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In order for men to have good penile health, for the tissue to stay healthy, men need to get erections.
There can be many reasons for men to develop erectile dysfunction but they can be largely broken down into 3 main categories.
Psychological erectile dysfunction. Depression, anxiety and stress all have adverse effects on erectile function. The solution? clinical psychologists, sex therapists, even simple strategies like meditation and relaxation time.
Medical erectile dysfunction. Vascular issues, neurological issues (such as occurs following prostate surgery), hormonal issues…all of these complex factors have to be assessed and evaluated by an experienced GP or sexual health doctor. Treatments of these issues can range from surgery and medications to counselling that patience and time should improve matters.
Physical dysfunction. Erections occur when blood moves into the penis and is held there. Pelvic floor muscles can act as both a pump to move blood in, and as a tourniquet to keep it in there. Pelvic floor muscles can become weak as we age, which is one reason that erectile dysfunction becomes more prevalent as we get older. But like all muscles that we have voluntary control over, we have the ability to target them specifically and then expose them to progressive training. Thats where we men’s health physios come into play.
RTUS led training of pelvic floor muscles has started to become the gold standard to show men how to isolate their muscles more effectively, and once you know where they are there are now gadgets like the private gym, a US based product (that has now got early scientific evidence behind it) to help men with pelvic floor muscle training. Lifting weights has never been so much fun!!!