How Your Back Pain is Connected to Your Erectile Dysfunction and Premature Ejaculation

That pain in your lower back is disrupting your ability to have great sex! 

You know that tightness in your hips that prevents you from touching your toes? Well, that same tightness also makes it difficult to achieve an erection and keep it up, preventing you from retaining your sexual energy, and even from practicing those Tantric sex techniques that you've read about online.

WHY IS ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION SO COMMON?

Nearly all of the men who have come to work with me for sexual issues also experience tension or hardness in the lower back and hips. Simply speaking, they lack structural and energetic mobility. Maybe they have a tight back or hamstrings. Maybe they have tight hip flexors. Maybe they have a weakened core. Perhaps it's all of that. (It usually is.) 

The tension that develops in the muscles and fascial tissue throughout the body eventually hardens like a suit of armor around the skeletal structure. Mobility becomes disrupted, and the tension reaches deep into the core of the body, leading to major disruptions in the flow of blood, breath, and energy. Sometimes it's the other way around, and the tension first manifests from deep within the body before surfacing to perform its iron grip around your bones and joints. 

Either way, in the context of sexual function, this tension is a key contributor to erectile dysfunction (ED), premature ejaculation, and other sexual dysfunctions in both men and women.

The hardness that forms around the skeletal structure is partly due to our habit of sitting all day slumped over a computer, and other repetitive strains. It’s also the result of dysfunctional movement, and postural or breathing patterns that have become conditioned through decades of repetition. For many of us, the tension is the result of unresolved traumas: undigested sexual, mental, and emotional energies that have been collected over a lifetime. They are Incomplete survival responses stuck in the body. 

Ultimately, ED and Premature Ejaculation are primarily caused by the mental and physical tension that comes as the result of living in separation and disconnection from the Self and the world around you. Most of us have experienced this disconnection in one form or another. Disconnection from the bodily sensations. Disconnection from the breath. Disconnection from the Self. Disconnection from your partner.

I want to note that while this article is directed at men, it applies to women in their own unique way. Although the urogenital region of a woman has obvious differences to a man’s, and can require different treatment, tension and disconnection disrupts the flow of a woman’s blood, breath, and energy in a similar way. For the purposes of this article, we’ll be focusing on the treatment of male bodies.

CAN YOU FIX ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION AND PREMATURE EJACULATION?

The good news is you can fix erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation.

The remedy is connection. Re-connection! The tension in your body isn’t something that can be stretched out in a yoga class, or fixed by popping a little blue pill. You must actively dissolve the physical tension in order to feel more deeply. You must begin the courageous task of gently discharging a lifetime of stagnant mental, emotional, and sexual energies so that you may reconnect to the subtle felt-sense experience of your sexual core.

HOW DO YOU FIX ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION AND PREMATURE EJACULATION?

If you’re looking for an easy fix, go get a prescription … then watch your natural sexual energy diminish as you get older and less mobile.

If you want to dedicate yourself to improving as you age, instead of withering away, you must regularly practice physical exercises to actively dissolve tension so that your deep-core tissues can become more supple, and your vital sex-energies may flow more freely. By gently connecting into your pelvic region, a part of your body that may currently be quite numb, you’ll begin to nurture a subtle felt-sense experience of everything that is happening in that area (and beyond). The intention is to maintain Awareness. 

If that sounds overwhelming, join my free mini-course and I’ll give you 3 guided exercises to get you started. More on that below …

HOW DO YOU DELAY EJACULATION?

In the context of Tantric Yoga, the intention for the exercises I present is subtler than merely resolving surface level muscular tension, but the two are inextricably interrelated. You are to cultivate an inner physical space where you become freer from your tension, and more deeply connected to your body, where you are able to receive subtle Tantric Yoga practices, like ashwinimudra, nauli with vajrolīmudrā and mūlabāndha, which can be utilized for semen control and sublimation of your sex-energy. These techniques require a good teacher, great sensitivity, subtle control of the body, and years of practice to master, but they begin with these exercises (or exercises like these).  

