The Importance of Men’s Pelvic Health

When men develop chronic pain in their back, hip, groin or leg, it can take years before doctors finally refer them to a physiotherapist. As a result, men often develop pain medication dependence and have to take significant time off work while waiting for answers. Ruling out other conditions is essential, but physiotherapy techniques can help manage pain and heal injuries while doctors are investigating the pain.

How Men’s Pelvic Issues Start

Usually, men’s pelvic pain first develops from an acute event. A sports injury, a work accident, or the onset of an illness will trigger a pelvic complication. Once the pain becomes chronic, the man visits his family doctor, who sends him from one specialist to another in search of the cause. As he undergoes even more tests without an answer, he gets frustrated.

All the while, the man is encouraged to treat his pain with heavier and heavier pain medication, and it starts to seem like he’ll never find an answer to his pain. If instead male patients were encouraged to start work with a physiotherapist while specialists ran tests, he could learn techniques for pain relief that would help him continue working and wean off of heavy medications.

This may also help maintain his morale while he completes the necessary tests to rule out serious illnesses and injuries. Therefore, doctors and patients both have something to gain from working with physiotherapists instead of using them as a last resort.

How Physiotherapy Helps Men with Pelvic Issues

When you work with a physiotherapist for pelvic pain, they will assess your range of motion, type and location of pain, and what kind of movements your pain responds to. From this testing, they will narrow down the possibilities of what injury or illness you’re facing, and develop estimated guesses of what can help you.

The most common men’s pelvic issues we treat at Meadowlands include:

• Chronic tight pelvic floor muscles
• Weak pelvic floor muscles
• Stress incontinence, often from complication of prostate surgery
• Complications from other pelvic surgeries
• Medical conditions like multiple sclerosis or degenerative disc disease
• Other causes of hip, back, groin and knee pain

Depending on the location, type and severity of pain, physiotherapists have a range of pain management techniques to offer. Exercise, controlled movements and specific stretches can help relax tight muscles. Other exercises are meant to develop strength in supporting muscles, which can take the pressure off the muscles or nerves that are causing you pain.

Meadowlands also offers a variety of other techniques for men’s pelvic pain, including:

• Massage therapy
• Sports injury physiotherapy
• Posture and musculoskeletal rehabilitation
• Acupuncture
• Integrated dry needling
• Yoga
• Pilates

Your physiotherapist will work with you to find the techniques that will start to relieve your pain. We’ll track your progress and give you real alternatives to ever-increasing pain medications and nerve blocks.

Raising men’s awareness about physiotherapy can help them avoid years of pain, medication dependence, and loss of work. When doctors do solve the puzzle of what has been causing your pain, your physiotherapist will be able to refine their techniques and help to heal you for the long-term. If you’re someone who’s experiencing pelvic pain, please contact Meadowlands Physiotherapy today.