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Answer from Becca: Juan, I feel your pain. This is a tough condition, but fortunately for you, you are alive at a time where pelvic floor physical therapy for men is becoming more widely available. The reason that you have rectal spasms is likely because the muscles of your saddle region are too tight. Just like having neck spasms and having difficulty turning your head, spasms in the pelvic floor or saddle region will make it so you cannot open up your rectum to get poop out without discomfort. It is often that simple.

The fact that you are constipated is consistent with the rectal spasms. This is because the human brain is very clever. It wants to protect the body from pain, so your intestines will hold onto that fecal matter to prevent the rectal spasms from overwhelming your nervous system. This contributes to the cycle of pain and spasm and it can become a never-ending loop of constipation.

So, what can be done? A pelvic floor physical therapist can assess your saddle muscles to see how tight they really are. Then, stretching within the rectum can be performed with a gloved finger to allow them to relax. It sounds pretty crazy, I know, but if you can get over the fact that a medical professional is in your bum, you will find that this treatment is extremely beneficial. I have treated many men like you. Once the indignity of the initial exam has been conquered, most patients report a sense of quiet in their pelvises when they are receiving the appropriate treatment. They report decreased pain in the rectum over time and have more regular bowel movements.

The action plan for you, Juan, is to find a pelvic floor physical therapist. I have a good feeling that this will allow your pelvis to return to a calm state and facilitate more consistent and pain-free bathroom relief.

By Michelle Dela Rosa, PT

It's the year 2020, and we're all hearing about new goals and unrealized dreams. I'd like to run in a 5K this year. I want to cut sugar from my diet. I'm going to spend more time with my family... We've treated thousands of people at Connect over the last 11 years, and I'm so proud to say that we have witnessed so many people's success stories, your success stories.

One common thread that runs through the most successful stories is that these people made different choices. Choices that have led to actionable change. Running a 5K means more than signing up for the gym. Commit to exercise 5 times a week. Bring on the savory! Instead of just avoiding your favorite sweet treats, meal plan for the week to include new and easy to make recipes. How will more time magically appear for your kids, parents, friends, or significant other? Set a time limit on social media, or eliminate an app altogether :)

Make choices that are going to lead to tangible, positive results. Each result should take you one step closer to your goal. This is how we create a plan for you to reach goals in physical therapy, and it's what we'd love to see for you outside of therapy. ​

​PS - Life is always going to "get in the way." Keep calm and carry on.

Here's my 3-year-old trying to break my commitment to exercise in the family room!

The obturator internus sits inside the pelvis and travels around out the back of the pelvis to the femur (thigh bone). This muscle rotates the hip out, moves the leg wide when it’s forward, and stabilizes the hip.  ​

​Question from Kirk: I am an avid bike guy. I go outdoor trail riding on weekends, over 60 miles, if the weather is good. On my weekdays, I do spin classes to stay in shape. I have begun noticing a dull ache in my testicles that won’t go away, even if I skip a day of riding. I went to my urologist because of my testicular pain. After some tests and an ultrasound, she said there is nothing wrong with my scrotum, but that I should lay off the bike riding. It is my favorite way to blow off steam after a long week at the office. Is bike riding related to my testicular pain? If so, do I have to stop altogether?

Answer from Becca: Kirk, I understand how distressing it is to have undiagnosable pain in your pelvis. While working in a pelvic floor physical therapy clinic, we treat men like you all the time. Your testicular pain may be caused by tension in the small muscles of the saddle region of your body. The nerves and soft tissues of the groin are delicate and often get upset when they are compressed, as they would be during prolonged sitting on your bike seat. In your particular case, these bodily structures are also being jostled around quite a bit, especially during your trail rides on bumpy terrain. Spin classes also present a particular strain on the saddle area, as you are likely raising your butt off the seat for increased resistance and then slamming your body right back down to a sitting position a few moments later.

Bike riding is your passion, and I wouldn’t want to rid you of something you like, especially if it is helping you “blow off steam after a long week at the office”. There are a few modifications that may help ease the pressure off your testicles and decrease your pain. Firstly, buy a seat for your trail bike that is specially designed for people with pelvic pain. There are many from which to choose, and they will often have a hole cut out of the seat, so that your pelvic floor will not be in contact with any surface while you ride. Secondly, when outdoors, try to bike on level surfaces for now. The rugged land of the trails is like riding a Jeep in the jungle. What you want to do to rest your pelvic floor muscles and scrotum is to travel on level terrain (cement), which will feel like riding your grandfather’s Cadillac with superb suspension. I know, it won’t be the same, but bear with me. Your testicles need this rest right now. Thirdly, if you are going to do spin classes, buy your own bike seat designed for pelvic pain sufferers, install it before a class, and avoid the alternating standing/sitting repetitions that spin classes are famous for.

In time, your testicles will heal and you may get back to the point when you can resume trail riding. Also, if you have the time, find a pelvic floor physical therapist. The tight muscles of your pelvic floor can be stretched and any possible soft tissue restrictions within your scrotum can be addressed as well. By doing this, you will be sending your testicles on a much-needed vacation and they will thank you for it in the future.

