Why Exercise Alone Won't Fix Your Stress Incontinence

Stress urinary incontinence refers to leaking urine whenever sudden pressure is put on your bladder, causing the muscles that control your urethra to open and urine to leak out. 

After going through treatment for prostate cancer, many men find themselves dealing with stress urinary incontinence. This is because cancer treatments such as radiation therapy or a prostatectomy affect your bladder, sphincter muscles, and urethra, leading to issues controlling your bladder and urine flow.

So, if you experience frequent urine leaks when you laugh or sneeze as a side effect of prostate cancer treatments, you’re certainly not alone. Thankfully, once you’ve finished treatments and beaten prostate cancer, regaining bladder control is possible.  

In many cases, strengthening your pelvic floor through physical therapy and Kegel exercises can be enough to control your bladder, but it’s not the case for everyone.

Paul Chung, MD, FACS, and our team in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, are passionate about helping men overcome urinary incontinence while recovering from prostate cancer treatments. 

In this month’s blog, we discuss how pelvic floor exercises can help start that process and what to expect if you need further treatments. 

Pelvic floor exercises for stress urinary incontinence

Many people often associate pelvic floor exercises (Kegel exercises) as something only for women. However, men can benefit from a stronger pelvic floor, especially when weakened pelvic floor muscles are directly causing urinary incontinence. Doing Kegels regularly can help provide you with a stronger pelvic floor and better bladder control. 

To start, it’s important to locate your pelvic floor muscles. You can do this by stopping the flow of urination midstream. Those are your pelvic floor muscles. Next, fully contract and relax the muscles without using muscles in your abdomen or buttocks. For optimal strength-building, do at least four sets of ten Kegels every day. 

Our team also can provide you with a referral to a pelvic floor physical therapist who can provide additional physical therapy exercises to supplement these pelvic floor exercises. We also highly recommend strengthening the rest of your body through regular exercise and increasing fiber intake in your diet to reduce the risk of constipation, which can exacerbate incontinence.

When pelvic floor exercises aren’t enough 

Unfortunately, in some cases, strengthening your pelvic floor isn’t enough to regain full or significantly improved bladder control. 

Thankfully, Dr. Chung specializes in reconstructive surgery to address urinary incontinence. In many cases, he can perform sling or artificial urinary sphincter surgery to add much-needed support to your bladder and pelvic floor, which gives you better control over urination. 

Not only can sling or artificial urinary sphincter surgery treat your incontinence, but it’s also a quick outpatient procedure that doesn’t require a long recovery time. 

To get started with treating your stress urinary incontinence after prostate cancer, schedule an appointment with Dr. Chung by calling your nearest office location today.