Urethral Stricture and Cycling

[abductv]

Hello,

I am a 25 year old Cat 2 who has been racing since the mid-90s. This past season I came back to racing after a few years off. During my hiatus I rode occasionally for fun.

In the past year I have had a few episodes that seemed like urinary tract infections (i.e. painful urination, the constant need to go but voiding little). However cultures of my urine and semen have always come up negative. My primary care doc diagnosed this as prostatitis and gave me some antibiotics and things usually cleared up. But the "infections" recurred and eventually a urologist found out I was retaining urine and, judging from the thickness of my bladder walls, had been for some time. A uroflow report also found that I was my flow was weak. The urologist then performed a cystoscopy and removed a stricture in the urinary tract near the base of the bladder. After the cystoscopy (and a wonderful 7 days with the foley catheter) I was
peeing like a firehose. With the doctor's OK I got back on the bike a week after the catheter came out, this time with a Terry Fly cut-out seat instead of the Bontrager I had been riding for years. I have ridden a bit since then (on the trainer and outside when the roads are OK) but in the past three weeks my urine stream has weakened a bit and a follow up test found I was still retaining urine. The urologist attributes this to cycling and the pressure the saddle puts on the perenium. Yet in all of my years riding I've never had any saddle discomfort.

Before operating again the urologist wants to wait another month to see if I'm still retaining urine. In the meantime I want to do some research. Has anyone else out there had this experience of cycling causing a stricture or urinary retention. If so can you tell me how you dealt with it?

Thanks.

 

[mtranter]

I suggest that you have the possible constriction removed again, then keep off the bike for maybe a month and see if it's a recurring problem or whether it is to do with your saddle.
Hope this is of some help.

 

[oneradtec]

the saddle does not pressure the urethra in anyway....so how can this cause stricture? Secondly...tens of thousands of other cyclists throughout the world can cycle without developing this problem....then how come it only affects you and perhaps just a few others. Thirdly....I have not read any studies that support your urologists theory that this is cycling related.

I would get a second opinion. Your urologist may ultimately prove to be correct...but it's not a sin to get a second opinion to find out if this is cycling related. You don't want to stop cycling based on one urologist's best guess. Better to have it two urologist's best guesses that are consistent with one another. Call around to find the most respected and prominent urologist that you can find. You want the 'Lance Armstrong' of urology! The more patients that the urologist sees in his practice means a greater chance that this is something that the urologist has seen before...so it might be better to look for this super urologist in a medium to large city...and make sure he is affiliated with a large and thriving medical center or hospital in the same area. This means that he has a large and thriving patient pool. Remember...you want to increase the chances that this doc will be intimately familiar treating patients with this same malady.

 

[prcrocker]

I have had similar experiences of stricture but never put it down to cycling. In fact, when I had my first operation (laser treatment) about 7 years ago, I only cycled a few miles a week, and then had to have a second operation 2 years later due to the recurrence of the stricture. After this one I was told that the only long-term 'cure' was monthly self-catheterisation which is really very little hassle and in fact this has kept the system 'patent' for over 5 years now (I am 45). Regarding cycling, over the last two years I have begun to cycle regularly at weekends. I cover around 2000 miles per year, and have not noticed any deterioration, as long as I keep up my monthly self-cath. I have researched the causes of stricture and never come across cycling as one of them. As far as I can make out it is a poorly understood condition. Carry on cycling!

Originally posted by abductv
Hello,

I am a 25 year old Cat 2 who has been racing since the mid-90s. This past season I came back to racing after a few years off. During my hiatus I rode occasionally for fun.

In the past year I have had a few episodes that seemed like urinary tract infections (i.e. painful urination, the constant need to go but voiding little). However cultures of my urine and semen have always come up negative. My primary care doc diagnosed this as prostatitis and gave me some antibiotics and things usually cleared up. But the "infections" recurred and eventually a urologist found out I was retaining urine and, judging from the thickness of my bladder walls, had been for some time. A uroflow report also found that I was my flow was weak. The urologist then performed a cystoscopy and removed a stricture in the urinary tract near the base of the bladder. After the cystoscopy (and a wonderful 7 days with the foley catheter) I was
peeing like a firehose. With the doctor's OK I got back on the bike a week after the catheter came out, this time with a Terry Fly cut-out seat instead of the Bontrager I had been riding for years. I have ridden a bit since then (on the trainer and outside when the roads are OK) but in the past three weeks my urine stream has weakened a bit and a follow up test found I was still retaining urine. The urologist attributes this to cycling and the pressure the saddle puts on the perenium. Yet in all of my years riding I've never had any saddle discomfort.

Before operating again the urologist wants to wait another month to see if I'm still retaining urine. In the meantime I want to do some research. Has anyone else out there had this experience of cycling causing a stricture or urinary retention. If so can you tell me how you dealt with it?

Thanks.

 

[rockmuncher]

Has anyone else out there had this experience of cycling causing a stricture or urinary retention. If so can you tell me how you dealt with it?

Yes, and it's the most annoying thing. Constantly feeling like you've dribbled is most unpleasant!!!

Being older and getting back into cycling I set my handlebars higher with a 10deg 110mm stem. This alleviates lower back strain. Unfortunately it also meant my pelvis was at just the wrong angle for my perinium.

Solution (which had to wait until I had good core strength) was to lower the handlebars by flipping the stem. This caused a 40mm drop in handlebar height, plus 8mm forward. The saddle also required adjustment, 6mm forward and 2.5mm down to compensate.

Within a week my perinium had settled down and everything was back to normal. On the down side my lower back did get cranky for a couple of weeks, but I had expected it to complain a little. Careful management made sure that no damage was caused.