Men's pelvic health: pelvic floor dysfunction in men, and where to start
Warning signs, and when to get help
Can men have pelvic floor problems?
Yes. The muscles, the job they do and most of the advice carry across from the pages written for women. The research does not, and this page says so out loud instead of in a footnote.
This is a map, not a program. There is no dose here, no technique and no timeline. Each of those belongs on one of the three pages below, and a page that repeats its own children just has a man reading the same paragraph four times without ever learning which one is his.
One thing first. The warning signs at the foot of this page are not a tidy ending to the topic. A few of them describe situations that need a doctor today or an emergency department tonight, and they come ahead of every exercise on this site. Red flags in physiotherapy explains why we keep that list separate from the advice.
Where the pelvic floor is in a man, and what it does
Picture a layer of muscle slung across the base of the pelvis, running from the pubic bone at the front to the tailbone at the back and out to the sitting bones on each side. The tube that carries urine out of the bladder (the urethra) passes through it, and so does the anus.
POGP's leaflet for men adds the part that matters most. There are valves, or sphincters, at the base of the bladder and underneath the prostate gland, and portions of the pelvic floor muscle wrap around those valves to help them stay closed. So the muscle is not working alone and never was. It is one of several structures sharing a job, which is why removing one of the others changes what is being asked of the muscle that is left.
The same layer also has to let go. Passing urine, emptying the bowel and sex all need the floor to relax, not just to grip. A floor that has forgotten how to release causes a different set of problems from one that cannot grip. Both get called pelvic floor dysfunction, and the treatments point in opposite directions.
The three patterns, and how they differ
Almost everything in this topic sorts into three.
A floor that cannot close shows up as leaking, usually on effort: a cough, a sneeze, a lift, standing up, the first few steps after sitting. Urgency can sit alongside it. The training answer to that pattern, with the technique and the two published doses, is on pelvic floor exercises for men.
A floor that will not relax shows up as pain rather than leaking: ache in the pelvis, the perineum, the testicles or the rectum, pain during or after sex, difficulty emptying the bowel. Continence Health Australia names overactivity in its own words and calls it less common but very treatable. More squeezing is the wrong instruction for this pattern, and male pelvic pain covers it.
A floor that has lost one of its partners is the man who has had the prostate removed. The valve underneath the gland went with the gland, and the muscle that remains has to cover more of the job than it used to. Life after prostate surgery covers the recovery, the pads and when to go back to the team, and pelvic floor exercises after prostate surgery is the staged program itself.
Plenty of men have a mix. What decides the plan is which pattern dominates, and that is an examination question rather than a reading question.
Is it the prostate, the bladder or the muscle?
This is the fork that sends men down the wrong road for years.
A closure problem means urine escapes when it should have been held. An emptying problem means urine will not come out properly: a weak or stop-start stream, having to wait for it to start, dribbling after you thought you had finished, or the sense that the bladder never quite empties. Among the causes of a bladder that cannot empty fully, the NHS names an enlarged prostate, bladder stones and constipation. Squeezing harder does not move a blockage, and in a man who is already struggling to empty it can make the next trip to the toilet harder.
The two can feel much the same from the inside, and some men have both at once. If your main complaint is on the emptying side of that line, the appointment comes before the program. The warning list below carries that pattern as its own item, with a same-day branch for passing only small amounts with a full, swollen lower tummy, or leaking constantly without feeling any need to go.
What the evidence in men does and does not cover
The strongest trials of pelvic floor muscle training for bladder control were done in women. There is much less research in men who have not had prostate surgery, so the technique, the dose and the timescales published for men by POGP and by Continence Health Australia are professional guidance, which is not the same thing as a measured result. The bladder research in men is almost entirely in men who have had a radical prostatectomy, and even there the Cochrane review's summary was that symptoms improved over time whatever was done (Anderson 2015). The trials in men who have not had surgery are mostly about sexual function rather than leaking, and pelvic floor exercises for men sets out what they found and what they could not measure.
Read that as a reason to be assessed rather than a reason to shrug. Thin evidence raises the value of getting the diagnosis right, because the cost of training the wrong pattern for six months is six months. It is not a reason to put up with leaking, pain or a stream that has changed.
You will also notice no percentage anywhere in this topic for how many men have pelvic floor dysfunction, or how many men are dry a year after a prostate operation. Both figures circulate widely online. We could not trace either to a study that studied the population it is quoted about, so neither appears here.
