Help for High Stress High Tech Men with Pelvic Pain

Jeannette M. Potts, MD

There is nothing more injurious to the pelvic floor than prolonged sitting combined with high stress. The sitting causes physical compression of muscles, nerves and blood vessels and the stress, in some men, can cause an unintentional clenching of the muscles in the pelvic floor, which can impede the blood flow and normal neurological function in this region.

Think of the way stress can cause you to clench your jaw… or tighten your neck. If these actions persist, you may experience a headache, neck ache or toothache. Similarly, this sort of tension in the pelvis, causes symptoms that are too often confused with an urological condition like prostatitis.

This so called Urological Pelvic Pain Syndrome can be prevented by using a sit-stand desk, a timer to remind you to get up and stretch and/or walk around. Daily exercise of some sort is a must, but must be done properly and with thoughtful stretching afterwards. For, even dedicated athletes can get pelvic pain too, and often this arises from over use, abuse or simply the lack of proportional stretching and self care afterwards.

Most of you suffering with this condition do not have evidence of any infection and therefore should avoid antibiotics. Antibiotics should be reserved only for those men with fever, abnormal urinalysis and/or positive bacterial culture.

While many of you can manage to reduce some of your symptoms with the preventive measures mentioned above, some will require a medical diagnosis, which must be made by a physician specialist, as the differential diagnosis is much broader than some ancillary health care workers would lead you to believe.

First, there must be an exclusion of infection and other serious conditions that may affect the urinary tract, the sexual organs, the colorectal or neurological system. After confirmation of the diagnosis, a logical strategy for treatment and management can be formulated. And whenever possible, I involve my patients as the most important member of the team and guide them through a tailor made self care regimen.

Getting men back into the driver’s seat is paramount to preventing and healing pelvic pain… but remember, that when sitting too long in the driver’s seat, one must stop at highway rest stops and walk around!