Spinal Cord Injury: Sensual Exercises
Sensual exercises may help you enjoy sexual intimacy and find satisfaction after a spinal cord injury (SCI). You may find that your old methods of finding satisfaction still work or that they no longer do. Doing sensual exercises with your partner may help you relax and focus more on the pleasurable touching of lovemaking than on sexual intercourse or orgasm.
Because of the lack of movement and feeling you may have, finding and getting into comfortable positions can be difficult. It is important to experiment with this. Bulletin boards on many SCI Web sites provide a forum where people with SCIs and their partners post information about their level of injury and what works for them. See the Other Places to Get Help section of the topic Living With a Spinal Cord Injury.
Sensual exercises may be most helpful if done in a soothing, relaxing, and playful atmosphere. First, do your bowel and bladder program to avoid any accidents, and then put on some pleasant music, turn off the phone, and concentrate on your partner. The goal is to find sexual activity that is interesting, enjoyable, and mutually pleasurable. Your level of injury will probably affect what you can do in the following suggestions.