Where to start on this site
Pick by pattern rather than by diagnosis, because the diagnosis is the thing you do not have yet.
Leaking, urgency or wanting to know how the squeeze is done: pelvic floor exercises for men, which also carries the self-checks, the common mistakes and what the exercises are and are not claimed to do. Recovering from a prostate operation and wanting to know what is normal: life after prostate surgery for the timeline and the pads, and pelvic floor exercises after prostate surgery for the program and its evidence. Pain anywhere in the pelvis: male pelvic pain.
Four pages in our existing pelvic floor family already have a men's section, and each answers a narrower question than anything here. Signs of a weak pelvic floor holds the male symptom list and what makes the pelvic floor weak holds the causes. The gym is covered on lifting weights with a weak pelvic floor, and straining and emptying on pelvic floor weakness, constipation and bowel control.
For the tight-against-weak question as a subject in itself, tight or weak pelvic floor is the page. The staged pelvic floor program is written for men and women both.
Before you start these exercises
Read the precautions on each exercise page before the first repetition, and read the warning list below before any of them. If you have had prostate or other urological surgery, Continence Health Australia's advice is to wait until your surgeon has checked your healing before starting pelvic floor exercises, and the timings and the program come from the team that operated. Breathe out as you lift and never hold your breath to help the effort, which matters more if you have high blood pressure. If squeezing brings on pain in the pelvis, or makes emptying harder, stop and get assessed rather than pushing on.
Exercises that can help
Four to practice the two halves of the job, the lift and the let go. The pelvic floor squeeze is the one with the evidence behind it; the breathing and the gentle tummy draw-in are there to stop you holding your breath or pushing down instead of lifting. Each exercise page carries its own precautions and stop signs, and those come first. Use each page's own numbers for the breathing and the tummy draw-in. For the squeeze itself, take your numbers from the exercises page in this topic instead of from its exercise page, whose range starts at 8 to 10 squeezes three times a day: that is the figure Continence Health Australia builds men up to, not the one it starts them on, which is 3 to 5 squeezes in a set. The two national doses written for men differ from each other, so they sit together there rather than here. The bridge is there to hold the squeeze through, so the squeeze count governs it rather than its own repetition count. Your physio will adjust this. If you do not have one, the who to see section below names the clinician to ask for and says what an assessment involves.
The exercises below carry their own stop signs and precautions. Open the line under an exercise and read them before you try it.
Pelvic floor exercise lying downStop signs and precautions for the pelvic floor exercise lying down
Before you start
- After surgery on your bladder, prostate, womb or pelvic floor, start when your surgical team says so.
- If you are pregnant or have given birth in the last few months, check with your physio or midwife first, so the exercise can be checked and adapted for you.
- If you are pregnant and past the first three months, check with your physio before exercising flat on your back. Your physio can show you the same squeeze sitting up or lying on your side.
When to stop and get help
- Pain in your pelvis or pelvic floor, or a feeling of heaviness, dragging or bulging low down in the pelvis. Stop and tell your physio.
- Your lower back or hips start to ache and it builds as you carry on.
- Numbness around your genitals or bottom, new trouble with your bladder or bowels, pain, tingling, numbness or weakness in both legs, or loss of feeling in one leg. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself.
- You are pregnant and notice bleeding or fluid leaking from your vagina, regular painful tightenings, tummy pain that does not settle when you rest or comes with lower back pain, or a change in your baby's usual movements, such as moving less than usual. Stop and contact your midwife or maternity unit straight away. Do the same for a severe headache, problems with your vision such as blurring or flashing lights, pain just below your ribs, or sudden swelling of your face, hands or feet, which can be signs of pre-eclampsia. Call emergency services if the bleeding is heavy, the tummy pain is severe, bleeding or tummy pain comes with pain in your shoulder or feeling sick, faint or dizzy, or a headache comes on suddenly and is very severe.
Diaphragmatic breathingStop signs and precautions for the diaphragmatic breathing
Before you start
- If lying flat makes you more short of breath, do not lie flat for this. Sit upright in a chair or prop yourself on pillows instead, which works just as well for learning the pattern. Being short of breath when you lie down, waking at night needing to sit up to breathe, more swelling in your ankles or legs, or gaining weight quickly over a few days are all reasons to get medical advice the same day rather than to practice through, because the NHS lists breathlessness when lying down among the reasons to get urgent advice.