Question from Lou: My partner and I are fairly certain that we are done having children. I am considering having a vasectomy but am worried that something might go wrong. Can you tell me about this surgery and what I might expect if I get it in the future?

Answer from Becca: I understand that this is a major decision, Lou, and you are not alone in the vast number of men who consider this procedure and are held back by trepidation about what the long-term implications might be. Let’s start with the anatomy or plumbing in how all this works. The sperm of a male is stored in tiny little coil, called the epididymis, that is located directly above each testicle. That sperm waits until it is needed, and then travels from the epididymis down a long tube called the vas deferens. The sperm then mixes with seminal fluid and is ejaculated through the penis. (This is a highly simplified explanation, but you get the idea). The procedure known as the vasectomy entails cutting both of the long tubes that serve as a conduit of the sperm to the ejaculatory fluid.

The surgery involves one or two small incisions in the scrotum. The vas deferens is cut and a small piece may be removed, leaving a gap between the two ends. The physician then sears the ends of the tube, and ties little knots on each end. This is then performed on the opposite vas deferens. Afterwards, there may be one to two small scars on the scrotum which heal rapidly. Then, voila! This surgery is a 99% effective form of birth control.

​The recovery time after a vasectomy is quite short. You will need a few days of rest and some ice on the groin. After undergoing this surgery, many men are satisfied that they 1) no longer have to use condoms if they have a single sex partner and 2) do not have to burden their female partner with the more tricky forms of birth control, which do not offer as high a protection against pregnancy.

​There is a small risk of side-effects for this surgery, including the formation of a granuloma (a small lump of scar tissue where the vas deferens has been cut), though this is often not pain-producing. The sensation and quality of ejaculation will usually remain completely unchanged. I hope that I have answered your questions, Lou, and best of luck in making your decision!

Question from Sergio: I am in my mid-thirties and have a very high-stress corporate job. On the days when I work 12 plus hours, my girlfriend often wants to have sex late at night. I find that I take longer to finish and that my ejaculation is more like a dribble than the forceful explosions that I usually have. Is something wrong? What should I do about this?

​Answer from Becca: Sergio, this is a great question and a common cause of concern for men. It all boils down to the lives that we live today. Many men have high-stress corporate jobs. Which means they are under tremendous pressure for long hours, they are often sitting, and their tension is traveling down to the muscles upon which they sit. This is the perfect description of mild pelvic floor tension. Just as some people carry their muscular tension in their shoulders or low backs, you are storing it in your pelvic floor, Sergio. And these days, with the way that we work and live in our society, your need for increased time to ejaculate and the decreased power of your ejaculation are both incredibly common.

While it wouldn’t hurt to see a urologist to rule out any other problems, these sexual issues are likely caused by tightness in your pelvic floor muscles. In order for arousal to take place, the muscles of the pelvic floor should lengthen and allow blood to pool within the testicles and penis. If these muscles are tight, they may not be allowing enough blood into these tissues and erections may be less rigid. This would cause a delay in ejaculation, resulting in increased time to finish the job. Furthermore, that decreased blood flow into the groin would result in less pressure generated to create the “forceful explosions” that you typically experience, Sergio. A weak dribble of seminal fluid at climax may often result.
​
In summary, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong here, Sergio, except that you are living in the world today. My suggestion would be to practice some form of stress reduction at the end of these long workdays. It could be as simple as listening to some calming music during your commute home. You might want to do some simple stretches on the floor or spend time with your girlfriend without rushing into sex late in the evenings. Finally, you could reschedule sex for early mornings or weekends. This would assist your pelvic floor in being more primed and relaxed to achieve the quality of arousal and ejaculation that you deserve.

Foye: I think that the biggest problem is that the vast majority of physicians unfortunately have a huge blind spot when it comes to understanding coccyx [tailbone] pain. We learned almost nothing about the coccyx in medical school. This leads to four main problems.

1. First, unfortunately many patients suffer for months and years before anyone even figures out that the pain is coming from the coccyx.
2. Secondly, most doctors do not really try to figure out what is causing the tailbone pain. Instead they label this as "coccydynia"; which literally just means coccyx pain, which is a symptom. We need to find the cause of that symptom.
3. Thirdly, the doctors often do not take the pain seriously, telling the patient that it is “just“ your tailbone. They minimize the symptoms and are sometimes even dismissive, in a way they would not treat patients with pain at other body regions.
4. Fourthly, doctors will incorrectly tell patients that there is nothing that can be done to treat tailbone pain, or that the only treatment is surgically amputating the coccyx (coccygectomy). Those ideas are completely outdated and completely wrong.

Dela Rosa: Your book Tailbone Pain Relief Now! describes the many reasons why people end up with tailbone pain. Are there 1 or 2 causes of tailbone pain that are more common than others?

Foye: Great question! By far the most common cause coccyx pain is when there is an unstable joint between the bones of the coccyx. Many medical textbooks and websites incorrectly state that the coccyx is a single fused bone. But that is rarely true. In the vast majority of humans, there are 3 to 5 individual coccygeal bones, with variability in whether there is fusion between any of those bones. Most people have at least a few coccygeal joints. And most people with coccyx pain have joint hypermobility (excessive movement) as the source of their pain.

