Arse tickling - a study

[durbster]

The next time you're having a piss (standing up), can you try something for me?

While you're pissing - particularly towards the latter stages - if you sort of scratch or tickle the very top of your arse crack, does it increase your flow or make more wee come out?

It always does for me and I'm curious whether:
a) this is a normal thing or not
b) the mechanics of why and how

I look forward to hearing your experiences.

[Big Kev]

That's an IgNobel prize publication right there.

[richo]

Why does my brain go straight to Arse Ticklers Faggots Fan Club when I see that title....





Maybe I have watched Lock Stock wayyy too many times.

[Cursed]

This is an unexpected level of sharing and I've only had one cocktail and a couple of glasses of red tonight.

[r8response]

if you sort of scratch or tickle the very top of your arse crack

Well... That counts me out. Have no nerve endings there, thanks to surgery for pilonidal cyst a number of years ago

[Bails MacKenzie]

Well, I decided to go to the top right away and ask my friend who just happens to be a practicing doctor at the Alfred in Melbourne, He gave me this response:

[SPOILER]

Funnily enough we were discussing something like this except the other way around in continence clinic the other day
we were in fact discussing methods of staving off urge incontinence due to bladder overactivity i.e. the detrusor (bladder muscle) tendency to be too sensitive
and rubbing the small of your back, or the back of your calves, seems to be effective
however didn't discuss the effect of this during micturition
here we go

https://www.kemh.health.wa.gov.au/~/med ... niques.pdf
all the various techniques

now it's pretty safe to say that most of these techniques do not have a direct mechanical or even nervous relation to bladder contractility
which leads me to assume it's more to do with vagal stimulation/inhibition circuit. i was going to be doing some reading on bladder neuroanatomy in the coming weeks anyway so maybe i might be able to pinpoint it more precisely for you

i do have a theory myself on the specific question asked here though;

i think there's a feasible explanation for why it makes more wee come out even if it's supposed to stave off detrusor contractions: it's because once the detrusor finishes contracting, if you relax it, then the urine sequestered away in the course of contraction is freed up and can access the urethra. consider that when you pee it comes out in a stream but then you have to stop and relax and then contract again a couple of times before you feel actually empty (in a normal person anyway) so for some people maybe they don't actually completely relax their bladder at the end
and would actually normally retain a certain amount of urine (common, but problematic if the volume is too high)

now what i can tell you about the bladder neuroanatomy........ well let's start by relating it back to what happens when you need to pee
your bladder fills up. you get this sensation"my bladder is full i need to take a piss" but you don't piss yourself automatically otherwise you'd be pissing your pants all the time. why? because your brain sends a signal back down going "hey bladder don't squeeze out that piss yet" and you make a mental note "okay i need to piss soon"

if you wait too long your bladder starts stretching for real and says HEY, I NEED TO PISS NOW and your bladder muscle, the detrusor, will start contracting. that's when you feel "oh shit if i don't piss NOW i'm going to piss myself"
so you try to hold it in by clamping down on your urethra via your pelvic floor
then when you relax that pelvic floor the (external) sphincter of your urethra opens up and whatever's in your bladder empties. this is also why it's harder to piss when you don't actually have much in your bladder: the bladder doesn't necessarily feel much of an urge to let anything out so there's no automatic bladder contraction

That was supposed to link back as to why doing things like pressing on your philtrum helps take away the urge to piss
this is probably the simplest and most helpful diagram i can find

what it shows is the systems and spinal levels that exert control over the bladder (+ means more active - less)
these are the efferent i.e. spine -> target innervations tho, it doesn't show you the afferent i.e. bladder -> spine pathway which provides the initial feedback

So basically, the part in bold explains that specific sensation, if it significantly increase the flow rate, see your doctor, you may have future bladder problems.
Long story short though, you aren't relaxing your muscles enough to begin with and don't be suprised if you start pissing yourself.

[Dr. Pain]

Don't start mediation without doctors permission

[norbs]

Why hasnt anyone asked Durbs how he discovered this?

[petey]

Some things, you just don't need to know.

[durbster]

So basically, the part in bold explains that specific sensation, if it significantly increase the flow rate, see your doctor, you may have future bladder problems.
Long story short though, you aren't relaxing your muscles enough to begin with and don't be suprised if you start pissing yourself.

Nice one. That's interesting, especially that there's no mechanical link and something more complex is going on.

Why hasnt anyone asked Durbs how he discovered this?

The explanation above does kind of tie up to how I found this out. I know you didn't didn't ask but since I'm here I'll say it anyway.

Basically, I'm lactose intolerant but because I loved milk, I resolutely refused to acknowledge it until I was in my late 20s.

One side-effect would be a sudden urge to piss and I somehow stumbled on this technique and must have thought it would help drain the tank more effectively.

One day, I decided to try going without any dairy products for a week just to settle it and all my symptoms were immediately resolved (including some stuff I hadn't even realised were symptoms). I realised what a bloody moron I'd been by thinking I could override a genetic condition through will power and I re-organised my diet properly.

That was about 12 years ago and I haven't had have any problems since but maybe the massive stress I put on my bladder by being a stubborn idiot for so long has done some long-term damage. I'll be sure to let you all know if one day the floodgates don't close properly.