- If you are pregnant and past the first three months, check with your physio before exercising flat on your back.
When to stop and get help
- Your fingers or the skin around your mouth start to tingle, or you feel light-headed or spaced out. This can mean you are breathing too fast or too deeply, so stop and let your breathing go back to normal. If it has not settled within a few minutes, get medical advice the same day. If you faint, or the numbness or tingling is on one side of your face or body, call emergency services, even if it goes away.
- You suddenly become short of breath, your chest feels tight or heavy, or you are far more short of breath than usual. Stop, rest and use your breathing control. Call emergency services if the breathlessness came on suddenly, your chest feels tight or heavy, your breathing does not go back to normal, you are gasping, choking or cannot get your words out, you have pain that spreads to your arms, back, neck or jaw, you feel suddenly confused or very drowsy, or your lips or skin turn very pale, blue or gray (on brown or black skin this can be easier to see on the palms of the hands). If everything settles quickly, get medical advice the same day before you do these exercises again.
- Chest pain or pressure, dizziness or feeling faint, a racing or irregular heartbeat, or being far more out of breath than the effort should cause.
Transverse abdominis activationStop signs and precautions for the transverse abdominis activation
Before you start
- If you have had surgery on your spine in recent months, get the go-ahead from your surgical team or physio first.
- If you have had surgery on your tummy or your pelvis in recent months, including removal of the prostate, a hysterectomy or a cesarean, get the go-ahead from your surgical team or physio first.
When to stop and get help
- Your back pain increases during or after the exercise.
- Pain spreads down your leg, or you get numbness or tingling.
- You feel pressure or bulging in your stomach wall or pelvic floor. Tell your physio about this.
Glute bridgeStop signs and precautions for the glute bridge
Before you start
- After hip, knee or back surgery, your surgeon's protocol decides when you can start bridges. Once you are past the first three months of pregnancy, check with your physio before exercising flat on your back.
- A bridge needs the knee bent to about 90 degrees before you lift, so if you have had knee surgery and been given a limit on how far the knee may bend, leave this one out and ask your surgeon or physio whether the bend it needs is allowed yet.
When to stop and get help
- You feel back pain rather than buttock work, even when you lift a little lower.
- Pain spreads down the leg or you get numbness or tingling.
- Your hamstrings (the back of the thighs) cramp. This is a common complaint with bridges, and bringing your feet a little closer to your bottom often eases it.
- Pain in the knee itself, or a knee that swells or is clearly more painful the next morning. The position holds the knee bent throughout, so after knee surgery stop and check with your surgeon or physio before you try it again.
Who to see, and what an assessment involves
A pelvic health physiotherapist is the usual clinician for the muscle side, and in the USA the title to ask for is pelvic health physical therapist. A continence nurse specialist does much of this work in some systems, and a urologist is the doctor for the prostate, the bladder outlet and anything surgical.
An assessment usually includes an internal examination, explained beforehand and done only with your consent, and you are entitled to say no to it. Saying no does not end the appointment: the history, a bladder diary and what can be seen and felt from outside still give a useful assessment, and you can change your mind later.
Four things are being checked: that the muscle contracts, that it releases again afterwards, how long it can hold, and whether any particular spot is tender, with a cough somewhere in there to see what happens under pressure. An examination answers what no self-check can. Take two things with you: what your stream and your leaking are actually doing, and what you have already tried and for how long.
Access differs by country and that is worth knowing before you start phoning. In the UK, POGP keeps the men's leaflet and your GP can refer you to a pelvic health physiotherapist or a continence service, with self-referral available in some areas. In Australia, Continence Health Australia is the source written for men. In the USA, Canada and New Zealand we could find no national page written for men on this, so ask for the clinician by title and say which half is failing, holding on or letting go.
When a pelvic symptom is not a pelvic floor problem
Some of what brings men to this topic is not muscle at all, and a physiotherapy page that pretends otherwise does harm.
A stream that has changed, a bladder that will not empty, blood in the urine, a fever with pelvic pain, a lump or new pain in a testicle, or a sudden change in bladder or bowel control all belong in the warning list below, each with how fast to act on it. New erectile difficulty, new trouble ejaculating or new numbness around the genitals and the back passage is on that list too, and the reason sits there with it.
Urgency and the different types of urinary incontinence are set out on urinary incontinence and pelvic floor training, which is written for women and is where those definitions live on this site. Read it for the definitions and for the bladder training, and take your squeeze numbers from the exercises page in this topic rather than from that one, because its doses are written for a woman who has not had an operation.