The second most common cause of coccyx pain is a "bone spur"; extending from the lowest tip of the coccyx. When this happens at the bottom of the coccyx, there is thickening of the bone that projects backwards, often coming to a sharp focal point. It’s almost like a tiny icicle made of bone. This bone spur pinches the skin between the spur and the chair where the patient sits, and especially when they sit leaning partly backwards.

Dela Rosa: Thank you for clarifying the common causes of tailbone pain. In your book, you detail some of the seat cushions and medications that may help. People ask about injections for pain. As a pain management doctor, would injections be helpful for these causes and if so, could you describe how and what kind?

Foye: Sure it's a great question. Medications by mouth have a couple of big problems with them, which is why a lot of times medication given focally by a small local injection could be superior. 

When medications are given by mouth, number one they go through multiple places throughout the body. If you're taking medication by mouth, they can cause side effects in the stomach, the intestines, the liver, and the kidneys, so the side effects can be quite limiting. 

The second problem with medications by mouth is that because the medicine travels throughout the entire body, it gets diluted out. So only a minuscule amount of the medication actually makes it to the tailbone where the patient needs it the most. Many of these patients do respond to medication given locally at the site. Typically, that's done under fluoroscopic guidance. Fluoroscopy is like x-ray up on a computer screen, and using fluoroscopy we can target a specific location at the tailbone. I'm generally opposed to blind injections, which is where injections are done without any image guidance because 1) you can't guarantee where the medication is going to go and whether it's actually given at a place where it's going to be helpful, and 2) you also can get into problems if it's given in the wrong place - it can cause side effects. 

So back to your question, which was about the diagnoses like hypermobility or a bone spur... Absolutely those can respond very, very well to placing medication locally at the spot under image guidance. Often that's a combination of steroid which helps to fight inflammation, and also local anesthetic which can be given as a nerve block and can be very helpful when there's hyperactivity or hyperirritability of the nerves.

Dela Rosa: How is the x-ray your center performs different than how many other facilities perform the test?

Foye: Here at the Coccyx Pain Center, the biggest difference is that we take coccyx x-rays while the patient is sitting down, since that is when tailbone pain hurts the most. I have trained the radiology technicians here regarding how to properly perform this technique, which was first developed in France. Very few places in the United States have ever heard of this approach and even fewer are experienced at doing these x-rays properly. We have evaluated and treated thousands of patients with tailbone pain, many of whom fly in from around the country and internationally. And it is extremely common that patients had previous imaging studies that were read as being normal. But then they come here and our seated x-rays show that when the person sits down and leans backwards (putting their body weight onto the coccyx) they often have very dramatic dislocations or other abnormalities that would be completely undetected if the x-rays had not been done while the patient was sitting. It is a huge relief for patients to finally have an answer as to what is causing their pain. Then, when we have identified a specific cause for their pain, we can provide treatments for that specific cause, which is much more likely to be helpful than generic treatments done blindly without a diagnosis.​

​Foye: A lot of this goes back to and starts with the general lack of awareness that physicians, radiologists and radiology technicians have about tailbone pain. Frequently, they lump it all in with low back pain. Lumbosacral pain is thousands of times more common than tailbone pain. A lot of the automatic checkoff boxes that people have on their radiology x-ray or MRI forms will have a box to check off for lumbar spine or lumbosacral spine, but they will not have a box to check off for the coccyx or tailbone just because it is thousands of times less common. So what happens is that the primary care doctor, or the orthopedic surgeon, or the pain management doctor, will check off the box and order lumbar or lumbosacral x-rays or MRI, and then that doesn't even include the tailbone at all. 

The next problem then is that the study gets done and the patient is told that there's nothing wrong, and that there's no explanation for their pain when really the images did not even include the symptomatic area, or worse yet, it shows an incidental finding of the lumbar spine that may not be causing any symptoms at all. But now they start down the treatment path of epidural injections, and even spine surgery and other things for a part of the body that wasn't even causing the problem. So basically back to your question about what the patient can do: 1) look at the orders, look at the x-ray or MRI orders, make sure that the ordering physician has specifically explicitly requested imaging of the coccyx, and 2) when you go into the radiology center, make a point of talking to the radiology technician and being crystal clear with them that this is not your lumbar spine, that this is not up in the small of your back at the belt line, that the pain is specifically down at the coccyx, and make sure that the radiology technician is going to include that part of the anatomy within the study. It really does require a certain amount of self-advocacy by the patient unfortunately to fight this uphill battle against the ignorance that's out there.

Dela Rosa: I'm just curious, have people come to you from outside of the US? Or are you mostly seeing people domestically?

Foye: Most of my patients travel in from out-of-state and about a third of my patients fly in. It's maybe 5% or less that are international. Within the last six to 12 months, I've had patients from Japan, Sweden, Africa, the UK, New Zealand, and I think two from Australia. Which really just gets back to that there's this unmet need out there and patients who are not able to find local clinicians who will either take them seriously or that know the appropriate testing and treatments to provide.

