Men who have chronic prostatitis or pelvic pain syndrome may derive significant relief from aerobic exercise, Italian researchers report.

Chronic inflammation of the prostate can lead to constant pain that is hard to treat. While it affects millions of men, the cause of so-called chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome is unclear. It is most common among men between the ages of 36 and 50. Symptoms include pelvic, testicular, penile, or rectal pain and inflammation. Frequent urination and sexual difficulties are also common symptoms.

Dr. Gianluca Giubilei, of Careggi Hospital in Florence, and colleagues note in The Journal of Urology that these patients have a poor quality of life and most do not get significant long-term benefit from treatment.

To investigate the impact of aerobic exercise on patients with chronic prostatitis or pelvic pain syndrome, the researchers recruited 231 men between 20 and 50 years of age who were unresponsive to conventional treatment and able to take part in moderate-intensity physical exercise.

The subjects were randomly assigned to an aerobic exercise group or a control group that participated in stretching and motion exercises.

In all, 75 percent of the aerobic group and 82 percent of the placebo group completed the 18-week program. A variety of measures showed significant improvement in both groups, the researchers report.

However, improvements in the aerobic group were significantly greater than in the control group for chronic prostatitis symptom scores, quality of life measures, and pain scores.

Given these findings, Giubilei and colleagues conclude that aerobic exercise is "a valid treatment option and it should be further investigated in a larger study with longer follow-up."

SOURCE: Journal of Urology, January 2007.