How To Avoid Post-Wee Dribble - Kegel and Pelvic Floor Exercises For Men

Post micturition dribble.

I expect you’re wondering what on earth that is.

Well, the first time I became aware of it was many years ago when I used to look after my young nephew for the weekend. He would have been about nine or ten and invariably wore a pair of those grey marl jogging bottoms, which were as common as shellsuits in those days.

He would come back from the toilet and a small, but very noticeable, wet patch would appear on the front of his pants. I used to chide him for not finishing the job properly because he was too busy rushing to get back to the cartoons on tv. But he swore blind that he had ‘given it a good shake’ before putting it away.

Through the research that I have been doing into Kegel and pelvic floor exercises, I now understand the medical condition behind what became an embarrassing occurrence on a regular basis as he got older.

Post micturition dribble or PMD is the involuntary loss of urine a short while after the main event has been completed.

Whilst many of you will have experienced ‘terminal dribble’ which is that little spurt that occurs a few seconds after the main stream has finished, this is different because there is a significant delay before it manifests itself – usually enough time to zip up and get half-way out of the toilet. This makes it appear as if it could be caused by over-exertion in redressing or a problem with the foreskin.

However, the truth is that the culprit is a weak bulbocavernosus (which, in more modern texts, now seems to be known as the bulbospongiosus) muscle. This muscle partially surrounds the urethra, which is the curved tube that takes the pee away from the bladder and out through the penis. The tube goes down and then up leaving a sort of shallow ‘U’ bend in the middle where the urine collects prior to being pushed out.

When the bulbocavernosus/bulbospongiosus muscle is working properly, it contracts strongly at the end of urination to expel the pooled urine from that U bend. This is known as the urethrocavernosus reflex and, if it malfunctions, a small amount of urine remains unvoided – an accident waiting to happen, the moment that you start moving.

Prostate surgery, straining when evacuating the bowels, constipation, persistent coughing, obesity, frequent heavy lifting and neurological conditions can all cause this embarrassing problem, but the biggest – and most easily curable – offender is a weakened pelvic floor.

Performing one or two strong pelvic floor contractions immediately after urination is finished has been found to decrease the problem dramatically. The act of forcefully squeezing the muscle that controls urination is thought to contribute to the expellation of the trapped urine in the bulbar urethra. If this practice is undertaken every time the man finishes emptying his bladder, he should be able to rehabilitate the bulbocavernosus/bulbospongiosus and return the urethrocavernosus reflex to its required strength.

In Kegel and pelvic floor exercises for men, it is this bulbospongiosus muscle that is more important than the pubococcygeus and it needs to be retrained for both endurance and strength.

The former requires sub-maximal or gentle squeezing – to train the muscles so that they can hold on until you can get to the toilet without leaking. This can be done whilst walking by gently lifting, squeezing and then lowering the pelvic floor.

However, the latter requires maximal or strong contractions that improve muscle tone to stop any leakage if he sneezes or coughs suddenly. This involves isolating the bulbospongiosus from the pubococcygeus, which is most easily done by lying down comfortably on your back in a semi-supine position, with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.

Place your fingertips on the perineum (the flat space that lies between your scrotum and your anus). Without moving your legs or tightening your belly or butt, lightly suck in your pelvic floor muscles so that your fingertips can feel movement. You should be able to breathe easily and will probably find it easiest to contract on the out breath at first.

Once you have mastered this, you can try a longer contraction, checking that you can maintain relaxation in the other muscles. You should aim to hold this contraction for ten seconds three times in the morning and again in the evening. Don’t forget to breathe slowly and deeply.

So far, there is insufficient evidence to state for certain whether using a neuromuscular stimulator can be of use with this condition but, it’s certainly not going to hurt and doing the exercises around the anal probe will increase the circulation and blood flow to all the tissues in the area, including the prostate.

Since the bulbocavernosus/bulbospongiosus muscle is also largely responsible for the ejaculation of semen, any dysfunction may also cause a loss of the reflex required to produce enough force to ejaculate properly.

Research is ongoing but, where there is no neurological impairment, kegel and pelvic floor exercises may well help to prevent both this and post micturition drip.

For more exercises and training regimes, go to kegelandpelvicfloorexercises.com

To find out more about neuromuscular stimulators, click here.

To help with my own research on this, I wonder if you would agree to complete a survey on male attitudes to their penis. Click here to take survey. All the answers remain strictly anonymous but, if you email me to let me know that you have taken part, I will give you more details about what I am up to and how you can benefit.