems.

“Doing excessive amounts of Kegels to strengthen your pelvic floor, typically over about 30 a day, is generally not recommended and can cause more dysfunction,” says Dr. Wood. “I compare it to someone going to a gym and doing 100 bicep curls a day. It’s not practical and can create more issues.”

Written by Wyatt Myers, a contributor to UHealth’s news service.

Tags: Desai Sethi Urology Institute, Dr. Raveen Syan, Kegel Benefits, Pelvic Floor Muscle Training, Pelvic Floor Therapy