Without freedom from your tension, disconnect and numbness will remain, making it impossible, or at least very difficult, to practice the subtle muscular contractions and releases that are needed to make this Tantric sex-energy stuff happen. You can read all the Mantak Chia books you want–it won’t make much difference. 

I repeat: you can do endless spiritual practices or energetic exercises to try to "fix" your sexual energies or "dissolve" your traumas ... but the results will be fleeting and incomplete without treating your physical body.

You can go deeper into the subject of utilizing Tantric techniques for greater control of your sexual energy in my post on the 10 Essential Steps to Multiple Orgasms for men.

Moving on.

CAN SCIATICA PAIN CAUSE ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION?

Not necessarily, because the sciatic nerve does not connect to the penis. However, the muscular and fascial tightness that causes sciatica is the same tightness that affects the nerve, and the flow of blood and energy to the sexual organs. It is all connected. 

The penile nerves primarily originate at the sacrum and in the upper lower back at the bridge between the lumbar and thoracic spine. These regions are known to become chronically blocked by hardened tissues, or prone to hyper-mobility, which may pinch down on the nerves. 

Sciatica is the result of the sciatic nerve becoming pinched or compressed due to the hardening of the tissues around the lower spine and SI joints. It could also be attributed to hyper-mobility in the lowest vertebrae. It can usually be corrected by remobilizing the spine, strengthening the postural core muscles, and correcting the dysfunctional movement and postural pattern that created it. 

DO TIGHT HIP FLEXORS CAUSE ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION?

It’s certainly possible. But perhaps a better question is: What is the cause of the tension that led to tight hip flexors? It’s likely that it goes deeper than just sitting at a desk all day.  We go deeper into this subject in The Tantric Man.

The hip flexor muscles originate at the base of the spine and run through your pelvis to connect to the top of the thigh bones. Tightness of the hip flexor muscle affects the flow of blood and energy in the pelvic region. It also disrupts the free movement of the pelvic floor, the urethral sphincter, and the anal sphincter, ultimately creating more tension and further disrupting the free flow of sexual energy. 

As you can see from the images, there is a lot of muscle and fascial tissue that connects through the abdominal and pelvic region which influences the urogenital function. I'm guessing a tight pelvic floor isn't something you've considered before!

Tight hip flexors can be freed from their grip by remobilizing the lower vertebrae of the spine, SI joints, and hips. This takes time, persistence, and a safe method. Follow along with the videos in the free mini-course to achieve some freedom from your tight hip flexors.

CAN A PINCHED NERVE CAUSE ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION?

It absolutely can, if it is the Pudendal nerve that innervates the penis with information and energy. This all-important nerve arises from the sacral plexus in the pelvis to become the chief nerve of the perineum and external genitalia. It originates from vertebrae S2, S3, and S4, and is responsible for relaying information about sensations and motor functions such as ejaculation.

Look at the nerve in the image below. Consider how it could be affected by tension and tightness in the pelvic core.

If the muscular and fascial tissues surrounding the lower back and sacrum become tight and immobile, this tension will find its way into the pelvic region, possibly constricting or pinching the Pudendal nerve.

In addition to the pinched nerve, the tension will likely affect the free movement of the pelvic floor muscles, which can cause challenges with Premature Ejaculation.

Remobilizing the lower spine and SI joints will allow for the hardened tissues to loosen their grip so that the nerves can move energy and information as they’re designed to do. 

Check out the videos in my FREE mini-course to learn how to do exactly what I’m describing. 

DO STRESS AND ANXIETY CAUSE ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION OR PREMATURE EJACULATION?

Good sex happens when your nervous system is well-regulated and hovering somewhere within its parasympathetic expression. When you are chronically stressed and living with an aroused sympathetic response (fight-flight-freeze), then the relaxation required for sexual intimacy and connection are offline. 