Dela Rosa:  How do you work with pelvic floor physical therapists in the treatment of tailbone pain?​

​Foye: As a physician specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), I'm a strong advocate for the role of physical therapists in treating patients who are suffering from painful musculoskeletal conditions. Historically, a big problem was that very few physical therapists were comfortable or experienced in treating pelvic floor problems. Fortunately, that has been improving in recent years.

The pelvic floor is often described as being like a muscular sling, or hammock, which supports and holds up the pelvic organs. The back end of that sling has attachments to the coccyx. Pelvic floor physical therapists and I often collaborate on figuring out the "chicken and the egg" phenomenon. By that I mean that we assess whether a patient is having tailbone pain due to pulling and tugging onto the tailbone caused by tightness and spasms of the muscles that attach to the coccyx. Or, sometimes it could be just the reverse: a painful condition at the coccyx itself might be causing reactive muscle spasm and guarding of the pelvic floor. If evaluation and treatment at one location is not providing adequate relief, then it often makes sense to collaborate and to consult each other, to help the patients find the answers and relief that they deserve.​

Most orthopedic injuries have protocols after surgery for rehabilitation prior to returning to sport. However, there is not a set protocol for women after giving birth to return to their prior level of activity safely. Many women have very limited knowledge of their pelvic floor or ability to strengthen the muscles to support their organs and keep them from leaking urine or bowel movements. Very frequently, women are not even aware of pelvic organ prolapse (POP). POP occurs when the pelvic floor muscles are weakened and the bladder, uterus, or rectum can start to press into or drop out of the vagina.  ​

​The research shows that women should wait until 3-6 months postpartum to return to running. For women anxious to return to running, that seems forever! The reason to wait is based on healing time. For vaginal births, the pelvic floor muscles are stretched greatly, and the levator hiatus (pictured below) can take as long as 12 months to become closer to baseline. In addition, the pelvic floor muscles, connective tissue and nerve healing is maximized by 4-6 months (Staer-Jensen et al. 2015). That means that women should seek a pelvic floor physical therapist after vaginal births as soon as they are cleared in order to maximize their ability to heal these tissues.

Recent studies support the benefits of mindfulness for bowel health. A 2014 study of 53 patients reported that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) “had a significant positive impact on the quality of life…” on people diagnosed with ulcerative colitis compared to a control group (1).

Another study the same year examined 24 people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and compared them to a control group. Authors concluded that mindfulness-based therapy was more effective than cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to decrease symptoms in those with IBS at a 2-month follow-up. (2)

Is what you are eating contributing to your pain? Can the choice of food you eat actually help to relieve pain? Can nutritional interventions ease your pain? The answer is that nutritional interventions are often effective in reversing chronic pain. Simple dietary changes that remove inflammatory foods and replace it with better choices can help to reverse chronic pain conditions. Pain conditions are often due to an imbalance in the body’s chemistry. This can be due to many factors, such as a lack of nutrients in your diet, stress overload, lack of exercise, increased inflammation, insulin resistance and environmental factors. Nutritional interventions can be one element for shifting the chronic pain response.

In the links below, Joe Tatta, PT, DPT,  addresses components of various anti-inflammatory diets and their benefits. Dr. Tatta is a physical therapist and Founder of the Integrative Pain Science Institute, an education company that supports practitioners as they explore integrative models for pain. In these blogs, there is a review of the current literature of the types of foods and diet that can ease the pain associated with various health conditions. 

• https://www.integrativepainscienceinstitute.com/?s=diet+part+1
• https://www.integrativepainscienceinstitute.com/diet-best-pain-part-two/
• https://www.integrativepainscienceinstitute.com/fibromyalgia-research-new-hope/

The Basics:

1. Eat clean food. This means food that is unprocessed. Eat meats and poultry that are organic when possible, and fish that is wild caught. Eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits, and consume grains that are in their purest form. 
2. Avoid the trap of “organic” and “gluten- free”. Creative marketing is trying to convince us that these foods are healthy. Check the ingredient list. These often consist of low quality, highly processed ingredients. Also. beware of “natural flavors”. That can be a way to hide MSG, yeast, sugar and non-vegetarian based products. Look at the nutrition facts label for additional information.
3. Natural fats and oils are good for you. These include olive oil, ghee, butter, coconut oil and avocados/avocado oil. 
4. Some people benefit from the reduction or elimination of dairy milk products from their diet. This may only be needed as a temporary change. Great substitutes include butter, milk and cheese made from nuts and seeds. Once again, make them yourself to avoid the highly processed, less nutritional commercial items. It is very easy and there are plenty of recipes on the internet. The recipes can often be found by looking up the vegan and/or paleo versions of a recipe. 
5. Eat whole grains and legumes. Whole grains include quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, barley and whole wheat. Consider using sprouted wheat flour or any other sprouted grain when you bake and cook. Sprouted grains are easy to digest, contain more fiber, and have more available nutrients. Ezekial 4.9 bread is an easily digestible sprouted grain bread and can be easily found in grocery stores, health food stores and Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s aldo has a few varieties of sprouted grain bread. Also, consider sprouting legumes to receive similar benefits. Check out these links for tips to sprout your legumes or just do a Google search.
   
