By Melinda Fontaine, DPT, PHRC Walnut Creek Did You Know…. Pelvic floor exercises are equally effective as sildenafil (Viagra) in treating erectile dysfunction. Pelvic floor physical therapy can help incontinence, erectile dysfunction, post void dribbling, overactive bladder, premature ejaculation, and pelvic floor tension myalgia. Erectile dysfunction is associated with twice as much absenteeism, decreases in work productivity, and decreases …
A Case of Pelvic Pain and Sexual Dysfunction- Clyde’s Success Story
By Morgan Conner, DPT Clyde’s symptoms started about one year before he first came to physical therapy. They started suddenly after he forced an orgasm by squeezing his pelvic floor while enjoying morning sex. Later that day he started feeling pins and needles in his prostate, pain at the tip of the penis, and burning with urination. When the …
How Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Helps Male Pelvic Pain
By Tiffany Yuen, DPT, PHRC Los Gatos Did you know… Chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) has a worldwide prevalence between 2% and 16% and is the most common urologic disease in men below 50 years old (Smith et al., 2016) Painful ejaculation has a prevalence between 1% and 10% in the general population, but this may increase …
How to Tackle Pelvic Pain, Joseph’s Success Story
As physical therapists, we often refer to our patients’ last day with us as Graduation Day. I always enjoy Graduation Day because it means the patient has accomplished their goals; their symptoms have reduced, they are able to function without limitations, and they are leaving as happier, healthier individuals. To put it plainly, they don’t need me anymore. It is …
Young Men Get Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. Here’s How Chris Recovered with Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy!
By: Rachel Daof, DPT People often ask me what symptoms men present with that land them in pelvic floor physical therapy. The truth is, men suffer from similar issues as women when it involves their pelvic floor: bowel, bladder, sexual dysfunction, and/or pain in the pelvic region. Furthermore, it’s not only the elder male population that can experience these …
Why Does the Area Between My Balls and My Butt Hurt? Tyler’s Male Pelvic Pain Success Story
When I first discussed sharing Tyler’s story on this blog, we talked about why men are not aware of pelvic floor PT. We talked about how most websites list “chronic prostatitis” or “male pelvic pain syndrome” to define his symptoms. He shared with me what men are most likely typing into Google when looking for treatment for symptoms similar to …
Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome/Male Pelvic Pain/’Prostatitis’ Resource List
By Elizabeth Akincilar, Cofounder, PHRC Lexington May is Pelvic Pain Awareness Month and at PHRC we want to do our part to help people better understand pelvic pain syndromes and more importantly, help people suffering with these diagnoses get the help they need to recover. Since knowledge is power we created 5 videos and blog posts that we hope people …
Hunting for hernias…are they a common cause of pelvic pain in men?
By: Elizabeth Akincilar, PHRC Cofounder Explaining to someone who has never heard of pelvic floor physical therapy what type of physical therapy I practice is always an interesting conversation. People usually assume certain things about my practice. Most assume I primarily treat older women with “bladder issues” and new moms. People are always surprised to find out that almost 50% …
Choosing the Right Tool for the Job: Scott’s Recovery from Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
The holiday season tends to be a stressful time for many people. It’s not uncommon for people to feel their bodies tense up as the levels of stress and anxiety rise – and every year we see an increase in patient numbers as a result. In December, I had the opportunity to evaluate a male patient, who I’ll call Scott, …
Make Erections Great Again
By Dr. Joshua Gonzalez As a sexual medicine specialist, I spend a good deal of time talking about erections. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is actually a pretty common problem. Estimates of the prevalence of ED range from 9% to 40% of men by age 40, and generally increase by 10% with each decade thereafter1. ED affects approximately 30 million …
Pelvic floor physical therapy helps men after prostatectomy
By Melinda Fontaine, DPT, PHRC Walnut Creek What would men’s health month be without a blog about prostate cancer? One in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. Will this number be affected by the recent change in the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s change in recommendations on screening for prostate cancer? What happens when …
Prostatitis, pelvic pain, and physical therapy: a case of success!
By Admin David was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and prostatitis. Antibiotics did not help. Did he have an infection or pelvic floor dysfunction? A few initial words from David: “My journey that ended with pelvic health and rehabilitation began with an unfortunate experience that I understand is all too common a story for men. After I …
Male Pelvic Pain and Chronic Nonbacterial Prostatitis: A Story of Hope and Determination
By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington Unfortunately, the majority of the men we see at PHRC have been through quite a journey with their pelvic pain, before finding pelvic floor physical therapy. I want to share a recent success story about one of my male patients, Ben (his name has been changed for anonymity). My hope by sharing …
Male Pelvic Pain: It’s Time to Treat Men Right
By Stephanie Prendergast and Elizabeth Akincilar-Rummer Tony is one of those people who seem superhuman. In his early 30s, he’s lean and athletic. When he isn’t chasing after one of his three young children or helping to run a successful family business, you can find him surfing, hunting, snowboarding, golfing, swimming, or playing basketball. It’s hard to …
Great Sex and Orgasms After Prostate Cancer
By Melinda Fontaine, DPT, PHRC Walnut Creek Meet Paul and Ashley. Paul and Ashley have an active sex life. They are taking the time to get to know each other’s bodies and pleasures as well as their own. They are trying new ways of being intimate and using toys. They are having fun and growing closer as a …
When Getting It Up Gets You Down: Erectile Dysfunction and Your Pelvic Floor
As many of us reading this blog can attest, pelvic pain can be an issue that leaves us feeling not only physically uncomfortable, but emotionally/mentally drained and isolated. Often, by the time many people get seen by a physical therapist, they have been mismanaged by other providers, leading to increased frustration among other things. Men, in particular, seem to be …
Physical Therapy for Male Pelvic Pain: Don’t Let the Penis Come Between Us
By Stephanie Prendergast, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles The Situation Room: Why do men have to see Women’s Health Physical Therapists? The facts: 15% of adult men worldwide suffer from pelvic pain. 1 8.2% of men will experience prostatitis-like symptoms at some point in their lives, and greater than 90% of those men will have symptoms …
Scrotal Recall: A Case of Male Pelvic Pain
By Melinda Fontaine The physical therapists at PHRC work as a team to help each other figure out the most efficient ways to help our patients. One way we share information is through weekly case studies, where one of our physical therapists describes a patient’s case, why they chose to evaluate the structures they did, how the results of the …
Male Pelvic Pain Explained: Steve’s Success Story
By Elizabeth Akincilar-Rummer I am happy to say that in March we celebrated our one year anniversary in our Boston area office!! It has been a crazy year, but I’ve truly enjoyed getting to know new colleagues and being another resource for the many people suffering from pelvic pain in New England. During the past year there has been …
Foreskin or No Skin? Let’s Talk About Circumcision
By Rachel Gelman In my previous post I talked about the anatomy of the male pelvic floor. The blog stirred up a lot of conversation among readers, with many requesting a part two. So here we are! This time, we’ll take a look at a small part of the male anatomy that comes with a large amount of controversy: The foreskin. …
Playing with your sex hormones with Propecia use can play with your sex life
“If you “play with sex steroid hormones” using finasteride (propecia) – the goal of finasteride (propecia) is to reduce the synthesis of the sex steroid hormone – dihydrotestosterone – then you will likely “play with your sex life” – as sexual function is very much related to sex steroid hormone levels”, says sexual medicine expert and urologist Dr. Irwin Goldtsein. Propecia (aka …