How many Pelvic Floor exercises...

User

Posted 04 Aug 2017 at 18:15

Hi,

2 years on from a radical prostatectomy I have very good bladder control.

t took a while to get here, steadily increasing the number of pelvic exercises per day.

My question is:

Once one reaches a situation where you have good bladder control, what is the average number of exercises required to maintain it.

I know we are all different, and we may all count them differently, but I count one forward clench for 1 second as ONE,

and a ten second backward hold TEN.

I alternate 10 forwards, with one 10 second backward hold = "20"

I reached 500 per day and have since maintained 400 per day without loss of muscle fitness.

Am I doing too much, am I risking a backward slide?

Or have others found that ever increasing the exercises gives aver increasing benefits?

I havent a clue, have you?

User

Posted 04 Aug 2017 at 20:09

I did them for about a year , maybe 50 a day only. But I was essentially dry from catheter removal luckily ( and I needed something to be grateful for )
Then I just forgot them altogether. I'm now 2 years on. Sometimes I feel like I've leaked on lifting or straining , but in fact I never have. Funnily I still slip a pad in if I'm going out in light trousers etc , but that's no different from a woman wearing a pant liner I suppose.
It seems you could have the clench of an American Pit Bull Terrier with all that exercise. Ease right off and see what happens ?

User

Posted 04 Aug 2017 at 22:12

I, personally, am an obsessive i.e. I will identify the objective and kill it. I am now 6 months post op and I never ever understood what I was 'exercising'? I would very dearly have liked to have known exactly what I needed to do and how to do it but nobody was ever able to clearly define that. After 6 months I have formed the view that exercising anything makes no difference towards the goal of continence. I (personally) had decent control from day one and on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being total control on day 1 (first day after catheter withdrawal) I was 6 and now I am 8. So I have formed the view that the muscle that 'controls' will get there (or not) over time (how long?) regardless of 'exercise'.

User

Posted 05 Aug 2017 at 08:58

Hi Chris,

Thank you for replying.

Just goes to show hp how different everyone is.

I leaked like NI agar a for months after catheter removal so the exercises are not a luxury for me.

Likewise I take precautions, esp for a social event esp x 2 where alcohol is present.

User

Posted 05 Aug 2017 at 09:01

Thank you both.

What I am really hoping for is to hear from somebody else for who the exercises were essential (ie they had little or no control after catheter removal) and made a difference and what long term regime they found worked.

User

Posted 05 Aug 2017 at 09:20

Two years post op, your pelvic floor exercises are not essential Ug although it is a good idea to do a few each day just to keep the muscles in trim.

There are 2 types of incontinence after RP - in the days immediately post-op the leaking is because your urethra has been cut and re stitched and the brain needs to relearn how to control the bladder, and second the pelvic muscles have been cut or stretched and may be a bit baggy. Pelvic floor exercises do nothing to help the first problem which is why all the tightening in the world doesn't help a man whose operation went wrong and permanently damaged the urethra or the valves controlling urine flow. John's consultant advised him not to bother with PFEs at all as he felt it was a big myth but John did do them for a few months until he was confident going without pads.

Women that have had babies are encouraged to do PFEs after childbirth to strengthen the muscles, and wise women continue to do a few each day as they get older.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 05 Aug 2017 at 19:31

Thank you.
Interesting.
My surgeon emphasised the need to do them in quite large numbers, and that exercises would be required for life but I do not recall him saying much about long term numbers.
I may need to get back in touch.
I certainly found that after a period of "laziness" that leakage increased.
Anyone else?

User

Posted 08 Sep 2020 at 15:28

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Im seven months post op and all was going well,nearly dry at nigh now it seems to have gone backwards although Im still doing the exercises. Had to revert to medium pads again,a bit fed up.......

User

Posted 08 Sep 2020 at 15:59

Due to COVID delay I had about 3 months before surgery to tone up the pelvic floor muscles.

I was also doing 'exercise nut-job' quantities. Aiming for 10 sets a day of 10 reps for 10s and a one minute hold for tenth rep of each set.

I can't say whether this made a difference or not, but I was padless on day 3 after catheter removal and haven't worn one since. One very minor nocturnal dribble after a couple of months, but other than that, no accidents.

At 7-week surgical followup I was told "do three lots of 10 reps for 10s every day for the next three months and that should set you up for life". I've set daily alerts on my Google Calendar for 0800, 1400 & 2000 which reminds me to do them. It's quite conceivable that I might keep going. It's not a difficult thing to do.

_____

Two cannibals named Ectomy and Prost, all alone on a Desert island.

Prost was the strongest, so Prost ate Ectomy.

User

Posted 19 Oct 2020 at 18:01

The NHS phone app, Squeezy Man can be set up for your own program - I think 3 daily sets of 10 x 10 seconds, slow and fast squeezes is standard. Like any muscle, use it or lose it! Squeezy Man takes the pain out of timing and counting.

I've not been as dry as quickly as Alex but I feel the exercises have help to get brain and muscles working together.

Edited by member 19 Oct 2020 at 18:02 | Reason: typo

User

Posted 20 Oct 2020 at 02:30

I did barely any pelvic floor exercises, although I did download an app (which was soon deleted) to help with them.

I bought one pack of I think 14 Tena Lite pads post-op, I think I have still got four left two and a half years later. I am completely continent, except if I get very drunk and fall asleep on the settee, which has happened on about five occasions, but not recently, and I have woken up with wet pants!

Best of luck.

Cheers, John.

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