Are you having problems emptying your bladder? This is a really common problem amongst men
particularly men over 60 and there's a lot you can do about it. Hi I'm Michelle
and today I'm going to take you through bladder emptying position technique
for men who are having problems emptying their bladder and i'm also going to guide you through
some dietary information and medication that you can also use to help you with this problem.
So some of the problems associated with this can be hesitancy so you find that you actually
can't start the flow of urine. You might find that you're just doing really small voids and you might
also find that you're not completely emptying even though you're trying to empty. There's a
number of ways this can present. It can also be a really slow flow rather than a good strong flow.
There's a number of signs that you've got some obstruction or some problems with emptying your
bladder. So fortunately correcting your position and technique is something that you can control
and manage at home but just bear in mind that if you do have this problem and you can't empty
this is a medical emergency and you do need to go to the hospital to get your bladder
emptied with a catheter because if your bladder overexpands even once it can become quite floppy
and unable to contract in the future. So treat the problem seriously if you can't empty your
bladder. There are three really common problems that cause this issue in men. The main problem
is enlarged prostate, particularly in men over 60 years old. The second problem is
with the urine tube. The urine tube can actually develop scarring inside or you can have stones
in there or there can be more sinister things. So it's really important that if you have this issue
get checked out with your doctor. The final problem can be tight pelvic floor muscles. So I'm
going to take you through some strategies to help you relax your pelvic floor muscles as well with
this technique. Let's set up our position first of all. So ideally try to sit down particularly
if you've got tight pelvic floor muscles because when you sit it allows you to relax your abdominal
muscles which also helps you to relax your pelvic floor muscles. So when you sit I'd like you to sit
with your knees slightly apart and in a lean forward position. Obviously if you've got this
problem you go when you first feel the urge to empty. Don't put it off which is our normal advice
for bladder management. But with this problem you go when you first feel the urge. Take your
legs wide and lean yourself slightly forward and it's important that you keep the inward curve in
your lower back so that you're not slumping like that. So that's your lean forward position. Now
if you find that you need to go and you can't start the flow you can either put the tap on,
you can run your hand under running water. We know how that can be a trigger. Or you can also lightly
tap above your pubic bone at the front there as sometimes pubic or supra pubic or above the pelvic
pubic bone tapping can also start or initiate that bladder emptying. So let's say you've got the flow
started. It's important to relax your breathing and let your tummy relax forward. Don't pull your
tummy in because as soon as you pull your tummy in you're going to tighten your pelvic floor muscles.
So you want to relax your lower abdomen forward if you can. Alright relaxed breathing, letting go,
now give yourself the time to empty. If you feel that you haven't emptied
then what you can do is something called a double void. A double void means you can then come up you
can actually then go into standing. So I'll just slowly stand up here and you can rock
your pelvis forward and back in this manner and then try again or you can walk around the room
and come back and try again and once again you might need to put your hand under the water
or you might need a suprapubic tap again as well. Okay so let's talk about some things you can do
to reduce your risk of having enlarged prostate. The first thing you can do is decrease your coffee
intake. Now coffee increases the the volume of fluid going into the bladder so the bladder will
rapidly expand and that makes it really difficult to empty the bladder. So try to reduce your coffee
intake. Coffee intake has also been found to promote an increased risk of prostate enlargement
too in some studies. So that's what you might want to watch out for. The second thing is having too
much protein in your diet. So ideally you should have 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. So
that's difficult to work out. Who can work that out? Just check online with one of the online
guides that helps you or the calculators that help you work out how much protein is right for
your body weight. The third thing is that diets that are rich in vitamin c coming from vegetables,
particularly green vegetables have been shown to reduce the risk of enlarged prostate in men. So
there's three really interesting dietary things I think you can think about for helping to manage
and reduce the risk of enlarged prostate issues. Finally you don't have to live with the issue. You
can see your doctor and there's medications called alpha blockers which also help to reduce the size
of the prostate gland. They can take a while to work but they're also helpful to know about.
Finally if you've got tight pelvic floor muscles we talked about relaxing through the pelvic floor
and through the lower abdomen. I've also too got a cd here that you can listen to to help you
train pelvic floor relaxation if that's a problem that you're suffering from and I'll put that in
the link below too. So what have we discussed? We've talked about the importance of position
and technique for your bladder emptying and we also talked about how to do a double void and
how that can really help with your emptying. And the important thing the important message about
going to the hospital if you need to but cannot empty and getting a catheter just to avoid that
over stretching of the bladder. So thanks so much for watching today. I really hope that
this information helps you empty your bladder more effectively. If this video has helped you
I'd love it if you could give it a like below because this helps other men find the information
too. Thanks so much for watching today, bye for now I'll see you next time.