How To Improve Male Bladder Control

Locate Your Pelvic Muscles

Several techniques can be used to find the right set of muscles to exercise.

Women:

Pretend you are trying to avoid passing gas.

Pretend to tighten your vagina around a tampon.

Men:

Pretend you are trying to avoid passing gas.

While urinating, try to stop your urine stream.

If you’ve identified the right muscles, you’ll feel the contraction more in the back of the pelvic area than the front.

Exercises For Men With Prostate Problems Or An Overactive Bladder

• For more help

Symptoms of prostate problems and overactive bladder

Prostate problems and overactive bladder are very different conditions. But for men, both can cause frequent and sudden urges to urinate.

While this can be annoying and embarrassing, it can be treated.

In addition to medical remedies, a variety of exercises can help reduce the number of times you feel the sudden urge to go to the bathroom.

The prostate is about the size of a walnut. It surrounds the urethra, which carries urine from the bladder.

As men age, their prostates often enlarge. This puts pressure on their urethras.

An enlarged prostate is also known as benign prostatic hyperplasia . The condition can contribute to an urge to urinate frequently, or the feeling that you may still have to go after youve finished urinating.

What Happens Before You Can Do Kegel Exercises

To do Kegel exercises, you have to find the muscles that you need to exercise. There are three muscles you need to find and flex to complete a correct Kegel exercise.

• One muscle is the bulbocavernosus muscle that you use to push blood into the penis and to squeeze urine and semen out of your urethra and penis.
• Another muscle is the pubococcygeus muscle. This muscle is one that helps you pee and poop and contracts during orgasm. It supports your lower organs.
• The third muscle is the iliococcygeus muscle , which supports your organs and is involved in moving your anus back into place after you poop.

The BC muscle is the main one involved in doing Kegel exercises, with the other two muscles doing less of the work. You can find this muscle by stopping your urine stream while youre peeing.

You can try feeling your PC muscle by attempting to draw your penis in toward your body, making it shorter. You may feel like your scrotum is being pulled upward.

You can find your IC muscle by making the motion you would use to try to hold in diarrhea or stop yourself from passing gas.

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Try To Prevent Constipation

Constipation causes the colon to swell and strain because of increased abdominal muscle pressure. This can adversely affect the bladder muscles and may also increase the frequency and severity of OAB symptoms.

Eating more fiber, getting regular exercise, and staying hydrated can help prevent constipation. In addition, there are certain yoga poses including the Crescent Lunge, Cobra, and Legs up the Wall that can help relieve constipation and promote healthy bowel movements.

Those who experience chronic constipation should talk with a doctor to learn more about other ways to help manage their constipation more effectively, such as by taking medications or trying physical therapy.

Should I Drink Less Water Or Other Fluids If I Have Urinary Incontinence

No. Many people with urinary incontinence think they need to drink less to reduce how much urine leaks out. But you need fluids, especially water, for good health.

Women need 91 ounces of fluids a day from food and drinks.11 Getting enough fluids helps keep your kidneys and bladder healthy, prevents urinary tract infections, and prevents constipation, which may make urinary incontinence worse.

After age 60, people are less likely to get enough water, putting them at risk for dehydration and conditions that make urinary incontinence worse.12

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Stay Fit And Exercise The Bladder

Extra weight increases pressure on your bladder muscles, which may weaken them over time and can increase urinary urgency.5 A healthy diet and exercise can help improve bladder health by decreasing pressure on your bladder muscles. You can also exercise your muscles with Kegels. You read that right, men can do Kegels, too. Contract and hold your pelvic floor muscles ,6 then release them. Repeat this for five minutes, three times a day to strengthen the muscles around the bladder and urethra, helping to reduce urgency.6

Maintain A Healthy Weight

The latest statistics indicate that more than 40 percent of the population in the US is obese. Worldwide the numbers are even higher.

A recent study estimated 27 percent of the US population diagnosed with bladder cancer was categorized as overweight, and approximately 35 percent were categorized as obese.

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Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor Muscles

Once you locate your pelvic floor muscles you are ready to begin. The exercise involves squeezing then relaxing your pelvic floor muscles. Squeeze the muscles for five seconds and then relax the muscles for five seconds. Be sure to take the time to relax between squeezes so that your muscles can rest before squeezing again. Each squeeze and relax counts as one repetition.

Each set of exercises should include three different positions: 10 repetitions lying down, 10 sitting, and 10 standing. Do one set in the morning and one set at night .

Bladder Control Tips For Men Sleep Edition

Sleep plays an important role in your physical, mental and emotional health. On average, adults should aim to sleep for seven to nine hours per night.1 Having a consistent sleep schedule allows the body to regenerate, increases mental clarity and more.2 But factors like occasional bladder issues can get in the way of a healthy sleep schedule.