Back pain and hip pain alongside pelvic symptoms are covered on weak pelvic floor, back and hip pain and on low back pain. Pain at the tailbone has its own program at tailbone pain.
Everything to do with prostate cancer itself, the choice of treatment, monitoring or prognosis, belongs with your urologist or your cancer team. The warning list below is not silent on cancer, though. There are lines on it for a testicle that has changed, for blood in your pee, for new back, hip or pelvic pain in anyone who has had cancer, for pain at night or at rest, and for the picture that means cancer pressing on the spinal cord. Each carries the speed that belongs to it.
In this topic
- Incontinence after prostate surgery: how long it lasts and when to get help
How long incontinence after prostate surgery usually lasts, what the first weeks look like, what pads tell you, and when to go back to your team.
- Pelvic floor exercises for men, or Kegels: how to do them properly
How to do Kegel exercises for men: finding the right muscle, the mirror and perineum checks, how many to do, and what the exercises do and do not do.
- Male pelvic pain: what causes it, and what actually helps
Male pelvic pain is often a muscle problem rather than an infection. What the European urology guideline recommends, and the signs that need urgent care.
Related exercise programs
Warning signs
Get emergency help now
- Emergency: numbness, tingling or altered feeling around or under your genitals, between your inner thighs, or around your bottom (anus), for example it feels different when you wipe after using the toilet. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. This can be a sign of pressure on the bundle of nerves at the base of the spine (cauda equina syndrome), which needs emergency treatment.
- Emergency: you suddenly cannot control your bladder or bowels at all. The same applies to new leaking of pee or poo, new trouble starting to pee, not being able to feel yourself peeing, not noticing when you need to poo, a new change in how your genitals feel during sex, new trouble getting or keeping an erection, new trouble ejaculating, or new trouble reaching orgasm, if it comes with back pain, sciatica, or pain, tingling, numbness or weakness in one or both legs. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. These can also be signs of cauda equina syndrome.
- Emergency: you cannot pee at all, especially if your lower tummy feels full and painful. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself.
- Emergency: sciatica in both legs, or pain, tingling, numbness or weakness in both legs. The same applies if you lose feeling in one leg. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself.
- Emergency: if you have an artificial urinary sphincter, the device with a pump in your scrotum that you squeeze when you want to pee, and you cannot pee at all, call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. Say that you have an artificial urinary sphincter as soon as you arrive, and say it again before anyone passes a tube (catheter) into your bladder for any reason, because the cuff around the tube that carries your urine out (the urethra) has to be switched off first. Passing a catheter through a cuff that is still closed is one of the recognized causes of the cuff wearing through that tube (erosion), and the staff in front of you will not know the device is there unless you tell them. If you were given a card or a letter about the device, show it, and if you are not sure you have been understood, ask for a urologist or the urology team on call to be involved before any catheter goes in, because a catheter placed by someone not trained in the device is one of the listed risks for that erosion.
- Emergency: sudden, severe pain in a testicle, testicle pain that comes with feeling sick, being sick or pain in your tummy, or testicle pain that has lasted more than an hour or carries on while you rest. Go to an emergency department straight away or call emergency services, and do not drive yourself.
- Emergency: since any operation in your pelvis, including an operation for prolapse or for leaking, removal of the womb (hysterectomy) or removal of the prostate gland, you have pain in your tummy or pelvis that is severe or came on suddenly, a wound from the operation that opens up, bleeding that suddenly becomes much heavier or that soaks a pad within an hour, or you feel faint, dizzy or breathless, your heart is pounding, or you feel very unwell. Stop your pelvic floor exercises and call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself.
- Emergency: you have had cancer, now or in the past, and your back or neck pain feels like a tight band around your body, or you have new or worsening pain spreading down an arm or leg, weakness, numbness, pins and needles or a loss of feeling in your arms or legs, trouble walking, or trouble controlling your bladder or bowels. Those symptoms count on their own, with or without back or neck pain. Call your cancer team's emergency number straight away, or go to an emergency department if you do not have one or cannot get through, and do not drive yourself. This can be cancer pressing on the spinal cord (metastatic spinal cord compression), which needs treatment straight away.
- Emergency: leaking that starts suddenly in an older person who is also newly confused or agitated, very drowsy, or has trouble speaking. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away. This can be a sign of a serious infection or another illness that needs urgent treatment.
