Doctors say you should have sex FOUR times a week to flush out agonising bladder stones

Anyone who has suffered from painful kidney stones will be up for trying anything not to suffer their agony ever again.

But instead of drinking water to help expel them naturally, medics believe there is another way of ridding them from the body.

Having sex or masturbating three times a week also works, scientists now claim.

A tenth of Britons and Americans suffer kidney stones, with over-30s most vulnerable, as the risk increases with age.

When they get too big, they can become extremely painful and surgery is usually needed to remove them. 

The procedure uses either a laser to break the stone into small pieces so it can be passed naturally, or tools to manually remove the stone.

Meanwhile, those suffering from small stones are encouraged to drink plenty of fluids and take drugs called alpha-blockers that help stones pass by relaxing muscles in the urinary tract.

But writing in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, doctors in Indonesia noted that bladder neck contraction and relaxation — which happens during orgasm and ejaculation — could also help pass kidney stones.

This is because as the muscles relax, urine is encouraged to pass through the urethra, along with kidney stones.

Urologists at Universitas Airlangga in Surabaya reviewed five studies on the topic.

They included 406 participants that were told to have sex or masturbate three or four per week or abstain from either activity.

Dr ‪Yudhistira Pradnyan Kloping and his team examined how sexual acts affected how many kidney stones were expelled in each group and how long it took.

The results show that the expulsion rate was 5.7 times higher in the sexual activity group.

And stones were also expected to be urinated out faster among those who had sex of masturbated.

Meanwhile, the number of people requiring pain relief due to kidney stones was 62 per cent lower in the sexual activity group.

And the proportion needing a laser treatment to break up the stone was a fifth lower.

The researchers concluded: ‘Performing sexual intercourse or masturbation for three to four times a week is beneficial for promoting spontaneous expulsion of distal ureteral stones.’

The kidneys are responsible for removing waste products from the blood by filtering around 150 litres of it per day. Clean blood is transferred back to the body, while waste products are passed through urine.

However, people who don’t drink enough fluids, take certain medication or have an underlying condition are at risk of hard lumps of waste products forming.

Symptoms include pain in the side of the tummy, severe pain that comes and goes and feeling sick or vomiting.

Once a kidney stone has formed, it usually moves to the bladder on its own within weeks, allowing the body to pass it through urine.

People can reduce their risk of suffering kidney stones by drinking plenty of water and ensure the urine is pale in colour — a signal that they are well-hydrated.