   For more on this, visit Sprout People.
   
   Avoid refined and highly processed grains. If you do go “gluten-free,” be aware to avoid the refined and highly processed grain substitutes.  
6. Use natural sweeteners like stevia, which is an herb, monk fruit, raw honey, date sugar and maple syrup. Avoid refined sugars and artificial sweeteners. 
7. Drink hydrating liquids like water, broths, fresh juices and herbal teas. Carbonated beverages, alcohol and caffeine are bladder irritants that can trigger inflammation. 
8. For the more sensitive beings, (and we know who we are), it may be beneficial to avoid one or more of the following: eggs, peanuts, corn and alcohol.
9. Enjoy liberally seasoning your food with plenty of herbs and spices to enhance the flavors. 

These are some general guidelines. There is not a “one-size fits all” eating plan as you are unique and complex. Start by making a few changes in your diet and notice how you feel. For example, you can eliminate sugar and processed foods.  Making limited changes will assist in recognizing how those particular foods impact you. Is there a relationship between food and pain? Going slowly and changing one or two things at a time is recommended so that you can identify whether a particular modification had an effect. 
What happens if you eat a dessert or two, have some alcohol or coffee,  or eat some other food that is generally considered inflammation provoking?  By all means - enjoy it and savor the experience! There will be more on that in an upcoming blog. Resume the low inflammation regimen when you can and just move forward. 

What you choose to eat has an influence on your overall health and resolving pain. Nutrition and diet affect both the physical and psychological processes that impact chronic pain, and good nutrition can be a pivotal component to attain and sustain optimal function and quality of life.  

Making delicious and nutritious meals and desserts can be simple. Here is a simple 3 ingredient treat to get you started.

Blueberry Banana Muffins
Ingredients: 

• 5 very ripe bananas
• 1 cup nut butter
• 1.5 cups of blueberries

Preparation: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add the nut butter and mix until combined.
• Add the blueberries and mix well. 
• Use muffin cups or prepare the muffin tin by rubbing/spraying it with oil.
• Add the batter to the muffin tin.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes.
• Let the muffins cool. Enjoy!
• Makes 12 muffins. ​

For reference, check out the Integrative Pain Science Institute.

​Question from Marc: I have premature ejaculation. It has been part of my life since I was sexually active at 16 years old and I am now 33. Is this something that can be helped by pelvic floor physical therapy?

Answer from Becca: Marc, I would imagine that you may have been treated by psychotherapists for your issue. In the last century, many specialists have placed premature ejaculation into the category of a problem of the brain. However, pelvic floor physical therapists now treat your particular diagnosis in an entirely different manner. What we have discovered in treating men like you, is that those who experience early climax often have tight musculature in their saddle muscles (the muscles of your body that would be in contact with the saddle of a horse, were you seated upon one). In the ideal situation of arousal, these saddle muscles should expand and allow blood to flow into the penis and testicles. This blood should be retained in this saddle area to allow for an adequate time span during arousal and penetrative sex before ejaculation. In the case of premature ejaculation, the muscles of this saddle region are taut and cannot allow accumulation of blood to pool in the testicles and penis, which then creates an emergency expulsion of the seminal fluid from the penis.

This condition of premature ejaculation is treated in pelvic floor physical therapy. We assist men in reaching longer time durations of their erections by teaching them to lengthen their pelvic floor (saddle) muscles. We also instruct patients and their partners to increase the time of arousal and defer climax, thereby encouraging the blood flow necessary to prolong the sexual experience. In answer to your question, Marc, you can find help with a pelvic floor physical therapist.​

Finally, for Chen and the vast number of guys like him, view this PDF for the technique on how to avoid the post-void dribble.

​Question from Don: 
“I am 32 years old and have no difficulty with sex. I do find that it is hard for me to pee after ejaculation. Is this normal? And should I be forcing out pee after sex?”
 
Answer from Becca:
​“What you are describing is very normal. The muscles of your pelvic floor that allow you to maintain an erection and expel semen during ejaculation are in a shortened position during sex. These same muscles must be completely relaxed and elongated to allow urine to exit the urethra. Asking your body to pee immediately after having sex is like decelerating a car from 90 mph to a full stop. The pelvic floor muscles are too revved up after climax to stretch and relax. Instead of ‘forcing out pee after sex’, try sitting on the toilet and taking some deep breaths. This will allow whatever is within the bladder to naturally come out of your penis. And if you do not have the urge to pee after sex, you needn’t try this at all.”

​Question from Gary:
​“I am 53 years old and in pretty good shape. I have diabetes and my erections are not as strong as they used to be. My doctor has tried to give me Cialis; it works only some of the time, and it is very expensive. Are there any tips that you could offer as a pelvic floor physical therapist to improve my erections?”
 
