Specific Exercises for Erectile Dysfunction?

The Consumer Reports on Health has a short piece advocating Kegel exercises for men with erectile dysfunction (ED). They summarize a British study reported in 2005 in which 55 men with ED were randomly assigned to a program of ‘lifestyle changes’ (weight loss, quitting smoking, exercising, etc) or the same lifestyle changes plus pelvic floor muscle exercises; these so-called Kegel exercises are usually prescribed for women, or for men with post-prostatectomy dribbling). After 3 months the results were so encouraging that the men on lifestyle-only were switched to lifestyle-plus-Kegel. After 6 months 40% of all men had regained normal sexual function and another 36% had had improved significantly, says the report.

This result was in conflict with a statement by a Medscape expert, who states flatly that there is no evidence that Kegel exercises help ED at all. The British study suffers from the drawback that all the participants made lifestyle changes that could improve their ED problem, so that only the first 3 months of the study can be used to compare the benefits of Kegel exercises.

All the studies on this approach to ED seem to have been done by one team in the UK; ‘negative’ studies are often unreported, as being uninteresting. But maybe, if there’s anything in the concept, Viagra, Cialis and Levitra should be getting alarmed. Self management is a lot cheaper for patients than proprietary medications. . . if it works.