Premature ejaculation (PE), which occurs when a man has orgasm and expels semen sooner than he or his partner wants to, is a common sexual dysfunction among men and while there are a number of treatments available, some men do not respond to treatments at all.

Findings of a new study, however, could improve the condition of men with chronic premature ejaculation as researchers found that pelvic floor exercises done for 12 weeks may help treat men with PE.

For the study presented at the European Congress of Urology in Stockholm April 13, a team of researchers lead by Antonio Pastore, from the Sapienza University of Rome, involved 40 men between 19 and 46 years old who suffered from premature ejaculation and already tried different treatments such as behavioral therapy, antidepressants and creams but without success.

The researchers had the participants do pelvic floor muscle exercises for 12 weeks and measured the men's time-to-orgasm during this period. The men's ejaculation time when the trial started was 31.7 seconds on average but this rose to 146.2 seconds at the end of the 12-week period.

A large percentage of the subjects showed improvements as well. Of the 40 men who participated in the study, 33 showed improvement within 12 weeks, two dropped out of the trial after showing some improvement and only five did not show any significant improvement. The 33 men who showed significant improvements continued the trial for six months and reported that they were able to maintain their improved ejaculation time.

Pastore said that pelvic floor exercises have several advantages over existing PE treatments. The technique, for instance, is cost effective and does not have side effects and while the exercise still needs to be standardized, the results of the trial suggest that it can be adopted as a therapeutic option for men with premature ejaculation.

Pastore has nonetheless acknowledged that despite the positive results of their study, a bigger trial is still needed to verify their findings. "This is a small study, so the effects need to be verified in a bigger trial. Nevertheless, the results are very positive. The rehabilitation exercises are easy to perform, with no reported adverse effects," Pastore said. "We also found that the fact that the men were able to improve their sex-lives through their own efforts helped their self-confidence."