Why Pelvic Floor Exercises Benefit Men as Well as Women

By A Doherty

The benefits of pelvic floor exercises for women, particularly after childbirth, are well established. However these simple exercises are also very valuable for men following prostatectomy (the removal of the prostate due to a diagnosis of cancer). During the first few weeks after a prostatectomy, almost all patients experience some urinary incontinence.

This is because removing the prostate disturbs the area between the bladder and urethra, which carries urine out of the body. During surgery, the bladder is pulled down to join the urethra and in so doing, restoring continuity. The bladder neck muscle (internal sphincter) is sometimes also weakened during surgery.

Consequently, before surgery men had three layers holding back urine - the internal sphincter muscle, the prostate lobes and an external sphincter muscle. After surgery, there is only one layer - the external sphincter.

This means that the single barrier needs to work very well. Therefore, pelvic floor exercises which strengthen these muscles can be very effective in the recovery of continence. A study following men through the first year after prostatectomy found pelvic floor exercises are effective in terms of reducing incontinence.*

The type of incontinence experienced by men in the first three months after a prostatectomy is typically mild leaking. But this can be very distressing for patients as they recover from surgery and want to return to normal life. Even when incontinence is mild, men are understandably uncomfortable about having to wear pads to work, for example.

At the Birmingham Prostate Clinic, we encourage our patients to do pelvic floor exercises and provide them with the support they need to ensure they are doing the exercises correctly.

Pelvic floor exercises are an unusual concept to most men, as they are far more closely associated with women. However we find that the majority of our patients are keen to do anything they can to improve their continence. Pelvic floor exercises are a valuable means of patients doing something themselves to aid their recovery.

We emphasise little and often. In many cases, patients expect results too quickly. We make the comparison with improving your muscle tone in the gym. You will not get results immediately, nor will you develop a 'six pack' if you pop down once a week. Improving bladder function through pelvic floor exercises, like muscle tone, requires effective practice, consistency and long term commitment.

By three months post surgery, 70 per cent of patients are continent. This is defined as no longer needing continence pads. Once patients have reached a year post surgery, only four per cent of patients are significantly incontinent. Among this group of patients who continue to experience incontinence after one year, many are older men and some will have had continence problems before surgery.

It is difficult to quantify exactly to what extent the recovery of continence is due to bulking up the muscles through pelvic floor exercises and how much is due to the natural healing process.

During surgery, the bladder is exposed and there will be some swelling after surgery and the bladder wall is left thickened. The bladder is unable to hold much urine and as soon as it begins to fill, the man feels the urge to urinate. This problem will improve with healing and time.

In conclusion, it is difficult to quantify exactly the role of pelvic floor exercises in the recovery of continence. Recovery varies from patient, influenced by individual factors. But we do believe that pelvic floors are beneficial in terms of improving muscle tone and therefore reducing incontinence. We also recognise the benefits for the patient of being able to do something himself in order to aid recovery.

*Pelvic floor re-education reduced incontinence 1 year after radical prostatectomy Van Kampen M, De Weerdt W, Van Poppel H, et al.Effect of pelvic-floor re-education on duration and degree of incontinence after radical prostatectomy: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2000 Jan 8;355::98-102[Medline] http://ebn.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/3/4/122

Alan Doherty is a Consultant Urologist and Medical Director of The Birmingham Prostate Clinic. A centre of excellence for Prostate Cancer Treatment

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How to Lose 10 Pounds in a Week

by John C White

Want to lose 10 pounds in a week? Want the weight loss to be more than just water weight? Would you like for it to be healthy as well? Then follow the tips below and you'll be well on your way to losing those pounds.

Select your Food

To burn away that weight, you need to eat food that has a high thermic effect, i.e. fat burning foods. This consist of low-glycemic carbohydrates such as lentils, apples and adequate servings of leans meat.

You want to do away with any type of process food: white breads, bleached rice and potato chips. You also need to cut out all soda's and that includes diet sodas. Even though they don't have calories, they don't help your digestive process like water does. In fact, they can leave you feeling hungry even though you just ate.

Also, you want to eat only lean meats such as chicken or turkey breast and tuna. Stay away from so-called lean beef. Even the leanest cut of beef has significant fat when compared to chicken or turkey.

Prepared all your meals before hand.

This is the secret of the plan to get you body burning calories like a furnace. You're going to eat 12 meals a day. Why 12? When you eat, the stored fat on your body is used as the energy source to consume, digest and process your food. This is know as the thermic effect of food.

By eating 12 meals a day, you body has to constantly work to process the food and thus you're constantly burning fat.

