Cyclists Syndrome

A Common Pelvic Health Issue For Men

What is Cyclist’s Syndrome?

Cyclist’s Syndrome is a common term for symptoms of pudendal nerve irritation or pudendal neuralgia. Symptoms can include: pain in “sit bones”, perineum, genitals, and/or anus, pain with sitting/cycling, urinary, bowel, and/or sexual dysfunction, and/or feeling of foreign object in rectum or perineum. Cycling can lead to pudendal nerve irritation by compression (on the horn of the bike seat) and tension (through repetitive hip flexion).

Chronic pelvic pain in men is commonly referred to as Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS) and is also known as chronic nonbacterial prostatitis. Men in this category have no known infection, but do have extensive pelvic pain lasting more than 3 months.

Chronic pelvic pain is a complex and debilitating condition affecting up to 8% of men in the United States.

The incidence of Pudendal Neuralgia (estimated by the International Pudendal Neuropathy Association) is 1 in 100,000 of the general population but some sources report up to 4% of the population. More women are affected than men (7:3), but most health care practitioners that regularly treat patients with pudendal neuralgia believe the actual incidence is significantly higher than reported in the literature.

When the coccyx is injured from trauma, such as a fall, it can be misaligned or immobile. Due to the fact that pelvic floor muscles attach onto the coccyx, they can also become impaired. Injury to these muscles often causes them to become hypertonic with trigger point presence which can cause pain in and around the coccyx. A pelvic floor physical therapist can successfully treat coccyx pain by releasing the pelvic floor muscle trigger points and then mobilizing the tailbone.

“Don’t give up, it’s very difficult finding a PT with skills to treat condition. I went to CA for treatment at the Sarton Clinic for 9-day extensive PT treatment program at 11-month mark, reduced pain considerably and taught me to self-treat.”

“As a male having any pelvic floor ailment, one soon finds out that pelvic floor physical therapy specialists for men are exceedingly difficult to come by, especially with the high magnitude of experience that Julie Sarton and her team have at Sarton Physical Therapy! I was experiencing pain in my pelvic region from following an excessive road cycling regime. With effectively no help from local medical professionals, I embarked on a journey that most with this sort of ailment do and started to research for myself.”