Men's Health Physiotherapy
Men's Pelvic Health problems can be a difficult process to understand, we aim to provide clarity to issues that may otherwise seem hard to comprehend.
Men often state they wish they sought help earlier for their Men's Pelvic Health issues, let us show you why.
Men's Health Physio - The 'High Line Active' Difference
Here at High Line Active Physiotherapy Richmond, we look after all of our clients the same.
If you are an Athlete, Office Worker, Coach, Teacher, Nurse, whatever, you get treated the same
Our Men's Health difference isn't just about getting you symptom-free, it is about getting you back into the lifestyle that you deserve.
Of course, we will have goals for our recovery from a musculoskeletal sense but we also like to promote what makes you, you
Dane will help guide you through your recovery but also back into an improved quality of life.
- Getting back on the Golf Course
- Committing to a Marathon
- Playing with your children
- Playing Social Basketball
- Lifting weights regularly at the gym
Recovery isn't easy, it'll take some hard work and these activities above may seem a long way away but when we get there it'll be the best Round of golf / Run / Gym session you've had.
Dane blends his Men's health skills with his musculoskeletal and strength and conditioning background to help you recover.
Learn more about Dane below
Dane Monaghan (Doctor of Physiotherapy)
-
Doctorate of Physiotherapy (Bond University)
-
Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science (Deakin).
-
ASCA Strength and Conditioning Coach - Level 1
-
Dry Needling (CPD health courses)
-
Nutting out Men’s Health (APA Course)
-
Level 1 - Sports Physiotherapy (APA course)
Dane is a Musculoskeletal based physiotherapist who has a wealth of experience in the private practice field working with a variety of clients ranging from sporting athletes to desk workers and anything in between. He also applies his skills to the Men’s Health setting where he can navigate you through what is thrown your way.
Dane will be able to educate and guide you through your potential prostate surgery journey assisting you and your partner (if applicable) through what can be a difficult time
Men's Health Conditions We Treat:
Pre and Post Prostate Surgery Assistance and general prostate health
Assistance with Urgency, Leakage, Dribble
What is the Pelvic Floor, why is it important, and how to train it
Erectile dysfunction associated with Post-Prostate surgery and cardiovascular health
Lower back, Pelvic and Hip pain can all be associated with some disturbances with Pelvic floor
Men’s pelvic health issues can be managed through conservative treatment in the form of some lifestyle modications
Prostate Health
The Prostate Gland is part of the reproductive system in Males and sits below your bladder.
It surrounds a section of your urethra which carries urine from the bladder.
The Prostate Gland tends to enlarge with age which can create an obstruction to the flow of urine
The major role of the Prostate Gland is to create some of the fluid (prostatic fluid) in semen to assist in carrying sperm during ejaculation.
Prostate Health
Pre and Post Prostate Surgery Assistance and general prostate health
Signs and Symptoms of issues with your Prostate Gland
Urinary symptoms common with Prostate Disease
-
Incomplete Bladder Emptying
-
Frequency - Including during the night
-
Hesitancy or straining to urinate
-
Urgency
-
Post-Urine Dribble
Pre-Post Surgery Treatment
Pre-Surgery
Getting an understanding of your pre-surgery function allows us to create some achievable benchmark goals for post-surgery.
Managing patient expectations for you and your family is also a key feature, we aim to make the post-surgical journey as clear as possible as there’ll be enough on your mind already.
Teaching and training your Pelvic floor will be vital before surgery, it becomes a lot harder post-surgery to train your pelvic floor, and therefore having a good foundation of training under your belt can go a long way to assisting your post-surgical rehab.
Post-Surgery
Your Physiotherapist can assist with your bladder control and training. This can be difficult due to the nature of this surgery and having guidance and education around bladder control will be extremely beneficial.
Beginning or Continuing Pelvic floor training with your physiotherapist once your catheter has been removed and progressing your training where able
Providing you with information about erectile rehabilitation post-surgery and assisting with what may be needed to assist this process. Different Men have different outcomes post-surgery when it comes to erectile rehabilitation so this isn’t a one size fits all approach
This will be conducted with regular communication with your Family, Urologist, GP, and anyone else who is involved in your care
Bladder Health
Bladder Health
Assistance with Urgency, Leakage, Dribble
A healthy bladder is about control. The bladder stores urine and sends messages to the brain when it is filling up and when it needs to be emptied.
Generally, a healthy bladder is when
-
A bladder tells you it is full but gives you enough time to empty (lack of urgency)
-
Completely empties during urination
-
Does not leak urine
Following Prostate Surgery, you will likely have some difficulty with your bladder.
When the prostate is removed, so is the muscle within the gland which has been helping with urine flow regulation.
This can lead to issues with your bladder which your physiotherapist can help you with
Signs / Symptoms of a dysfunctional bladder
-
Urge incontinence (Sudden need to urinate)
-
Stress incontinence (Loss of urine due to activities such as coughing, sneezing etc.)