And make sure that you prepare all your meals well in advance. If you don't, then this is the part that can break you. Foregoing this step by telling yourself that you'll prepare them before you're ready to eat will probably lead to you not completing the plan.

Why? Because you're a busy person. When you're at work, you have deadlines to meet, tasks that should have been finished yesterday and a demanding boss. And if your work requires you to travel during the day, how are you going to be able to prepare every meal before you eat?

So you see it's critical that you prepare all your meal at least the day before. And if you have the time, prepare your meals for the whole week. Just having to pack and go saves a lot of time.

Use plastic sandwich bags to store them. Because the meals are so small you'll have no problem putting enough food in them to eat. Once prepared, place the meals that you're going to eat the next day in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer.

And buy yourself a small plastic container to heat the food in. When you're ready to eat, just unzip the sandwich bag, drop it in the container, set the microwave and then eat.

If you're really busy, forget the microwave and eat it cold. It may not be as appetizing, but since you want to lose those 10 pounds, it beats skipping a meal. Plus, since the food is cold, your body will have to warm it up before it can be processed, which means more fat calories burned.

Make a schedule and stick to it.

Now that you have your food prepared, you need to make a schedule when to eat. This means writing it down. Even though I'm sure you have a great mind, let's not rely on it to keep you on track. The more structured you become at eating, the better your chances for success. Just remember the saying, "Chance favors the well prepared" or something like that. You get the picture.;

Remember, for one week you're turning your body into a super-charged fat burning furnace. The key to making this plan work for you is to prepare.

And keep this in mind. Your best ally in losing weight begins with knowledge. So keep learning so you can keep losing. :)


Check out this free listing of fat burning foods at www.How-To-Burn-Fat.com and be certain to check out information on some of the hottest selling diet plans.

How to Lose 10 Pounds in a Week

by John C White

Want to lose 10 pounds in a week? Want the weight loss to be more than just water weight? Would you like for it to be healthy as well? Then follow the tips below and you'll be well on your way to losing those pounds.

Select your Food

To burn away that weight, you need to eat food that has a high thermic effect, i.e. fat burning foods. This consist of low-glycemic carbohydrates such as lentils, apples and adequate servings of leans meat.

You want to do away with any type of process food: white breads, bleached rice and potato chips. You also need to cut out all soda's and that includes diet sodas. Even though they don't have calories, they don't help your digestive process like water does. In fact, they can leave you feeling hungry even though you just ate.

Also, you want to eat only lean meats such as chicken or turkey breast and tuna. Stay away from so-called lean beef. Even the leanest cut of beef has significant fat when compared to chicken or turkey.

Prepared all your meals before hand.

This is the secret of the plan to get you body burning calories like a furnace. You're going to eat 12 meals a day. Why 12? When you eat, the stored fat on your body is used as the energy source to consume, digest and process your food. This is know as the thermic effect of food.

By eating 12 meals a day, you body has to constantly work to process the food and thus you're constantly burning fat.

And make sure that you prepare all your meals well in advance. If you don't, then this is the part that can break you. Foregoing this step by telling yourself that you'll prepare them before you're ready to eat will probably lead to you not completing the plan.

Why? Because you're a busy person. When you're at work, you have deadlines to meet, tasks that should have been finished yesterday and a demanding boss. And if your work requires you to travel during the day, how are you going to be able to prepare every meal before you eat?

So you see it's critical that you prepare all your meal at least the day before. And if you have the time, prepare your meals for the whole week. Just having to pack and go saves a lot of time.

Use plastic sandwich bags to store them. Because the meals are so small you'll have no problem putting enough food in them to eat. Once prepared, place the meals that you're going to eat the next day in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer.

And buy yourself a small plastic container to heat the food in. When you're ready to eat, just unzip the sandwich bag, drop it in the container, set the microwave and then eat.

If you're really busy, forget the microwave and eat it cold. It may not be as appetizing, but since you want to lose those 10 pounds, it beats skipping a meal. Plus, since the food is cold, your body will have to warm it up before it can be processed, which means more fat calories burned.

Make a schedule and stick to it.

Now that you have your food prepared, you need to make a schedule when to eat. This means writing it down. Even though I'm sure you have a great mind, let's not rely on it to keep you on track. The more structured you become at eating, the better your chances for success. Just remember the saying, "Chance favors the well prepared" or something like that. You get the picture.;

Remember, for one week you're turning your body into a super-charged fat burning furnace. The key to making this plan work for you is to prepare.

And keep this in mind. Your best ally in losing weight begins with knowledge. So keep learning so you can keep losing. :)


Check out this free listing of fat burning foods at www.How-To-Burn-Fat.com and be certain to check out information on some of the hottest selling diet plans.