Burleigh 07 5535 5218   Broadbeach 07 5539 8830

Men Have a Pelvic Floor Too!

There’s a lot of publicity given to incontinence in women during their lifespan but a large percentage of men suffer from urinary control issues too. Men’s health issues related to the pelvic floor are not always related to prostate surgery however, it is commonly required for men who undergo radical prostatectomy procedures for prostate cancer treatment. Ideally, these exercises are started prior to your surgery.

Lower urinary tract symptoms (or LUTS) are divided into two sets of problems – storage problems and voiding problems and include:

Storage LUTS

a) Frequency (going more that 6-8 x per day)
b) Urgency (a severe eye-watering desire to wee)
c) Nocturia (weeing during the night)  and

Voiding LUTS

a) Hesitancy (hard to start weeing)
b) Intermittent stream (stop/start)
c) Terminal dribble (dribble towards the end of the wee)
d) After dribble (small dribble as you walk away from toilet)
e) Straining (pushing to empty) and
f) Incontinence (loss of urine)

Men’s Health – Did You Know?

  • LUTS are almost as common in men as they are in women
  • Weeing during the night is the most common symptom of LUTS in both women and men
  • In a study of 40000 men between 45 &79 years of age, 75% of them had some LUTS symptoms – SO IT’S REALLY COMMON!
  • Male LUTS symptoms are not necessarily related to any changes in the prostate
  • More people have storage LUTS than voiding LUTS
  • Studies have shown that only 1/3 of males & females with these symptoms seek help
  • Bladder retraining, medications, education have all been shown to be effective

Resources

The Continence Foundation of Australia
Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia

What to Expect

Your physiotherapist will perform a detailed assessment, including:

  • Taking a detailed history – history of the presenting problem as well as any relevant medical history
  • Physical assessment of movement patterns and strength and endurance of pelvic floor.

Your physiotherapist may utilise a variety of techniques to help you improve, including:

  • Biofeedback visually and/or with real time ultrasound.
  • Prescription of exercises – these will be provided specifically for you and your condition
  • Advice and education – With a better understanding of your condition you can take positive steps on a daily basis to reduce symptoms and prevent future recurrences.
  • You may be referred to our exercise physiologist for ManPHIT classes to strengthen your pelvic floor with more load to improve your function.

If your physiotherapist is concerned regarding your presenting problem, they may refer you for investigations or they may recommend you see your GP or a Specialist.

What Next?

It’s always good to get a quick urine test done with your GP to make sure you don’t have a urinary tract infection (UTI). This simply involves weeing into a sample pot. Lower UTI’s are infections of the urethra and bladder. Their symptoms include:

  • burning with urination
  • increased frequency of urination with scant amounts of urine being passed
  • bloody urine
  • cloudy urine
  • urine that looks like cola or tea
  • strong odour to urine
  • pelvic or rectal pain

It’s also advised to get your first blood test for PSA after 40-50 years of age depending on your risk factors.

Once you know there’s no infection, Physios (with extra training in continence management), continence nurses and doctors can help with bladder training, education and medications, depending on your presenting symptoms.

Ceridwen Way has completed extra education with some of Australia’s leading men’s and women’s continence physios in Newcastle and ACT and is passionate about helping people with these problems which can have a huge impact on their quality of life.

Please contact us for any further information or to book an appointment at our Burleigh Heads physio practice.

What to Bring

  • Medication list
  • Results of any screening (eg. Ultrasound scan and blood tests eg PSA, blood glucose level to exclude diabetes)

Our Men's Health - Physiotherapy Services Gurus

Ceridwen Way

Director & Principal Physiotherapist

Natali Zantvoort

Senior Physiotherapist

This service is available at the following locations

Need help?

Product Enquiry