Men who have had lifelong problems with premature ejaculation may benefit from pelvic floor exercises, a new trial suggests.

Premature ejaculation is defined by the International Society of Sexual Medicine as ‘ejaculation within a minute'. According to Italian scientists, this problem affects a significant minority of men at some stage in their lives. While there are a range of treatments available, some men do not respond to these.

They decided to see if pelvic floor exercises could help. These exercises can help strengthen the muscles under the womb in women and under the bladder and bowel in both men and women. They are often recommended to help treat incontinence.

The scientists took 40 men aged between 19 and 46 who suffered with premature ejaculation and trained them to do these exercises over a 12-week period.

All of the men had already tried alternative therapies to treat the problem, but none had seen any significant improvement.

During the study period, the time it took the men to reach orgasm was recorded.

At the beginning of the 12 weeks, the average time it took the participants to ejaculate was just over 31 seconds. However, by the end of the 12 weeks, this had increased to just over 146 seconds - a four-fold increase.

Altogether, 33 of the 40 men recorded an improvement. Only five did not show significant signs of improvement. Thirteen of the participants continued the trial for six months and at the end of that period, they confirmed that their ejaculation time was still extended.

"This is a small study, so the effects need to be verified in a bigger trial. Nevertheless, the results are very positive. The exercises are easy to perform, with no reported adverse effects. Previously the men in the trial had tried a variety of treatments, including creams and behavioural therapy, with little success.," commented lead scientist, Dr Antonio Pastore, of the Sapienza University of Rome.

He pointed out that the fact the men were able to improve their sex lives ‘through their own efforts helped their self-confidence'.

"This technique seems to offer significant benefits over many existing techniques, including cost-savings and lack of side-effects. Although the exact exercises are still to be standardised, the results obtained in our patients with lifelong premature ejaculation suggest that it may be considered as a therapeutic option for patients," Dr Pastore added.

Details of these findings were presented at the European Association of Urology Congress in Stockholm.