Urinary incontinence is embarrassing, not mention inconvenient, and is suffered by an increasing number of males. The Journal of the American Medical Association followed patients who suffered from incontinence after radical prostatectomies. Pelvic floor muscle training, bladder control strategies and fluid management were all shown to cure the incontinence in some of the cases studied. Meanwhile, biofeedback and pelvic floor electrical stimulation appeared to offer no benefits.

Patricia S. Goode, MSN, MD, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, led a study that evaluated the effectiveness of various therapies in reducing postprostatectomy incontinence.
The study observed 28 men, ages 51 through 84, with incontinence that persisted from one to 17 years following a radical prostatectomy. As the researcher said, "Loss of bladder control can be a physical, emotional, psychosocial, and economic burden for men who experience it. Although behavioral therapy has been shown to improve postoperative recovery of continence, there have been no controlled trials of behavioral therapy for postprostatectomy incontinence persisting more than 1 year."

Participants completed 7-day bladder diaries to record the results of their efforts.

After eight weeks, participants in the behavioral therapy group had an average 55% reduction of incontinence episodes, compared with a 24% reduction in the control group. Those in the group who also received biofeedback and electrical stimulation experienced an average reduction of just 51%.

The behavioral therapy consisted of pelvic floor muscle training and bladder control strategies (including fluid intake strategies).

Improvements lasted a full 12 months in the active treatment groups. At the end of the first eight-week period, 15.7% of the men in the behavioral therapy group and 17.1% in the behavior-plus group (biofeedback and electrical stimulation) achieved complete continence, compared with just 5.9% of participants in the control group (which received no therapy at all).

The researchers wrote, “Behavioral therapy should be offered to men with persistent postprostatectomy incontinence because it can yield significant, durable improvement in incontinence and quality of life, even years after radical prostatectomy."

Doctor Andrew Siegel demonstrates an example of effective floor pelvic muscle exercises that can help relieve incontinence.