Urinary incontinence or bladder weakness in men might seem like an embarrassing condition, but it is actually relatively common – about 3 to 11% of men experience urinary incontinence at some point in their lives, so it’s nothing to be ashamed of.[1] In this article, we will share some insights on the subject and give you some tips on how pelvic floor strengthening can help relieve pelvic floor disorder in men.
What is urinary incontinence?
Urinary incontinence is when you don’t have full control over your bladder. Some symptoms include:
- Urine leaking when you cough, laugh or sneeze (stress incontinence)
- Urine leaking as you feel a sudden urge to urinate (urge incontinence)
- Urine leaking, because you are unable to fully empty your bladder (overflow incontinence)
- Urine constantly or frequently leaking, as your bladder cannot store any urine at all (total incontinence).[2]
These symptoms can be very irritating and inconvenient, but there are several ways to manage them, including changes to diet and various exercises, such as Kegel exercises.
Kegel exercises for men
These are easy to do, require no extra equipment and can be done discretely anywhere. They will help to strengthen the male pelvic floor and therefore could improve your symptoms.
The first step is to try and locate your pelvic floor muscles.. the easiest way to find your pelvic floor muscles is while urinating. Try to stop the flow of your urine, the muscles that are engaged while you stop urinating are your pelvic floor muscles.
Once you have spotted your pelvic floor muscles, you can do pelvic floor strengthening exercise.
- Tighten and hold your pelvic floor muscles for 5-7 seconds.
- Now relax your muscles. Repeat this for a few times. You can do up to ten repetitions.[3]
You will find that your pelvic floor strength grows over time; at first, you may only be able to do two or three repetitions, but with practice you should be able to go for the full ten.
Although, we would still recommend to get more information with your GP before starting any new exercise.
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[1] „The Prevalence of Urinary Incontinence“, Victor W Nitti, 2001, Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1476070/
[2] „Urinary Incontinence“, NHS, 7. November 2019, Quelle: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/urinary-incontinence/
[3] „A guide to the pelvic floor muscles – men“, Oxford University Hospitals NHS, n.d., Source: https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/leaflets/files/11124Ppelvic.pdf