A group of muscles supporting pelvic organs, such as the bowel and bladder, is called the pelvic floor. The muscles help incontinence, urinary control, and sexual function. There could be several reasons causing a weak pelvic floor. And now, several treatments are available to treat weak pelvic floor in males.
What is Pelvic Floor weakness?
If a male has a weak pelvic floor, it means he cannot control his pelvic floor muscles.
Introduction:
The set of ligaments and muscles in your pelvic region is termed the pelvic floor. It controls the organs like the rectum, bladder, prostate, or uterus. Through these muscles, you can mainly control urination, bowel movements, or sexual intercourse for women.
When the pelvic muscle becomes weak, the males cannot relax the muscles; instead, they are forced to contract. This situation may lead to difficulty in bowel movement. If it is not treated on time, it can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction, which can cause long-term colon damage.
Symptoms:
- Urinary leakage, such as during jumping, running, sneezing and coughing, etc.
- Painful urination or sudden need to urinate
- Bowel leakage from the back passage
- Erectile dysfunction as the pelvic floor assists in an erection.
- Back pain in the lower region
- Rectum, genitals, or pelvic region pain.
If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms at a severe level, you should immediately consult an urologist in Rawalpindi.
Causes:
- Long-term or chronic cough, like asthma, smoker’s cough, or bronchitis.
- Prostate surgery
- Constipation or difficulty in emptying your bowels.
- Overweight
- Pelvic surgery or some injury
- Frequent heavy lifting
- Aging
Preventive measures:
Several reasons may cause weakness of the pelvic floor in males. When you notice any of the symptoms, you can take preventive measures to prevent worsening the condition. The muscles can be strengthened again by doing proper exercise. You can follow the given tips to avoid the weakness of your pelvic floor.
Control your weight:
If you are overweight, then you should control your weight. The more the importance, the more the support had to be provided by your pelvic. That required more strength by the muscles.
When your weight is average, then the pelvic floor requires normal strength to support your overall weight. In this way, the pelvic floor remains healthy. By doing so, you will see a noticeable change in the symptoms.
Avoid constipation as much as you can:
Don’t control your bowel when you feel the urge to empty it, leading to constipation. If you have constipation, then you face difficulty opening your bowel. This will stretch the pelvic floor muscles, resulting in their weakness.
If you have a constipation issue, you should change your diet and drink plenty of water. It is specifically essential if you have had prostate surgery.
Drink plenty of fluids:
Drink as much fluid as you can and drink healthy juice. Try to avoid drinking drinks containing caffeine, such as coffee, tea, etc. Such drinks will irritate your bowel. It would be best to drink at least 1 to 2 liters of water a day. Do not decrease the amount of water intake; it will make the symptoms severe.
The urine will be more concentrated, and you may experience more urinary issues.
Exercise regularly:
If you think or notice that your pelvic floor is weak, you should do exercise regularly.
The following regular exercise can be beneficial, as these exercises put stress on your pelvic floor and make it strong.
- Straight leg sit-ups
- Double leg lifts
- High influence exercise such as running or jumping.
Tighten your pelvic floor:
When you are going to sneeze or cough, tighten your pelvic floor. In this way, you can avoid leakage.
Treatment:
The most essential and most accessible treatment to treat weak pelvic floor in males is doing exercise.
Kegel exercise:
Kegel exercises are the essential hold and release exercises. You can do it quickly and regularly to make your pelvic floor strong. These exercises improve bladder control and also sexual activity. The men can do this exercise anywhere, anytime, with the proper practice.
Kegel exercises are straightforward; the main thing that matters is finding correct muscles and understanding the technique.
How to do the Kegel exercise:
Locate the right muscle:
Contract the muscles that hold you from passing gas or cease urination midway to find your pelvic floor muscles. If you can stop urine or gas, you are compressing the right power. Do not do this again and again; it’s just a way to find the right muscle, not the exercise.
Practice the technique:
- Contract your pelvic floor muscles
- Hold them for 3 seconds
- Then relax for 3 seconds
- Do it a few times consecutively
- Once your muscles get strong, you should do these exercises while standing, sitting, or walking.
Maintain your focus:
It is best to focus only on the pelvic floor muscles. Be cautious not to twist your abdomen, buttocks, or thigh muscles. Do not hold your breath, instead freely breathe throughout the exercise.
Do 3 times a day:
It would help if you repeated this exercise 3 times a day and ten times for each.
This exercise involves your pelvic muscle. Once you have enough practice in quickly identifying the power, you can do it in any position. At the start, you may do them easily while lying down.
Useful Tips:
- Make your bladder empty as much as you can.
- Rock your pelvis forward and backward to empty the bladder.
- It would help if you made this exercise habit with your regular tasks, such as brushing your teeth.
- Try to empty your bladder every 2 to 5 hours for normal functioning.
- Less than 2 hours or more than 5 hours can cause issues.
- Do not hold for too long when you feel an urge to empty your bladder.
Who to consult:
If there is no betterment in your symptoms or you have any questions about doing exercise. Or, if you want to know more about your condition, you can consult an expert. If you don’t learn where to find one, you can visit Marham.
Here you will get a list of the best doctors. You can make an appointment with the best urologist through Marham without any inconvenience.
