It’s fair to say that most people never give their pelvic floor muscles any thought at all until they have a problem. The pelvic floor group of muscles work like every other muscle in the body, but because they are inside the body, they are easily ignored.
Of course both men and women have the same pelvic floor muscles—mostly. The superficial layer is a little different, but the deeper layers of muscles, bladder and rectum are all the same, and men can have the same issues with urinary incontinence or pelvic pain as women.
Recent studies show that many men undergoing a radical prostatectomy (having the prostate removed due to cancer)will be incontinent as a result of the surgery, and having a pre-operative program of Kegels (pelvic floor muscle exercises) can help after surgery for men to use fewer pads for a shorter period of time. These studies demonstrated that men who work to strengthen their pelvic floor muscles prior to surgery do better than the “controls”—the group who does Kegels leak less urine, and score better on the Incontinence Assessment Scale (ICIQ-SF).
At Elevation Physiotherapy & Wellness, we have physiotherapists who specialize in pelvic health, and can ensure that any man is performing Kegels properly, start a program of exercises to be done daily, and progress through more difficult variations of exercises as each man is able. Studies show that these treatments are inexpensive, and have zero side effects. Don’t buy pads forever—get to work strengthening the pelvic floor. It can help you get better, faster.
Aylin Aydın Sayılan and Ayfer Özbaş. The Effect of Pelvic Floor Muscle Training On Incontinence Problems After Radical Prostatectomy. 2018: American Journal of Men’s Health, Vol. 12(4): 1007-1015
Li-Hui Pan et al. Improvement of Urinary Incontinence, Life Impact, and Depression and Anxiety With Modified Pelvic Floor Muscle Training After Radical Prostatectomy. 2019: American Journal of Men’s Health, Vol. 13(2): 1-10
