Pelvic pain is a very common problem for men of all ages.
This problem can be caused by overdoing Kegels, causing pelvic floor muscle spasm and tightness.
But unfortunately, this problem is often undiagnosed even by health professionals, and as a result,
some men continue to suffer from pelvic pain because it just doesn't get treated.
Hi, I’m Michelle, and today we're going through emergency management for overdoing
your Kegels for men.
So we're going to be going through emergency pain relief strategies, if you overdo your
Kegels.
I’m going to be going through some of the typical symptoms that you can expect to experience
if you have overdone your Kegels.
And then, we'll also talk about how to restart your Kegels after pain has settled down.
So let's start now with the three main causes of pelvic floor muscle spasm from overdoing
Kegels.
The first problem is over bracing.
So that means tightening the pelvic floor muscles too tight and not letting them go.
Now, this can be caused by Kegels exercises and not doing them correctly, and we'll go
through that in just a moment.
But it can also be caused by other problems, such as the treatment for bladder cancer or
for prostatitis.
So all these types of things can cause pelvic floor muscle spasm in men.
Now, in terms of Kegels exercises, the big problem is not resting and recovering the
muscles.
So when you do a Kegel exercise, if you lift and contract the pelvic floor muscles, if
you're not resting them and relaxing them completely, then pain conditions can occur.
The other problem can be doing too many Kegels exercises, and especially rapid Kegel exercises
in succession, because the pelvic muscles, again, don't get a chance to rest and recover.
So there's three main causes there of pelvic floor muscle spasm and tightness in men.
So let's now go through the types of symptoms that you might expect with overdoing your
Kegels.
Now, the first symptoms that you might experience are pain.
Now, you can experience pain in the lower abdominal area associated with doing your
Kegels.
You can experience pain lower down, associated with doing Kegels or this pain might occur
during intimacy.
You might experience pain in the coccyx or the tailbone or it might even feel like you're
sitting on something like a golf ball, an uncomfortable feeling there.
You might also have bladder symptoms, so you might find that you've got a really urgent
need to empty your bladder, or you might find that it's really difficult to empty your bladder.
The other common symptom is not being able to empty the bowel properly.
So you might find it's really hard to empty your bowels, or that you actually have to
strain or you feel that you're not completely empting your bowels.
So what do you do about it?
Let's now go through some of the emergency management for treating this pain and relieving
it straightaway.
So the very first thing you do is you stop your Kegel exercises, that goes without saying.
If you can see a pelvic floor physiotherapist for assistance, then do so, but I’ll talk
a little bit more about that in just a moment.
The next thing you do is lie down.
So I’m going to go through a demonstration of what you can do.
So first of all, lying down, because this takes the pressure, the load off your pelvic
floor muscles, so you're going against gravity, so pelvic floor muscles are normally sitting
like that when we're upright, you're going to put them in that position and take the
pressure off.
So lying down and lying down with your legs, knees bent, over one or two pillows is the
best way to go.
So coming down, and you're going to lie in that position with your legs comfortably supported
like that, and start to relax your breathing.
So you can start to do four to five deep breaths into your belly, slowly breathing in and out
into the belly and out so that you're really relaxing the belly and starting to relax the
pelvic floor.
Now, if you need some further information on this, I have a daily training program you
can refer to above, and it's also in the link below that will guide you through this more.
But what you can also do is then get a warm pack.
So I’ve got a warm pack here, and you can apply the warm pack over your lower abdomen
while you're lying there and relaxing.
You can also apply it further down as well, and try and get a lightweight, this is probably
a little bit too heavy, but it serves the purposes of this demonstration, just to show
you how you can use that warmth and that position of relaxation and deep breathing to get immediate
relief from the pelvic pain.
The other thing you can do is take some pain relief.
So you might find that over the counter medications like Tylenol or Paracetamol will help you
or medications that you get from your doctor such as muscle relaxants, and you can speak
with your doctor about that.
So you can stay in that position for 15 to 20 minutes as long as it feels comfortable
for you, and you'll soon find that the pain starts to ease off in this position.
So let's now talk a little bit more about ongoing management as well.
So take the warm pack off and coming up safely so you don't put pressure on your pelvic floor
rolling over onto your side and coming up.
And the next thing that you can do is do some release work at home.
So I’ll be making this in a future video on how to actually release the muscles using
a ball to actually get deep release through the pelvic floor.
So you might like to subscribe if you want to catch that video too.
Oh, and don't forget to click the little bell too, because then YouTube will notify you.
So in terms of ongoing management and recommencing your Kegel exercises, if you can see a pelvic
floor physiotherapist then do so, because there's lots of different causes of pelvic
floor muscle tension, and a physiotherapist can help you.
But let's say that you can't access a pelvic floor physiotherapist.
First of all, learn how to relax your pelvic floor muscles.
So once you can relax your pelvic floor muscles again, you'd start your exercises lying down.
And you'd start with one to two of your Kegel exercises.
Now, if you're not sure how to do Kegels exercises for men, you can check the video above, Kegel
exercises for beginners, and that takes you through step by step on how to start your
Kegel exercises correctly.
Basically, you're doing a shortening of the penis, and you're trying to stop the flow,
and you're also tightening around the anal area, and then you're relaxing and letting
go.
So you'd start that exercise when pain has settled down, and you do one to two second
hold when you first start out, and then relax.
Wait for 30 seconds to a minute, and then repeat one more exercise.
So this is on your very first day.
So one to two exercises only, and making sure you rest and relax between those exercises.
Then take a break.
The next day, have a rest from doing your Kegels and monitor your condition.
If there's no pain of this, if pain has subsided, then the next day on day three, you might
like to repeat that again, one to two Kegel exercises in a row, making sure that you relax
in between each exercise.
Then you progressively build up, you can do this gradually over a period of time.
So this can take months to actually regain the ability to keep doing extra exercises
over this period of time.
So you might increase by up to 8 to 10 repetitions very slowly, just short and very, very gentle
contractions, they must not be strong.
When you can do your eight repetitions in a row, then you might have a rest, and then
you might find that on that same day, you can do another, gradually building up towards
eight repetitions in a row, again, focusing in on gentle, just brief contractions, and
not too strong.
Finally, when you can do three sets of your 8 to 10 repetitions, then you can start to
increase the length of the holds.
And the last thing that comes along is the strength of the hold, so you don't start with
strong contractions, that comes at the very end.
We've talked about a lot there today, haven't we?
We've talked about your emergency management for managing pain with Kegels.
We've talked about the typical symptoms that you might experience, and we've talked about
some of the main causes of overdoing Kegels and pelvic pain.
So I really hope this information helps you manage your pelvic pain.
If you've found that it is helpful, then I’d really appreciate it if you can like the video
below, because then YouTube recognizes this and recommends this video to other men that
are in the same situation.
So I’d like to thank you very much for watching today.
I really hope this helps you manage your condition better.
I’ll see you next time.
Bye for now.