Men have pelvic floors, too. When I first started teaching pelvic floor yoga to women, I had no interest in teaching men. But then a friend was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of prostate cancer and I got involved in helping rehab his pelvic floor through what I knew from teaching women. Shortly after that I got invited to teach pelvic floor yoga to a group of prostate cancer survivors. It was then that i saw the extreme need to teach men.
When I began teaching men, I observed that most of them were very tight in their pelvises, hip flexors, hamstrings. I decided to take a more active role and create a video for men’s bodies. My goal is to eventually develop a resource page for men. But in the meantime, I highly recommend visiting this website: http://malepelvicfloor.com. Jeff Gibson, a San Francisco massage therapist has developed an incredible website of helpful information and resources.
“The pelvic floor is a term that describes the muscles that span the opening at the bottom of the pelvis – the bony structure that forms the very center of our physical frame. It powerfully influences many aspects of our lives, yet its significance is often underestimated and misunderstood. For many of us there can be numerous social and cultural taboos associated with this area and a degree of embarrassment when talking about it. In the last few decades, however, research on the male pelvic floor has made it abundantly clear how important these muscles are to our health and vitality – and the surprising impact they can have on pelvic pain, prostate health, sexual dysfunction, and urinary issues.” – Jeff Gibson
What is still not widely known is that many pelvic problems in men, i.e. pain, incontinence, and erectile dysfunction, are the result of overly tight, short muscles. So it may be counterintuitive, but the best approach for healing is to stretch and relax those muscles. Sometimes the recommendation to “do more kegels” can be detrimental.
Below are some options for further investigation. I have designed a video, available through download or as a DVD disc, especially for the male pelvic floor. Also, there is a two hour webinar that has a short yoga video attached for a little more in-depth information on anatomy of the pelvic floor muscles. I highly recommend the books, Ending Male Pelvic Pain if you are having any pain or incontinence, or Pelvic Power which is more focused on strengthening the pelvic floor muscles than stretching and relaxing them.
