Andrew Siegel MD, Blog# 145
The photo above was taken by a pharmaceutical rep friend who discovered this phallic carving among the Roman ruins in Fez, Morocco.
The following is largely excerpted from my forthcoming book, Male Pelvic Fitness: Optimizing Sexual and Urinary Health, available in April 2014:
With respect to sexuality, medical publications—and more specifically the urological literature—rarely, if ever make mention of targeted exercise as a means of optimizing function or helping to treat a dysfunction. The preeminent urology textbook, Campbell’s Urology, a 4000 page, 4-volume tome, devotes precisely one paragraph to the use of pelvic floor muscle exercises in the management of male sexual dysfunction and makes no mention of its use in maximizing sexual function.
Despite numerous studies and research demonstrating the effectiveness of targeted pelvic exercises, they have been given short shrift. Part of the reason for this is simply that there has never been an easy-to-follow exercise program or well-designed means of facilitating pelvic floor muscle training in men. Instead, there is an emphasis on oral medications, urethral suppositories, penile injections, vacuum devices and penile implants. In the United States we have a pharmacology-centric medical culture—“a pill for every ill”—with aggressive prescription writing by physicians and a patient population that expects a quick fix.
It is shameful that traditionally there has been such little emphasis on lifestyle improvement—healthy diet, weight management, exercising, and avoidance of tobacco, excessive alcohol and stress—as a means of preventing and improving sexual dysfunction.
In addition to general lifestyle measures, specific exercises targeted at the pelvic floor can confer great benefits to pelvic health and fitness, an important element of overall health and fitness. The pelvic floor muscles (PFM) are critical to healthy sexual function and achieving fitness in this domain is advantageous on many levels: to enhance sexual health; to maintain sexual health; to help prevent the occurrence of sexual dysfunction in the future; and to aid in the management of sexual dysfunction. PFM exercises should be considered first-line treatment of sexual dysfunction and a safe and natural self-improvement approach ideally suited to the male population, including the baby boomers, generation X, and generation Y. PFM fitness can serve as an effective means to help keep the boomers “booming.”
I do not mean to downplay and disparage the role of medications and other options in managing sexual dysfunction. The availability of that magic blue pill in April 1998—Viagra—was a seminal moment in the world of male sexual dysfunction that enabled for the first time a simple and effective means of treating erectile dysfunction (ED). On the polar opposite end of the treatment spectrum—but of no less importance—was the development and refinement of the penile implant, used in severe cases of ED unresponsive to less invasive options.
But why should we not initially try to capitalize on simpler, safer, and more natural solutions and consider, for example, using a targeted exercise program or medications in conjunction with a targeted exercise program? Sexual function is all about blood flow to the penis and pelvis. And what better way to enhance blood flow than to exercise? We engage in exercise programs for virtually every other muscle group in the body. Working out our PFM can result in a strong, robust and toned pelvic floor, capable of supporting and sustaining sexual function to the maximum.
Physical therapy is a well-accepted discipline that is commonly used for disabilities and rehabilitation after injury or surgery. The goal of a physical therapy regimen is to promote mobility, functional restoration and quality of life. A targeted PFM exercise regimen can be considered the equivalent of genital and pelvic physical therapy with the goal of increasing the bulk, strength, power and function of the PFM.
The PFM can be thought of as a vital partner to our sexual organs, whose collaboration is an absolute necessity for optimal sexual functioning, little different than the relationship between the diaphragm muscle and the lungs. The role of the PFM in sexual function has been vastly undervalued and understated. The hard truth is that a well-conditioned pelvic floor that can be vigorously contracted and relaxed at will is often capable of improving sexual prowess and functioning as much as fitness training can enhance athletic performance and endurance.
Such targeted exercises confer advantages that go way beyond the sexual domain. These often-neglected muscles are vital to our genital-urinary health and wellness and serve an essential role in urinary function, bowel function and prostate health. Additionally, they are important contributors to lumbar stability, spinal alignment and the prevention of back pain. Specifically, PFM exercises can be beneficial with respect to the following spectrum of issues: erectile dysfunction; orgasmic dysfunction; premature ejaculation; urinary incontinence; overactive bladder; post-void dribbling; pelvic pain due to levator muscle spasm; bowel urgency and incontinence; and in mitigating damage incurred from saddle sports including cycling, motorcycling and horseback riding.
The PFM, comprised of muscles that form a muscular shelf that spans the gap between our pelvic bones, form the base of our “core” muscles. Our core muscles are the “barrel” of muscles in our midsection. The top of our core is our diaphragm, the sides are our abdominal, flank, and back muscles, and the bottom of the barrel are our PFM.