Between 11 and 16 percent of men experience occasional bladder issues, and theyre more likely to appear with agebecause as men age, so do their bladder muscles.3 The muscles become more likely to contract, resulting in the occasional feeling of urgency. With age, the body begins to store fluid during the day and get rid of it at night while lying flat, which results in answering natures call two to three times or more a night.3,4

Read on for tips to help manage bladder issues like the frequent and urgent need to pee, and get a better nights sleep.

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Avoid Going Just In Case

When you use the restroom just in case you reduce the amount your bladder can hold.

Going to the bathroom just in case creates a progressive cycle of incomplete bladder filling and as a result an increasingly earlier urge to empty and what is technically known as urinary frequency.

If the situation is safe for you to try to hold on just a little longer, such as a day at home or in a safe situation, then try to hold on a little longer to help better fill your bladder and reduce the urgency that becomes associated with emptying your bladder at progressively smaller volumes.

Please note: If you experience difficulty fully emptying your bladder, or if you suffer from incomplete bladder emptying then your condition needs to be discussed with your medical practitioner rather than performing this technique.

Anticipate Your Bladder Triggers

A trigger is something that sets off your urgency.

Triggers are typically reinforced by a subsequent visit to the toilet and can become difficult to overcome. Sometimes we are aware of these, sometimes not.

Common bladder triggers include:

• Looking at or proximity to the toilet
• Leaving home
• Feeling anxious .

The techniques described above can help you to desensitize yourself to triggers as part of a bladder retraining program. For the purposes of this article however the first step is to notice what your particular triggers are, and then to anticipate and control for them by using the techniques described.

For example if you know that you experience urinary urgency every time you place your hands in running water, some techniques that may help you include activating your pelvic floor muscles immediately beforehand, relaxing your breathing, running warm rather than cold water at first and using some form of mental distraction such as counting aloud.

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How Kegel Exercises Help

The pelvic floor muscles act as a sling to help hold the bladder and urethra in place. These muscles also help keep the urethra closed. Weak pelvic floor muscles may allow urine to leak. To strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, do Kegel exercises daily. In a few months, the muscles will be stronger and tighter. This can help prevent urine leakage.

How To Do Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise

Once you can feel your pelvic floor muscles working, you can start exercising them:

• Pelvic floor muscle exercises can be done anywhere while sitting, standing or lying down.
• Squeeze and draw in the muscles around your anus (back passage. Lift them UP inside. You should have a sense of lift each time you squeeze your pelvic floor muscles. Try to hold them strong and tight as you count to 8. Now, let them go and relax. You should have a distinct feeling of letting go. If you cant hold for 8, just hold for as long as you can.
• Repeat squeeze and lift and let go. It is best to rest for about 8 seconds in between each lift up of the muscles.
• Repeat this squeeze and lift as many times as you can, up to a limit of 8 to 10 squeezes. This equals one set.
• Try to do three sets of 8 to 10 squeezes each day.

While doing pelvic floor muscle training:

• keep breathing

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Finding The Right Muscles

Before you start pelvic floor muscle training you need to identify the muscles to train. There are several ways to do this:

• When you go to the toilet, try to stop or slow the flow of urine midway through emptying your bladder. If you can do this you are squeezing the correct muscles. Only try this method once per week. If you do this too often your bladder may not empty the way it should.
• Sit or lie down with the muscles of your thighs, stomach and buttocks relaxed. Squeeze the ring of muscle around the anus as if you are trying to stop passing wind. Now relax this muscle. Squeeze and let go a couple of times until you are sure you have found the right muscles. Try not to squeeze your buttocks.
• Stand in front of a mirror with no clothes on. Pull in your pelvic floor muscles strongly and hold them. You should see the penis draw in and your scrotum should lift.

Watch the video above to help find your pelvic floor muscles.

Finding the pelvic floor muscles can be difficult and it does take practice to squeeze the right muscles in the right way. If you don’t feel a distinct ‘squeeze and lift’ of your pelvic floor muscles, ask for help from a Nurse Continence Specialist or a Women’s, Men’s and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist.

What Causes Bladder Leaks

There are two main types of urinary incontinence:

Stress incontinence

If you have this type, activities that raise the pressure inside your abdomen cause urine to leak through the ring of muscle in your bladder that normally holds it in. Coughing, sneezing, jumping and lifting heavy objects could lead to a leak.

Going through childbirth, smoking or being overweight can raise the risk of stress incontinence for women, Wright says. Stress incontinence in men is rare, and when it arises, its often due to prostate cancer treatment, such as radiation or surgery.

Urge incontinence

With this type, your brain, spinal cord and bladder dont work together properly to allow you to hold and release urine at the right time. Your bladder may suddenly empty itself without warning. Or you may feel like you need to urinate frequently, a problem called overactive bladder.

Some diseases that affect the nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis or stroke, can cause this kind of incontinence, says Wright. In men, an enlarged prostate may be the culprit. But in many cases, doctors dont know what causes urge incontinence.

It is possible to have both types of incontinence at the same time.

