The main focus is to train the pelvic floor muscles.
The most common voiding disorder after radical prostate cancer surgery is urinary incontinence, and here there is a combination of incontinence due to damage to the external urethral sphincter, but also damage to the pelvic floor muscles, and destruction of the bladder neck.
Urinary incontinence is also a rather important factor that bothers patients choosing radical prostate cancer treatment and affects their quality of life after surgery, so early postoperative voiding rehabilitation is a very important tool to speed up the restoration of urinary control.
In addition to general physical rehabilitation exercises, functional rehabilitation of the pelvic floor muscles is the most important rehabilitation tool.
Because anatomically the urethral sphincter comes from the deep transverse perineal muscle, which is commonly referred to as the anal sphincter that controls defecation, it is also called anal lift training.
Pelvic floor muscle training starts with finding the pelvic floor muscles, stopping and starting to urinate during urination, and experiencing the muscles at the root of the urethra retract and release, the muscle that controls the flow of urine, the sphincter, is the muscle you want to train. Here’s how to do it:
- Contract the pelvic floor muscles for three seconds, then relax for three seconds, and repeat 10 to 15 times.
- Do one set of muscle contractions in three different positions, sitting, standing, and lying down (this helps you control the pelvic floor muscles in any position) for 3 to 5 minutes each, and you can repeat 2 to 3 times a day.