Get help today
- Pain or burning when you pee together with a high or very low temperature, feeling hot or cold and shivery, or pain in your back just under the ribs. Get medical advice the same day, as this can be a kidney infection. If you also become confused, very drowsy or have trouble speaking, call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away.
- Same day: aching or discomfort in a testicle that worries you, a lump or swelling in a testicle, a change in its shape or in how it feels, or one testicle that has become bigger than the other. Get an urgent appointment with your doctor the same day.
- Same day: since an operation for leaking, such as a sling or an artificial urinary sphincter, you have a fever or feel hot, cold or shivery, bleeding or a discharge that smells from the wound, a wound from the operation that is oozing or whose edges are coming apart, new or worsening pain or swelling around the operation site, including in your scrotum, or pain in your pelvis that is new or getting worse quickly. Stop your pelvic floor exercises and contact your surgical team, or the ward you went home from, the same day, and if you cannot reach them get medical help the same day anyway, for example at urgent care or an emergency department. These can be signs of an infection or of bleeding from the repair. If the pain becomes severe or comes on suddenly, a wound from the operation opens up, the bleeding suddenly becomes much heavier, or you feel faint, dizzy, breathless or very unwell, call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away rather than waiting for a call back, and do not drive yourself.
- Same day: since an operation in your pelvis for any other reason, for example removal of the womb (hysterectomy) or removal of the prostate gland, you have a fever or feel hot, cold or shivery, heavy bleeding, discharge that smells, a wound from the operation that is oozing or whose edges are coming apart, or pain in your pelvis that is new or getting worse quickly. Stop your pelvic floor exercises and contact your surgical team, or the ward you went home from, the same day, and if you cannot reach them get medical help the same day anyway, for example at urgent care or an emergency department. These can be signs of an infection or of bleeding. If the pain becomes severe or comes on suddenly, a wound from the operation opens up, the bleeding suddenly becomes much heavier, or you feel faint, dizzy, breathless or very unwell, call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away rather than waiting for a call back, and do not drive yourself.
- Same day: since any operation in your pelvis, a calf or thigh that is newly swollen or getting more swollen, warm, tender, red or darker than usual, has swollen veins that are sore to touch, or has a throbbing or cramping pain that does not fit your injury or condition, or that feels different from normal muscle soreness. Stop your pelvic floor exercises and get medical advice the same day, because surgery in the pelvis raises the risk of a blood clot (deep vein thrombosis). If you are also short of breath or have chest pain, call emergency services.
- Blood in your pee, which may look pink, red or dark brown, even a small amount, even once, and even with no pain. Get medical advice the same day. It needs checking even if it goes away.
- Same day: leaking that starts suddenly or gets much worse over a few days in an older person, without any of the signs above. Get medical advice the same day, as this can be caused by a urine infection or a medicine.
- Same day: new back, hip or pelvic pain and you have had cancer, now or in the past. Get medical advice the same day and mention your cancer history. If you are being treated for cancer now, contact your cancer team the same day.
- Pain at night or at rest that keeps getting worse. If you are being treated for cancer now, contact your cancer team the same day.
- Same day: pain at night or at rest that keeps getting worse. If you have had cancer, now or in the past, get medical advice the same day and mention it, even if the pain is not getting worse. Do the same if you have back, hip or pelvic pain and are losing weight without trying, even if it does not hurt at night.
Book an appointment
- Pain at night or at rest that keeps getting worse. See your doctor within a few days.
- Routine: since an operation for leaking, such as a sling or an artificial urinary sphincter, the leaking you had it done for has come back or is getting worse, or you have new pain, new bleeding, or new trouble peeing or pooing. Stop your pelvic floor exercises and book an appointment with your surgical team rather than waiting for your next routine review. A repair can give way and a device can stop working, and after mesh surgery these are also the symptoms a specialist checks the mesh for. Which of those it is takes an examination, and it is not something this page or a physiotherapist can tell you.
- Routine: new trouble emptying your bladder or your bowels, a weak or stop-start stream, dribbling after you think you have finished, or a feeling that you have not emptied. Book an appointment with your doctor rather than doing more pelvic floor squeezes, because a flow or emptying problem has its own causes. If you are passing only small amounts and your lower tummy feels full or swollen, or you are leaking all the time without feeling the need to go, get medical advice the same day.
