[Effectiveness of pelvic floor rehabilitation in erectile dysfunction: A literature review]

The pelvic floor is now well known and its role in the mechanism of erection is demonstrated. We wanted to know what is the evidence of the effectiveness of perineal rehabilitation in erectile dysfunction.

An English search was performed in Google scholar and databases PubMed, Medline, Pedro with the keywords "pelvic floor, erectile dysfunction, impotence, physiotherapy, exercises, rehabilitation, PFMT". We have selected randomized clinical trials published in indexed journals.

Six randomized trials were selected. Five of them have shown statistically and clinically significant effectiveness in populations of men with erectile dysfunction and various underlying pathologies. In the fifth trial, the difference in effectiveness was not statistically significant. At 3 months, the best-conducted study showed an average improvement of 7 points at IIEF-5 compared to the control group (P-value: 0.004). Rehabilitation has not resulted in any adverse side effects. However, these studies were conducted in heterogeneous populations and the protocols for pelvic floor muscle strengthening rehabilitation differed from one study to another, making it impossible to formulate a specific recommendation for clinical practice.

Based on the results of this literature review, perineal physiotherapy may have a role to play in the management of erectile dysfunction.