Men can stop the embarrassing drip after the toilet by performing this simple massage on themselves
Radio and TV presenter Chris Evans revealed last week how his problem with frequent nighttime urination has been helped by a technique called bulbar urethral massage.
Chris Evans, 56, told his radio show listeners that he had seen a urologist “up to ten times” a night while going to the toilet. The doctor taught him to perform the technique as a way to remove urine lodged in his urethra, the tube through which urine exits the body.
Within a week, Chris Evans claimed, he had only three “comfort breaks” left.
Wanting to urinate more than usual could be a result of getting older, he told his audience. As Ben Challacombe, a consultant urologic surgeon in London and trustee of The Urology Foundation, explains, urine can become trapped in a “U-turn” in a man’s urinary system, just outside the pelvic floor muscles.
“You can get 3-5 ml [of urine] getting stuck in that U-turn,” he says. “It’s especially common in older men, or men who’ve had a catheter or urologic procedure. They often become baggy in that area and the urine gets trapped.”
Chris Evans, 56, told his radio show listeners that he had seen a urologist ‘up to ten times’ a night when he went to the toilet
Wanting to urinate more than usual can be a result of getting older
Bulbar urethral massage, also known as urethral milking, is usually advised for the treatment of dribbling after urination – in which trapped urine leaks out after men go to the toilet – but it can also help people who often feel the urge to urinate.
Mr Challacombe says: ‘It won’t obviously reduce the amount of pee you produce at night or reduce bladder sensitivity – which are the two main reasons men get up at night – but it does relieve feeling in the urethra. ‘
The technique involves placing the fingertips three finger widths behind the scrotum and gently massaging in a forward and upward direction toward the base of the penis. This pushes the urine forward into the urethra and should be done twice according to NHS advice.
‘By pressing under it, below the scrotum, almost around the anus, you can elevate that U-bend into a flat line and thereby release the urine from the penis,’ says Mr Challacombe.
Chris Evans described the technique as “a life changer.” “I got some sleep for the first time in years,” he said. “I could cry, honestly.”
Mr Challacombe says, ‘It’s a bit of self-physiotherapy. I tell guys, “If you do this, we’ll have you back in beige pants,” and they say, “Yeah, I know what you mean.” The vast majority get better if you teach them how to do it.’
He adds that waking up at night to urinate ‘could be a sign of an enlarged prostate or a variety of causes, and if it has developed recently it should be investigated by your GP’.