-
Urinary retention (Inability to empty the bladder completely)
-
Nocturia (Getting up multiple times throughout the night)
-
Post-Micruition Incontinence (Commonly known as the after-dribble)
Physiotherapy Treatment for Bladder Dysfunction
In conjunction with your physiotherapist, you will run through how to complete, measure and analyse your bladder chart to give an indication of your current bladder baseline.
This guides your bladder training to best suit you going forward. Your physiotherapist will help to teach you relevant strategies to help improve your bladder health. These strategies will aim to increase your storage capacity and reduce how sensitive your bladder may be to give you the urge to go to the toilet
Other strategies may include advice about bladder control assistance equipment such as pads and other devices.
Pelvic floor training will continue to be a focus for you to help reduce the amount of leakage as well as improve the length of time that you can hold so you have enough time to get to the toilet
Men's Pelvic Floor
Men's Pelvic Floor
What is the Pelvic Floor, why is it important, and how to train it
Normal Pelvic Floor Muscles sit below the bladder and bowel and help to support these organs. It sits between your pubic bone and your coccyx and acts like a hammock.
Strong pelvic floor muscles help to prevent leakage of urine or faeces and can also assist with sexual function. We often don’t think about our pelvic floor muscles and quite often we use them involuntarily because of this, when they are affected they can be quite difficult to train
Weakness in the Pelvic Floor muscles can occur due to:
-
Surgery for bladder or bowel problems / Prostate surgery
-
Constipation
-
Being overweight
-
High impact exercise
-
Chronic coughing
-
Aging
Men's Pelvic Floor disturbances can result in
-
Urgency
-
After-wee dribble
-
Leaking
-
Incomplete emptying
-
Gaining or maintaining an erection
Physiotherapy treatment for Men’s Pelvic Floor
We will help you identify the correct muscles to ensure you’re activating the appropriate pelvic floor muscles. You will be placed on a specifically prescribed pelvic floor exercise program so that we can activate and strengthen as needed. This changes over time and will need progress to continue to improve. This leads to more functional activities like lifting or standing up from a chair.
Factoring in lifestyle factors also impacts your pelvic floor function.
It is important to have good cardiovascular health has a positive effect on sexual, mental, and prostate health.
This is a particularly important step for those pre and post-prostate surgeries as your nervous and muscular structure will be impacted following surgery. Learning the right technique before surgery is critical for decreasing your rehabilitation time. Research suggests that you can have a reduced recovery time as well as improved symptoms post-surgery when 4 weeks of pre-surgery pelvic floor training has been completed (Yao, 2012).
Other Conditions / Side-Effects
Erectile Dysfunction
Why it is common Post-Prostate Surgery?
Prostate surgery can damage the nerve supply that controls the gate-keeping muscles of the penis.
Nerve supply and blood flow are the two main issues post-surgery that impact our erectile function. Nerves can heal but take a while to do so, during that time it is important that we continue to send messages to the affected areas to create new pathways
How Physiotherapy Can Help Erectile Dysfunction?
Pelvic floor training is beneficial for erectile dysfunction, particularly following Prostate surgery. Your physiotherapist will create a tailored pelvic floor training program as well as advice regarding penile rehabilitation.
Lower Back, Pelvic, and Hip pain
Anatomy of Lower back and associated nervous system structures
The Pudendal Nerve is a nerve that arises from our sacroiliac joint with some nerve interactions from our lumbar spine.
This nerve innervates a number of different structures in the body however we will mainly focus on its innervation to the scrotum, perineum, penis, groin, and lower abdomen.
If this nerve is impeded by other structures along its nerve path, then the structures that it innovates can be symptomatic.
The Pudendal nerve can be affected by dysfunction from the Lower Lumbar Spine (Lower back), Sacroiliac joint, and some hip rotators.
How physiotherapy can address Pelvic issues related to Lower back and Hip pain
The Lower back, Sacroiliac joint, and hip rotators can all be treated by a range of different physiotherapy treatment techniques such as manual therapy (through massage, trigger points, and joint mobilisations), Neural glides, exercise prescription, and many more.
Health Modifications
Men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome have higher self-reported rates of cardiac disease than controls
-
Men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome have evidence of increased arterial stiffness and vascular endothelial dysfunction
Diet
There are ‘good’ choices when it comes to diet and dealing with chronic pelvic pain or prostatitis. We can discuss general advice for this area or if this is a real problem area for you then we will refer you to our Sports Dietician Dalija
Exercise
There is overwhelming evidence that exercise, when prescribed appropriately, is safe and well tolerated in survivors of prostate cancer.
Exercise is one of if not the most important things in your control when it comes to injury/disease prevention or reduction. It can be difficult to know what is the right amount of exercise for you and therefore it is a good idea to consult your physiotherapist about this process
Gut Health
This ties in with both of the above points. Having a waist circumference of 95cm or less is said to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, pelvic health issues and some cancers