Living in stress and anxiety is the cause of a great deal of deep inner tension which eventually manifests as hardness throughout the physical body. You may experience stress and anxiety due to  past trauma, painful experiences, attachment wounds, fear of rejection, fear of connection, or an overloaded busy lifestyle. Perhaps it’s all of that and more. 

Whatever the cause of your stress and anxiety, the tension they create has far-reaching consequences on your health and wellbeing. Learning tools to discharge tension and self-regulate your nervous system is essential to maintaining a mobile body and good blood + energy flow.

Working with an experienced somatic technologist can help you to regain access to your nervous and energetic systems so that you can become free from the tension of the past. Contact me to apply for my personal guidance. 

EXERCISES FOR ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION CAUSED BY BACK PAIN

Ok. Now for more about my free mini-course, containing 3 practice sessions to help you treat your back pain and sexual dysfunction. Repeat the sessions exercises in these videos regularly for best results. If you don't do them, they don't work. It's really that simple.  

Each video is focused on a different part of your lower back with heavy attention paid to the deep core of your body. You’ll be guided with the use of simple props to help mobilize your spine, SI joints, and hips. 

Structural + Sexual De-Armouring SESSION 1

This first session provides an important foundation to the breath and relaxation. It will focus on de-armouring parts of the back and deep core in order to help you release and reconnect the breath's capacity to flow freely between the two primary centers of gravity in the body. These centers also happen to be two major energy centers, and important points of focus in Tantric work.

Through practice, you will gain a deeper understanding of breath mechanics, and their important role in the regulation of the nervous and energetic systems. You will learn how to remain connected, through your breath, to your heart and the center of your energetic core. These are necessary prerequisites for the subtler task of cultivating and moving sexual energy. 

The end of the session includes guided breathwork and a meditation from the Shaiva Tantras. 

Structural + Sexual De-Armouring SESSION 2

This session uses a “large lower back roll” to focus on the last three vertebrae of the spine: L4, L5 and S1. This region can become locked or frozen due to the hardness in the surrounding tissues, making it difficult for energy and information to pass on to the next region of the body. 

After the re-mobilization of your lower back and the release of your hips and sacral area, you’ll do some work to strengthen the deep core. This release will allow you to experience the subtleties of the pelvic diaphragm, creating a sensitivity and awareness that are essential to developing ejaculatory and erectile control.

The session concludes with Tantric (yogic) practices related to the pelvic diaphragms and urethral and anal sphincters.

Structural + Sexual De-Armouring SESSION 3

In this  final session, you’ll apply a “small lower back roll” directly to the region of the spine at the vertebrae L1, L2, and L3. This region can also become locked or frozen due to the hardness in the tissues that I have described above. When the lower back becomes locked, it is impossible for energy to move towards the next region of the body. 

After the re-mobilization of the lower back, hips, and sacral area, you’ll practice slow spinal rotations, gentle stabilization, and strengthening. Again, this work will allow you greater access to correctly practice and experience the subtleties of the pelvic diaphragm, and the urethral and anal sphincters - which are a requirement for Tantric and Taoist sexual practices.

Tantric (yogic) practices related to these diaphragms and sphincters are included at the end of this session.

CONCLUSION: YOUR SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION CAN BE HEALED

The men I see are almost always disconnected from their deep core and sexual centres. They are often in pain or even numb to their experience. They are rarely aware of the tension they carry deep inside, let alone the roots of  that tension or its connection to their sexual dysfunction. 

As you’ve now learned, fixing this is not as simple as learning a few stretches or getting a massage. Taking prescription drugs like Viagra or Cialis for ED is only a temporary band aid solution. Your sexuality is not separate from your lifestyle or your physiology. Becoming free from the effects of your sexual dysfunctions is an invitation to slow down, feel more, and journey deep into the self.

Oh, and a good teacher is essential! I’ve given you a ton of good stuff in my free mini-course. Follow along with the 3 practices and see how much of a difference you notice after the first week. These videos are a small sample of my course, The Tantric Man: a Complete Guide to Upgrading the 6 Core Areas of Your System. 

If you have questions about this work or require individual support, contact me here.