The core muscles, including the PFM, are not the glitzy muscles of the body—not those muscles that are for show. Our core muscles are often ignored and do not get much respect, as opposed to the external glamour muscles of our body, including the pectorals, biceps, triceps, quadriceps, latissimus, etc. In general, muscles that have such “mirror appeal” are not those that will help in terms of sexual and urinary function. Our core muscles are the hidden gems that work diligently behind the scenes—the muscles of major function and not so much form—muscles that have a role that goes way beyond movement, which is the cardinal task of a skeletal muscle. On a functional basis, we would be much better off having a “chiseled” core as opposed to having “ripped” external muscles, as there is no benefit to having all “show” and no “go.”
The pelvic floor seems to be the lowest caste of the core muscles—the musculus non grata, if you will kindly accept my term. The PFM, however, do deserve serious respect because, although concealed from view, they are responsible for some very powerful and beneficial functions, particularly so when intensified by training. Although the PFM are not muscles of glamour, they are our muscles of “amour.”
Who Knew? Having “ripped” external glamour muscles might help get your romance going, but having a chiseled core and conditioned PFM will help keep it going…and going…and going!
The female pelvic floor muscles, exercises for which were popularized by gynecologist Dr. Arnold Kegel, have long been recognized as an important structural and functional component of the female pelvis. But who has ever heard of the male pelvic floor? The male pelvic floor has been largely unrecognized and relegated as having far less significance than the female pelvic floor. Yet from a functional standpoint, these muscles are of vital importance, certainly as critical to male genital-urinary health as they are to female genital-urinary health.
The PFM, as with other muscles in the body, are subject to the forces of adaptation. Unused as they are intended, they can suffer from “disuse atrophy.” Used appropriately as designed by nature, they can remain in a healthy structural and functional state. When targeted exercise is applied to them, particularly against the forces of resistance, their structure and function, as that of any other skeletal muscle, can be enhanced.
The key responsibility of most of our skeletal muscles is for joint movement and locomotion. The core muscles in general, and the PFM in particular, are exceptions to this rule. Although the core muscles do play a role with respect to movement, of equal importance is their contribution to support, stability, and posture. Consider that the pelvic floor muscles, particularly the superficial PFM, have an essential function in the support, stability and “posture” of the penis. They should be considered the hidden “jewels” of the pelvis.
Who Knew? If you want your penis to have “outstanding” posture and stability, you want to make sure that your PFM are kept fit and well-conditioned.
The PFM have three main functions that can be summarized by three S’s: support, sphincter, and sex. Support refers to their important role in securing our pelvic organs—the urinary, genital and intestinal tracts—in proper anatomical position. Sphincter function allows us to interrupt our urinary stream and pucker the anus and contributes in a major way to urinary and bowel control. These vital responsibilities are generally taken for granted until something goes awry. With regard to sexual function, the PFM are active during erection and ejaculation. They cause a surge of penile blood flow that helps maintain a rigid penile erection throughout sexual activity and at the time of orgasm, contract rhythmically, enabling ejaculation by propelling semen through the urethra.
The PFM can become atrophied, flabby and poorly functional with aging, weight gain, a sedentary lifestyle, saddle sports and other forms of injury and trauma, chronic straining, and surgery. Sexual inactivity can lead to their loss of tone, texture, and function. However, PFM integrity and optimum functioning can be maintained into our golden years with attention to a healthy lifestyle, an active sex life, and PFM training, particularly when such exercises are performed against progressive resistance. The goal of such a regimen is the attainment of broader, thicker and firmer PFM and maintenance and/or restoration of function.
The PFM may physically be the bottom of the barrel of our core, but functionally they are furthermost from the bottom of the barrel. For those who are already functioning well, an intensive PFM training program—as with any good fitness regimen—can impart better performance, increased strength (rigidity), improved endurance (ejaculatory control), and decreased recovery time (the amount of time it takes to achieve another erection). Keeping the PFM supple and healthy can help prevent the typical decline in function that accompanies the aging process. On so many domains, diligently practiced PFM exercises will allow one to reap tangible rewards, as they are the very essence of functional fitness—training one’s body to handle real-life situations and overcome life’s daily obstacles.
Andrew Siegel, M.D.
Author of: Male Pelvic Fitness: Optimizing Sexual and Urinary Health; in press and available in e-book and paperback formats in April 2014.
Author of Promiscuous Eating: Understanding and Ending Our Self-Destructive Relationship with Food: www.promiscuouseating.com
Available on Amazon in Kindle edition
Author of Finding Your Own Fountain of Youth: The Essential Guide For Maximizing Health, Wellness, Fitness & Longevity (free electronic download) www.findyourfountainofyouth.com
Amazon page: amazon.com/author/andrewsiegel
For more info on Dr. Siegel: http://www.about.me/asiegel913
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