Stress Incontinence

Men can experience stress/exertion incontinence with age and following surgery to the prostate. Stress incontinence is urine loss when there is exertion or an increase in pressure in the abdomen e.g. when running, sneezing or coughing.

Solution: Supervised and structured pelvic floor muscle training program.

Urine Urgency

Urine urgency is the need to suddenly rush to the toilet as the bladder is filling. This can be the result of bladder spasms, a reduced capacity of the bladder, or with certain triggers. Triggers can include; coffee, fizzy drinks, alcohol, artificial sugars, running water, on route to the toilet or with key in the door.

Solution: Bladder re-training and medical assistance

Faecal Incontinence / Loss of Bowel Control

Occurs when there is weakness in your pelvic floor muscles and changes in your stool consistency.

Defecation Dyssynergia (Anismus)

Pelvic floor muscle dyssynergia is the condition where the external anal sphincter and the puborectalis muscle of the pelvic floor muscles contract rather than relaxes during an attempted bowel movement.

Common symptoms include: incomplete emptying of rectum after defecating, sensation of pushing against a blockage, fecal loading or impaction and soiling of liquid feaces.

Erectile dysfunction is the inability to maintain or achieve an erection that allows sexual activity and penetration.

Common causes of erectile dysfunction include: prostate surgery, pelvic floor muscle weakness, vascular disease and hypertension, cigarette smoking and psychological factors.

Solution: a supervised pelvic floor muscle training program, vacuum assisted devices, erectile rehab program specific for your individual requirements.

Men can experience pain and discomfort associated with sexual intercourse. Pain is most commonly experienced with ejaculation, upon erection or penetration. Sexual pain is commonly associated with chronic pelvic pain.

Solution: individualised program, which may include; pelvic floor muscle relaxation exercises, whole body relaxation and trigger point therapy.

Male pelvic pain is any pain or discomfort in the pelvis, perineum, anus, testes, scrotum or penis. The pain can be made worse with sitting, with a full bladder, with intercourse or on ejaculation.

Some of the causes of chronic pelvic pain in males include; spasms or tense pelvic floor muscles, irritation or compression of a nerve, infection of the prostate or bladder or injury/trauma to the pelvis.

Solution: individualised program, which may include; pelvic floor muscle relaxation exercises, whole body relaxation and trigger point therapy.

Peyronie’s disease is a common cause of painful intercourse in males. Peyronie’s disease causes thickened tissue to form inside the erectile tissue of the penis. Overtime as this tissue continues to develop it can result in curvature of the penis making an erection painful and difficult to maintain.

Solution: This condition can be difficult to treat. Some treatments include; gentle stretching, heat therapy and ultrasound and surgical intervention as a last resort.

Surgery to remove the prostate is used to treat cancer and enlargement of the prostate when it is no longer functioning effectively. The prostate is located at the bottom of the bladder and it helps to maintain continence by reinforcing the bladder and the urethra.

Common symptoms after prostate surgery include; urine urgency and frequency incontinence with cough/sneeze/sit to stand and erectile dysfunction.

Solution: pelvic floor muscle training, rehabilitation of abdominal muscles after surgery, bladder training, erection rehabilitation.

Cardiovascular health is important to help improve your heart function as well as helping to maintain a healthy erection. It is important for your health that you have your blood pressure under control and maintain a healthy lifestyle. It is important to ensure that you eat a well balanced diet as well as exercising regularly.

What exercise should you do?

Aerobic exercises including; walking, jogging, running, cycling, rower, x-trainer.
Strength training: hand weights or barbell or machine weights.

How much exercise should you do?

The current recommendations for exercise is 30 minutes a day of moderate intensity exercise that makes you feel moderately out of breath. Resistance training should be undertaken 2-3 times per week.

One in three men over the age of 60 will fracture a bone because of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is the weakening and thinning of the bones due to age related changes and decline in testosterone in some men.

Guidelines for Exercises to Prevent Osteoporosis

• Exercises need to be moderate to high osteogenic to continue to stimulate healthy bone growth.
• Exercise at least 3 x /week for 30 mins.
• Exercises should be progressed, e.g. increase weight used, increase the hill intensity, increase time, distance etc.
• Exercises should be challenging to stimulate bone growth.
• Exercises should be varied in their routines.

Balance Exercises to Prevent Falls

It is important to incorporate balance exercises as part of an exercise regime to help improve proprioception.

Reduced strength, balance, poor vision and tripping hazards around the home can cause falls. Women and men with low bone mass are at greater risk of fractures.