Pelvic Floor Exercises for men having surgery for prostate cancer –  new videos

This page gives you some information about pelvic floor exercises (PFE) for men who have prostate surgery and to help answer some of the questions you may have.

Usually, you will be advised to do PFEs before having an operation on your prostate or pelvic surgery. This is to help make sure that the muscles holding urine in the bladder are strong and in good condition before surgery which should help with any continence difficulties after surgery. The floor of the pelvis is made up of layers of muscle called the pelvic floor muscles (PFM). They are like an elastic hammock inside your body and assist with core support, an essential element of pelvic stability and control. They also support the bladder and bowel. As the pelvic floor muscles help stop the bladder from leaking urine they need to work all the time but need to work harder when you cough, sneeze, laugh, exercise or change position. These muscles may get weakened for a number of reasons including due to surgery for prostate cancer (radical prostatectomy) or a TURP (Trans Urethral Resection of the Prostate). Usually, you will be advised to do PFEs before having an operation on your prostate or pelvic surgery. This is to help make sure that the muscles holding urine in the bladder are strong and in good condition before surgery which should help with any continence difficulties after surgery.

About the videos

There are two special videos below with information about pelvic floor exercises for men having a radical prostatectomy below for you to view.

  • The first video is for men with prostate cancer before they have had surgery
  • The second video is for men after they have had a radical prostatectomy

Both videos have been developed by the Urology Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioners at the Western General Hospital Edinburgh, and filmed by the Medical Photography Unit at NHS Lothian. Our sincere thanks go to them and NHS Lothian for permission to show them.

Our booklet on Pelvic Floor Exercises

Also to assist you, we have a booklet ‘Pelvic floor exercises before and after surgery to remove the prostate‘ available from our website free of charge to read or download.

Please note this video is intended for people in the UK and should not be viewed if you are outside of the UK.
We’d like to hear your feedback about the pelvic exercise videos – we’d be delighted if you could give us your thoughts on the form below

Please note this video is intended for people in the UK and should not be viewed if you are outside of the UK.

We’d like to hear your feedback about the pelvic floor exercise videos – we’d be delighted if you could give us your thoughts on the form below

If you are unsure about any of the information or have any questions, then please see our booklet ‘Pelvic floor exercises before and after surgery to remove the prostate‘ or speak to your nurse on the ward, your physiotherapist, clinical nurse specialist (CNS) or doctor looking after you.

If you would like to hear from us about prostate cancer and pelvic exercise please fill in your details below.

Pelvic Floor Exercise Video feedback form

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