What Is Delayed Ejaculation?
Delayed ejaculation refers to when someone with a penis struggles to orgasm or takes a very long time to orgasm even with sufficient stimulation or arousal.
This condition can happen to anyone at any point in their life, even if they have not had previous problems with ejaculation. It may be just an occasional problem, which doesn’t necessarily cause concern—or it may be a struggle with every sexual experience.
Some symptoms associated with this condition include:
- Lack of orgasm
- Loss of arousal or erection
- Fatigue during sexual activity
- Penile irritation or soreness
- Stress, anxiety, or negative body image
- Frustration or dissatisfaction
- Loss of interest in sex
Experiencing delayed ejaculation every time you engage in sexual activity (masturbation or partnered activity) can suggest an underlying issue. While the time it takes to orgasm can vary from person to person, delayed ejaculation can tire a person out during sexual activity and affect their overall sexual experience.
This condition can be frustrating, especially if it becomes a lifelong struggle. Therefore, if this issue causes stress or creates problems for your sex life, it may be best to seek treatment.
What Causes Delayed Ejaculation?
Delayed ejaculation can be caused by a few different factors. It’s important to first understand that this isn’t the same as occasional delayed ejaculation, which is usually caused by low arousal or a lack of proper stimulation. With ongoing delayed ejaculation, a person who should be able to orgasm during sexual activity struggles to achieve it.
For some, delayed ejaculation can be caused by medications or excessive alcohol. Certain pre-existing conditions may affect ejaculation as well, such as hormonal conditions or congenital disorders. Psychological factors can significantly impact sexual function and performance, too.
Outside of these complications, delayed ejaculation can be caused by pelvic floor dysfunction. Pelvic floor dysfunction is often overlooked or even unconsidered during diagnosis, even though this area of the body directly controls and affects ejaculation! We’ll explore this important connection more below.
Pelvic Floor Dysfunction and Delayed Ejaculation
Pelvic floor dysfunction refers to problems with your pelvic floor, which is a group of muscles found within your pelvis. Every person has a pelvic floor regardless of the genitals they have.
This group of muscles often goes unnoticed, but they help provide everyday movement and function! These muscles support your pelvic organs and upper body weight, allow for movements and the ability to lift items, and control the continence of your bladder and bowels. They also play a major role in sexual function and appreciation.
For those with a penis, the pelvic floor allows for arousal, sensation, erection, and ejaculation (orgasm). When pelvic floor dysfunction is present, these functions can be interrupted significantly. Let’s look deeper into why this is…
As mentioned before, pelvic floor dysfunction refers to problems with the pelvic floor muscles. These “problems” can present as tightness, weakness, incoordination, inflexibility, and more.
These characteristics prevent the pelvic floor from performing normal sexual functions. For example, tight pelvic floor muscles can restrict blood flow, which inhibits erection.
Similarly, this tension can compress nerves needed for sexual sensation. In general, pelvic floor dysfunction can cause pelvic pain that makes sex painful or uncomfortable.
The pelvic floor also directly affects ejaculation. During ejaculation, the pelvic floor muscles contract and relax in short rhythmic bursts. This helps expel semen from the body during orgasm. When the pelvic floor is in poor health, it struggles to properly contract or relax properly to allow for ejaculation to happen.
This can occur because your pelvic floor is too tight, making it unable to relax and allow for orgasm. Or, your muscles may be weak and incoordinated, which disrupts the rhythm of the muscle contractions and delays ejaculation. Even if you feel the need to orgasm, your muscles can’t perform properly to allow it to happen.
Luckily, pelvic floor dysfunction and its associated symptoms can be treated very well with pelvic floor physical therapy.
How Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Can Help
For those with delayed ejaculation caused by pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic floor physical therapy is a safe and effective choice of treatment. While receiving treatment for any sexual dysfunction can feel a bit embarrassing, it should never discourage you from seeking care!
Many people go untreated and deal with delayed ejaculation for very long, simply because they are embarrassed by treatment. Sexual health is just as important as any other type of health, and should not be associated with any level of shame.
Rest assured that I have seen countless patients and helped restore their sexual function so that they can experience an improved quality of life! In other words, you don’t have to just “deal with” your sexual struggles.
I aim to create a welcoming, safe, and shame-free environment during treatment. I also treat patients of all ages and gender identities, because everyone deserves good pelvic floor health—so don’t hesitate to get started!
With that being said, what can pelvic floor treatment look like? For delayed ejaculation, pelvic floor therapy aims to relieve tension, improve coordination, and restore strength in the pelvic floor. Improving your pelvic floor health will reduce symptoms, improve sexual function, and alleviate pain as needed.
The treatments used to achieve these goals can vary from person to person, as each and every person’s pelvic floor will have different needs and dysfunction.
However, there are a variety of methods that may be used to address your pelvic floor needs, such as the following examples:
Manual Therapy
Manual therapy refers to treatments that manipulate tissues such as the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves. These treatments can be performed directly to the pelvic floor or pelvis, but can also be done to your hips, lower back, or abdominals.
These areas are actually very interconnected with your pelvic floor, and imbalances in these areas can cause more tension and restriction in the pelvic floor. Therefore, manual therapy may be used to address muscle imbalances or tension in more than just the pelvic floor itself!
Some manual therapy treatments can be performed with a variety of different tools. Examples include pelvic wands, cupping therapy tools, tissue scraping tools, and more. The type of manual therapy utilized during your treatment will depend on your unique plan of care.
Neuromuscular Re-education & Biofeedback
As mentioned previously, coordination is important for sexual functions like ejaculation. To improve your understanding and control of your pelvic floor muscles, I’ll lead you through activities and treatments that help you contract and relax those muscles.
This can include neuromuscular re-education and biofeedback, which simply help you understand these movements as you perform them in real time.
Regaining your ability to contract and relax your pelvic floor muscles is very important even in other treatments, as you’ll need to understand these movements to help relieve tension and improve strength in your pelvic floor!
Improving Strength & Mobility
A strong pelvic floor is very important for sexual function. Strong muscles help support good function, sensation, and orgasm. I’ll curate a unique exercise plan for your pelvic floor and other areas of the body as needed.
This will look to improve your muscle balance in all areas that affect the pelvic floor, in addition to strengthening the pelvic floor itself!
While strengthening is important, having flexible and mobile muscles is important, too. I can lead you through a variety of stretching techniques and yoga poses to improve the flexibility of your muscles. You can expect to engage in strengthening and stretching activities at home, too. Consistency is important for progress with physical therapy!
Education and Behavioral Modifications
In addition to exercises and stretches, you’ll have other homework to do outside of the clinic. During treatment, we’ll discuss a variety of daily habits and other factors that could be harming your pelvic floor, and how to make changes to avoid further harm. This can look like improving your posture, correcting your form while lifting or doing other activities, or changing your restroom habits.
Another important part of every treatment plan is education. I want to help you understand how certain activities can worsen your symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, and how these things relate to delayed ejaculation.
Therefore you can expect plenty of education during treatment—questions are always welcome too, so don’t be afraid to ask about your pelvic floor, symptoms, or other health-related topics.
Treatment for something like pelvic floor dysfunction can seem confusing, but I try my best to keep the process smooth and comfortable! Your comfort is my number one priority. If you’d like to get started on improving your own sexual health, make an appointment! You can also have simple questions answered with a discovery call.
