Dr. Anne Truong explains that erectile tissue needs regular use to stay healthy. Without sexual activity or pelvic-floor exercise, scar tissue can develop in the penis, leading to erectile dysfunction and a cycle of anxiety that makes it worse.
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In fact, if you don't exercise it, you actually do more harm than good. So it's kind of like your bicep. You don't go to gym, you don't exercise it, it gets weak. And then let's say you have a good night and you're hooking up, or you have a partner, or you're gonna get together. Well, you haven't had an orgasm in like 6 months or a year, and then you're trying to get an orgasm. It's gonna be a little difficult, right? Because the— gonna go, well, I haven't exercised in a while. When you look at scar tissue, what do you appreciate? Well, that's what happened to the penis as well. When you have ED, the muscle becomes scarred down and doesn't move well. And sometimes you'll feel nodules on the penis as well. So let's say you have a partner, an opportunity to do it, and then find out that, oh, it's harder to get there, it takes longer to get there, and it's not as firm. And then you start worrying about it. And then so the mindset starts kicking in, so it becomes this spiral.