- Routine: pain in your pelvis, perineum, testicles or back passage that squeezing brings on or makes worse, or a feeling that you can never fully let go down there. Stop the squeezes and book an appointment with a pelvic health physiotherapist or your doctor, because an overactive pelvic floor needs the opposite treatment from a weak one.
Common questions
Can men have pelvic floor dysfunction?
Yes, and the muscles are the same muscles. POGP publishes a pelvic floor leaflet written specifically for men, and Continence Health Australia keeps a men's page covering how to find the muscles, what weakness looks like and what overactivity looks like. The symptoms men bring are leaking on effort, urgency, bowel symptoms, pain and changes in sexual sensation and function, which is the same list women bring, weighted differently. What is different is how much research there is: the strongest trials of pelvic floor muscle training were done in women, and most of what exists in men was done after a prostate operation.
Is pelvic floor dysfunction in men a prostate problem?
Sometimes it is neither and sometimes it is both, which is why this is the first question the topic has to settle. The prostate sits below the bladder with the tube that carries urine out running through it, so a gland that is enlarged can slow the stream, and an operation that removes it takes part of the closing mechanism with it. A weak or stop-start stream, dribbling at the end, or a bladder that never feels empty is a flow problem, and the causes of that are a different list, which the section above sets out with the NHS as its source. Pelvic floor squeezing does not shift a blockage, so that pattern is a doctor's appointment rather than a home program.
Who treats pelvic floor problems in men?
A pelvic health physiotherapist is the usual clinician, and in the USA the title to ask for is pelvic health physical therapist. A continence nurse specialist or a urologist is often involved too. Ask for the pelvic health or continence title rather than a general listing, because the assessment usually includes an internal examination and that needs specific training. In the UK your GP can refer you to a pelvic health physiotherapist or a continence service, and some areas take self-referrals. We could not find a national page written for men on this subject in the USA, Canada or New Zealand, so in those countries ask for the clinician by title rather than hunting for a leaflet.
Do pelvic floor exercises work for men?
The honest answer differs depending on whether you have had a prostate operation. After a radical prostatectomy the evidence is mixed and well studied, and our page on pelvic floor exercises after prostate surgery sets out the whole spread, including a European recommendation that carries a Weak strength rating. In men who have not had surgery, there is much less to go on for leaking: the technique and the dose are published by POGP and by Continence Health Australia, and the trials behind pelvic floor training for bladder control were done almost entirely in women. The trials that were done in men without surgery are mostly on erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation, and our page on pelvic floor exercises for men sets out what they show and what they do not. That is why the pages in this topic say what each source states and who it studied, rather than promising a result.
References
- Pelvic, Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapy (POGP). Pelvic floor muscle exercises and advice for men. 2021. https://thepogp.co.uk/Resources/122/pelvic_floor_muscle_exercises_for_men/
- Continence Health Australia. Pelvic floor exercises for men. https://www.continence.org.au/living-with-incontinence/pelvic-floor-exercises/pelvic-floor-exercises-for-men/
- NHS. Urinary incontinence: causes. Page last reviewed 15 June 2023. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/urinary-incontinence/causes/
- European Association of Urology. EAU Guidelines on Management of Non-neurogenic Male LUTS. Update April 2024, section 5.6.3.2.3. https://d56bochluxqnz.cloudfront.net/documents/full-guideline/EAU-Guidelines-on-Non-Neurogenic-Male-LUTS-2024.pdf
- Anderson CA, Omar MI, Campbell SE, Hunter KF, Cody JD, Glazener CM. Conservative management for postprostatectomy urinary incontinence. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2015;1(1):CD001843. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001843.pub5
- NHS. Back pain. Page last reviewed 5 March 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/back-pain/
- NHS. Sciatica. Page last reviewed 3 December 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sciatica/
- NHS. Slipped disc. Page last reviewed 24 April 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/slipped-disc/
- Martins FE, Bernal J, Tryfonyuk L, Holm HV. Artificial urinary sphincter and stricture disease: surgical principles in management. Translational Andrology and Urology. 2024;13(8):1717-1728. doi:10.21037/tau-23-16
- Kosuru S, Ozcelik C, Wong TR, Mordukhovich I, Khanmammadova N, Isali I. Comparative analysis of male stress urinary incontinence treatments: a review of efficacy, safety, and clinical outcomes. Current Urology. 2026;20(3):155-164. doi:10.1097/CU9.0000000000000321
Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-11-03.
This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. See a physiotherapist or doctor for advice about your own situation.