Answer from Becca:
​“Erectile dysfunction and diabetes are often linked. This is because having high blood sugar in the body alters circulation of blood and leads to nerve damage over time. The good news is that this type of erectile dysfunction can be reversed with good lifestyle choices. Maintaining a good diet for stable blood sugar, regular exercise and stress reduction can all help to improve your sexual response. From a physical therapy perspective, we can teach you how to isolate and contract your pelvic floor muscles during sex (also known as Kegel exercises), and improve your core strength. This will allow for increased rigidity of erections. You are one of so many men with exactly the same problem; there is help in pelvic floor physical therapy for a better sex life.”

​Question from Pedro:
​“I am 28 and began having groin pain over one year ago. I have penile pain along my shaft and up towards the tip, both during and after sex. It helps when I masturbate versus have sex with someone else, because I can avoid the tip of my penis and ejaculate with much less pain. I am not having sex with anyone at the moment, but I am worried because I used to get morning erections and now I don’t. Is this normal? I can’t exactly ask my friends.”
 
Answer from Becca:
“This is a multi-pronged question, so I want to be careful that I address each part of it. First, a great place for you to start if you have penile pain would be to go to a physician. There may be an infection under your foreskin (known as Balanitis), certain cancers or scar tissue development within the penis (also named Peyronie’s disease. You may have seen commercials on television about this diagnosis). Once your physician has ruled out any medical cause for the pain in your penis, a pelvic floor physical therapist can assess the musculature of your pelvis to determine if there are any imbalances or muscle tension that may be driving your pain.

​“Second, having pain in the penis is one of the symptoms of Chronic Male Pelvic Pain Syndrome. That is not to say you have this diagnosis, Pedro. But this description of your problem is more common than you know. In pelvic floor physical therapy, we treat many men with penile, testicular, perineal and rectal pain. The causation of this pain is often tight musculature in the saddle area. Relaxation of these muscles can do wonders, but it is often difficult for guys to learn how to relax this region of the body without some guidance.

“Thirdly, many men with such symptoms tend to prefer masturbation to sex with a partner, especially when they are having a flare-up of pain. This is because, just as you mentioned, only you know what hurts and how to avoid pain during sex. Your partner will have a more challenging time working around your specific pain. That said, once your symptoms are decreasing in severity, the reintroduction of sex with a partner can be a creative and exciting learning curve. Physical therapists can help with this area of problem-solving with both partners.

“Lastly, morning erections are the body’s natural response from overflow of the parasympathetic nerves in your spine. In other words, the nerves are sending calming signals to the pelvis during sleep. This explains why having erections in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning is not a result of having erotic dreams or a person feeling aroused, per se; rather, the body is in a calm state and the testicles and penis become engorged with blood during sleep. Your lack of morning erections is consistent with your penile pain. This is because your pelvis is not relaxing appropriately during the sleep cycle to facilitate those erections. Many men with pelvic pain find that their morning erections return once their symptoms of pain are better managed. This is a good sign that the muscles of the pelvis are relaxing and allowing the return of painfree arousal and improved sex.”

​By Karen Bruno, PT, DPT

According to a recent article published in the American Journal of Physical Therapy, “Research continues to reveal that sleep is not a period of physiologic inactivity; rather, it represents a critical period of recovery that supports cardiovascular, neurologic, and other life functions. Sleep is a basic human need, and recent attention on sleep by researchers and media are changing sleep attitudes and behaviors. Sufficient sleep was often viewed as a luxury, and reduced sleep time was often equated with increased productivity; however, attitudes are shifting to prioritize sufficient quality sleep.  Quality sleep is recognized as a positive health behavior, and it has been recommended to consider sleep as another vital sign,  as sleep can give insight into the functioning and health of the body (3)."

You may have noticed that getting a good night’s sleep helps you to feel better both physically and mentally and this helps you function better during your waking hours.  Basically, getting a good night’s sleep is a game changer that enhances the quality of your life. “Sleep is critical for the proper functioning of the body, including immune function, tissue healing, pain modulation, cardiovascular health, cognitive function, and learning and memory.  Impaired sleep can lead to obesity, mood disorders, constipation and heart disease” (3).

1. https://www.sleepassociation.org/about-sleep/sleep-statistics/​
2. https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/97/8/826/3831304
3. Siengsukon CF, Al-dughmi M, Stevens S. Sleep health promotion: practical information for physical therapists. Phys Ther. 2017;97(8):826-836. 

 
Tips for Healthy Sleep
There is good news! There are many natural ways to improve the quality of your sleep and restore your sleep health. Scroll through the list below and try one or more of the tips, and see how they work for you.