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Diet And Exercise Changes

Keeping a healthy diet, while also avoiding bladder irritants may help to alleviate some of your bladder leaks. Additionally, maintaining a healthy weight with exercise can help to decrease pressure that is placed upon the bladder, and improve core muscle strength. Your doctor may also suggest that you limit your fluids or timing them to better control when you need to go.

When Will You See Results From Kegel Exercises

Seeing results with any exercise takes time, so be patient. If you do Kegels three times a day, you should see better bladder control in three to six weeks — some men see it even sooner. Try keeping a record of your urine leakage each day to help you notice improvements.

If you donât see any change in a month, you may not have located the right muscles for Kegel exercises. Give your doctor or urologist a call. They can offer tips on how to find and successfully exercise the right muscles. Similar to rehab for a weak shoulder, formal pelvic floor physical therapy may also help.

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Key Points For Bladder Control

These tips and techniques can help reduce bladder urgency and urinary frequency and help to bladder control training. Its simply a matter of testing which techniques work best for you, particularly when combined with strong pelvic floor muscle contractions.

When incorporated into an effective bladder control training program, these bladder calming strategies and bladder control exercises can help to reduce and overcome bladder control problems.

Important: Bladder problems such as urinary urgency and/or urinary frequency can be caused by or associated with medical problems. If you experience urinary urgency or urinary frequency you are advised to speak with your medical practitioner about your condition before commencing bladder control training.

Pelvic Floor Exercise Daily Workout

This Physical Therapist guided workout helps you:

• Strengthen your pelvic floor muscles
• Improve bladder control
• Improve bowel control and emptying
• Reduce prolapse symptoms
• Recover after pelvic floor surgery
• Prepare and recover from gynaecological surgery
• Maintain pelvic floor strength during pregnancy
• Recover after pregnancy and childbirth

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How Soon After Starting Kegel Exercises Will Urinary Incontinence Get Better

It may take 4 to 6 weeks before you notice any improvement in your symptoms.10

Kegel exercises work differently for each person. Your symptoms may go away totally, you may notice an improvement in your symptoms but still have some leakage, or you may not see any improvement at all. But even if your symptoms dont get better, Kegel exercises can help prevent your incontinence from getting worse.

You may need to continue doing Kegel exercises for the rest of your life. Even if your symptoms improve, urinary incontinence can come back if you stop doing the exercises.

Do Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises

Strong pelvic floor muscles hold in urine better than weak muscles. You can strengthen your pelvic floor muscles by doing Kegel exercises. These exercises involve tightening and relaxing the muscles that control urine flow. Researchers found that women who received pelvic floor muscle training had fewer leaks per day than women who didnt receive training.6 You should not do pelvic floor exercises while youre urinating.

Men can also benefit from pelvic floor muscle exercises. Strengthening these muscles may help a man leak urine less often, especially dribbling after urination.

A health care professional, such as a physical therapist trained in pelvic floor therapy, can help you get the most out of your Kegel exercises by helping you improve your core muscle strength. Your core includes your torso muscles, especially the lower back, pelvic floor muscles, and abdomen. These muscles keep your pelvis lined up with your spine, which helps with good posture and balance. Your physical therapist can show you how to do some exercises during daily activities, such as riding in a car or sitting at a desk.

You dont need special equipment for Kegel exercises. However, if you are unsure whether you are doing the exercises correctly, you can learn how to perform Kegel exercises properly by using biofeedback, electrical stimulation, or both. Biofeedback uses special sensors to measure muscle contractions that control urination.

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What Is Normal Bladder Emptying

Its normal to empty the bladder less than 7-8 times per day .

Normal bladder emptying is approximately 250-500mls every time you empty your bladder. If you regularly empty your bladder with only small amounts, this can be a sign that your bladder capacity is decreased.

Bladder control training usually aims to increase the amount of urine the bladder can comfortably store.

The Guys Guide To Male Incontinence

By Brad Bell, M.D.

Leaking urine isnt a female-only problem, as millions of American men know, though they are likely not forthright in talking about it with their buddies, or their urologist.

I frequently see men with incontinence or bladder control problems who are not aware of the many options to stop the plumbing problems keeping them from the activities they love. Colorado is an active state, and I would like to keep men hiking, biking, fishing, playing with kids or grandkids, camping, throwing around the football or whatever activity they like best. I am here to share some options for male incontinence so you can get back to your favorite activity.

According to the Urology Care Foundation, women are about three times more likely than men to experience urinary incontinence, but about 25 percent of men have it, too. Understanding the problem and taking steps to relieve it, either on ones own or with my urologic care, can help men overcome this bothersome obstacle that often carries emotional worries as well.

For instance, the psychological aspect can affect social life, preventing men from pursuing their normal activities. They might pass on going fishing or playing golf because they know they cant be that far away from a bathroom for that long. Not many men want to go to a Rockies game with their friends if they know they might have to make a run for the bathroom when the bases are loaded with two outs.

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