• Decrease stress - Try diaphragmatic breathing to help you wind down and de-stress. Breathing full breaths in through your nose for 4 seconds and exhaling through your mouth or nose for 8 seconds is calming to the nervous system.
• Create your bedroom space as a peaceful sanctuary - remove electronics, TV’s, exercise equipment and anything that may remind you of any form of work. Reserve your bed for sleeping and intimacy.
• Get to bed in enough time to enable you to get 7+ hours of sleep. Create a relaxing bedtime routine. Read a book or take a bath to help wind down.
• Establish regular sleeping and waking hours
• Avoid light-emitting electronic devices at least 30 minutes to 2 hours before bedtime; use amber glasses at night when watching TV or working on a laptop.
• Find the right temperature for your bedroom. The general recommendation is to keep the bedroom temperature between 60-70 degrees.
• Sleep in complete darkness. Use of an eye mask may be beneficial to keep light out. Use earplugs or a white noise machine to block out noises.
• Consider applying a hot pack to your abdomen. This can be very calming. Keep the hot pack on for no more than 20 minutes. If you tend to have cold feet, wrapping a hot pack around your feet for 10-20 minutes can be warming and relaxing.
• Consider using essential oils. Lavender, Roman Chamomile and Vetiver provide relaxing effects and calm the nervous system. You can diffuse them, put the oils on your pulse point, rub them on the bottom of your feet, lightly spray them on your pillowcase or add them to an Epsom Salt bath and take the bath before bedtime.
• Find a comfortable, supportive, neutral sleep positions. Use of a neck roll or a lumbar roll, or a pillow between your knees when you are on your side as positioning supports.
• Avoid taking naps to catch up on sleep.
• Exercise can have a positive effect on deep sleep. Find the time of day that works best for you. Stretching, strengthening, yoga, aerobics or a combination of activities may be right for you.
• Avoid alcohol, caffeine and other inflammation-causing foods, like sugary snacks, refined carbohydrates, or processed meats, late at night.
• Support through vitamins and supplements may be useful. Please check with your doctor, nutritionist, pharmacist or herbal practitioner for what may be right for you. Some common sleep nutrients include ashwagandha, valerian, chamomile, passion flower, lemon balm, melatonin, L-theanine and 5-HTP or Tryptophan.  GABA is helpful if sleep is disturbed by anxiety. Taurine and phosphatidylserine help to lower cortisol. Magnesium and magnesium glycinate are helpful in insomnia.
• Move your energy through easy Energy Medicine exercises.

However, there is research that suggests that women who have painful penetration and have not yet had children, three maximum Kegels can significantly lower vaginal resting pressure and surface EMG(1).  Lower resting pressure and surface EMG, or biofeedback, translates to lower muscle tension, improved function, and less pain.

Biofeedback can be a very helpful tool to determine if this type of treatment is right for you.  Small electrodes (stickers) are placed on either side of the anus.  These electrodes connect to a computer that measures the muscle activity in the pelvic floor. As you watch the computer, a therapist will guide you through how to contract and relax your pelvic floor and try the three maximal contractions.  If the tension in the pelvis is reduced, the therapist will provide you with your home exercise program that includes the three maximal contractions.  
 
Can maximal voluntary pelvic floor muscle contraction reduce vaginal resting pressure and resting EMG activity? Naess, I. & Bø, K. Int Urogynecol J (2018) 29: 1623. 

​A lot of people ask us about the practice of physiatry. Some people know how it's pain management, but they don't really know how it's different than seeing their gynecologist ​or their urologist in the way they would treat their pelvic pain. So, can you give me a general overview to describe physiatry and how it treats pelvic pain differently than their gynecologist or their urologist. ​
​
Dr. Shrikande: Sure, thank you so much for having me, Michelle, this is great. For a physiatrist treating pelvic pain, we help the other doctors treat the muscles, the nerves, and the joints of the pelvis in a non-operative approach.  
​
Michelle: How would that be different--can you give me examples of treatments that people may not see with their doctor that they're already seeing?

Dr. Shrikande: Essentially, we want to look at it from more of a sports medicine approach, seeing if the pelvic pain is coming from the pelvic floor musculature. Are the muscles in spasm and potentially irritating the nerves of the pelvis, causing some pain? So that's where we would come in when we're evaluating patients. Is there a pelvic floor muscle spasm, which we call pelvic floor hypertonia and can cause pain in patients. And we're really trying to evaluate why this is happening and is there anything from the sports medicine standpoint where we can identify a cause and help to find a proper diagnosis and treatment.

Michelle: I was lucky enough to be able to shadow you for an afternoon and I noticed that while you were treating patients, you were interested in not just recognizing that there was spasm, but like you said, what else could be contributing to it. So what other things do you look for that could be contributing to pelvic spasm?

Dr. Shrikande: From the musculoskeletal or the sports medicine standpoint, you want to see if there's anything going on in the lumbar spine that can cause pelvic floor dysfunction. Or is there anything going on in the sacroiliac joint? Or you want to consider the hips--are the hips working, functioning well? And is there any underlying pathology in the hips as well as what we call the pubic symphysis, which is the joint in the anterior aspect of the pelvis. In addition, is there anything going on from the other specialties as well that could be causing this secondary guarding of the pelvic floor muscles? So is there a gynecological reason if it's a female, or urological reason if you're male or female, or maybe from the GI system, etc? But you really want to say, 'Is there anything else going on here that's causing these muscles to go into this guarding state where it's really not letting go very well?'

Michelle: This is interesting because so many of my patients say they've gotten a diagnosis of pelvic spasm, but they didn't really get checked out. As a physiatrist, you are doing a pelvic exam?

Dr. Shrikande: When you see us, we would do a full exam--again looking at your back, your hips, etc--but we do end the exam evaluating your pelvic floor both externally and internally. So we do an internal exam. I always tell our patients that we're not gynecologists, so we're really looking at the muscles and distribution of the nerves internally. But we would do an internal exam and it does not require a speculum. It would be similar to an internal exam of a pelvic floor physical therapist--we really look at the tone of the muscles, the strength, and the lift of the pelvic floor, and follow the nerve distribution internally to see if there's any increased sensitivity or pain internally.   

Michelle: Wonderful, we have such a growing population of men coming to see us for pelvic pain as well. And they're always curious how your exam would be different or how you would be able to help them because they're hearing that a lot of these treatments are for women. Would they be able to access you and what would you be able to offer them?

Dr. Shrikande: We see a lot of men here at Pelvic Rehabilitation Medicine, about equal amounts of men and women. From the muscle, nerve and joint standpoint, the anatomy is actually the same. For us, evaluating men and women, it is a similar approach. For the men, we do look at your lumbar spine, hips, and abdomen, any concern for underlying hernias that could have been missed. But then we do an internal pelvic floor exam as well--it would be internal rectally, also evaluating the muscle's tone and lift and any nerve tenderness internally. With men it would be a similar approach trying to see if there is any possible underlying cause for pelvic floor guarding. And then it's a full body treatment approach where we really can--we call it down-regulate--or calm down the nerves, of both the central and peripheral nervous system and increase blood flow to your muscles, and get the muscles longer and stronger to rehabilitate the pelvic floor. 

Michelle: Many of our patients have been seeing multiple providers. And I noticed that in your practice, you seem to be a gateway to many of the other providers, sort of--coordinating care. Is that part of your model of care and how would you say your practice runs differently than other practices that treat pelvic pain?

Dr. Shrikande: Definitely. We see ourselves as the quarterback here, because as rehabilitation doctors, we really are trained from the beginning to look at the whole body and the interplay between multiple organ systems. So quite often, we are talking to a patient, and in our minds, thinking if there's any other specialist that we would need to bring into the picture to help us get this patient better. We work closely with specialists who are excellent in treating the pelvic pain from their angle. But we do see ourselves as the quarterback kind of sending as needed, as well as working closely with pelvic floor physical therapy, to figure out how to get our patients better and what other specialty is needed to calm down their muscles and their nerves.

Michelle: Some of our patients have been getting injections for their pelvic floor and they've been given an option for steroid. I know that you have other options, and also, can you touch upon the imaging that you use to guide you through the injections--if injections are necessary.

Dr. Shrikande: The way we do our injections, or treatments as we like to say…everything is external, nothing is internal. So it's all external, along the sling of the pelvic floor, and they're ultrasound guided. Patients call them their butt injections, that's kind of what it feels like--it's not internal, it's external. The idea behind the guidance is like internal eyes so you can see where you're going. And in addition, it allows us to do a hydrodissection technique, where we can really open up the fascial planes and create space where there is restriction, particularly where the nerves want to flow. What we're using to supplement for a steroid, is something called Traumeel, which is a homeopathic medicine, so it's derived from plants. The main ingredient is arnica--a lot of people have heard of arnica cream like topical arnica--but this is an injectable form of arnica and in combination with echinacea. So it's a nice way to promote healing in addition to decreasing inflammation, which is why we love it. I really used it more in my plastic surgery rotation. Post-operatively we would give it out after a surgery so that patients wouldn't become as bruised and swollen. It would decrease inflammation and promote a faster healing topically. So that's where the idea kind of came from.

Michelle: I know that one of the positions that you hold is that you're the Chair of the Medical Education Committee for the International Pelvic Pain Society. How do you feel that the position helps to shape what you do in your practice and helps shape how pelvic medicine is moving for the future?

Dr. Shrikande: We're actually lucky enough to be surrounded by amazing, intelligent, pelvic health practitioners who constantly push me to really think about things and learn more. The mission of what we do is educate the future of pelvic health from the medical practitioner standpoint--from both the residency program and urology, as well as gynecology and physiatry and any pelvic floor physical therapist who's had training there--just to try and increase awareness for the people who are training, that the pelvic floor itself is its own distinct entity. And although it does not show up in imaging, we really should not ignore it, particularly when the workup is normal and the patient symptoms persist. So we're really trying to raise awareness and at an earlier stage in physician's medical careers, in hopes of getting all our patients recognition earlier and treatment earlier. Because we really believe that is the key--early recognition and early treatment, to squashing it early and getting patients better. 

Michelle: What's the range of people that you see in terms of how long patients have had pelvic pain for prior to seeing you? Is there a range?

Dr. Shrikande: It's getting better by the day. But still at this point, the average is six months to 25/30 years worth of symptoms. Even six months is rarest. It's really along the lines of 1.5 years to 25 years.

Michelle: Hmm, yeah. So, both of us are working on that.

Dr. Shrikande: We have to work together.