WHY PROSTATITIS, LEVATOR ANI SYNDROME, CHRONIC PROCTALGIA, COCCYDYNIA, PUDENDAL NEURALGIA, CHRONIC PELVIC PAIN SYNDROME, PERINEUM PAIN, INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS, AND ANAL/RECTAL PAIN ARE ALL THE SAME DISORDER: PELVIC FLOOR DYSFUNCTION

The Blind Men and the Elephant

We receive many emails from individuals who have pelvic pain who are confused by their diagnosis. Men and women have seen a variety of doctors- from urologists, to gynecologists, to other subspecialty physicians. Men diagnosed with prostatitis have been told their symptoms are caused by their prostate gland, men and women diagnosed with pudendal neuralgia believe that they have something wrong with their pudendal nerve, individuals with a diagnosis of coccydynia think they are suffering from some problem with their tailbone, men and women diagnosed with levator ani syndrome, chronic anorectal pain, or piriformis syndrome think they have a problem respectively with the levator muscle, the anus or rectum, or the piriformis muscle, and so on.

Pelvic clock with the internal trigger point wand pointing to 11 o’clock

We confirmed in our 2009 research study published in the Journal of Urology that many symptoms listed above are recreated upon palpation of specific painful trigger points (taut, painful bands of muscle tissue) often occurring in chronically tight muscles inside and outside the pelvis. This means the pain is referred pain, so that if we push on the tissue of the pelvic floor and find the tenderness and related taut bands (trigger points) in the front part of the pelvis (the anterior)from 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock going toward the belly button, you will get anterior symptoms like tip of the penis pain in men or vaginal pain in women, supra pubic pain, urinary frequency and urgency, and genital pain in men and women. If you have pain in the back part of the pelvis (the posterior) from 3 o’clock-9 o’clock all the way to the tailbone you get post bowel movement pain, anorectal pain, low back pain, sitting pain, and tailbone pain.

This means, all of these symptoms shared above occur from the same problem. They are not different. They all occur in the pelvic floor. That is why pelvic floor dysfunction is the most accurate name for all of these less helpful names: levator ani syndrome is pelvic floor dysfunction with referred posterior symptoms from trigger points in the posterior of the pelvic floor, anal and rectal pain is pelvic floor dysfunction with posterior symptoms referred by trigger points in the posterior of the pelvic floor, coccydynia (tailbone pain) is pelvic floor dysfunction with trigger points referring posterior symptoms from the posterior of the pelvic floor, urinary frequency and urgency, nighttime urination, pain with urination, post ejaculatory pain, tip/shaft of the penis pain, testicular pain are anterior symptoms referred from anterior/front trigger points.

All of these symptoms are referred from the pelvic floor and related muscles…that is an important fact. The less important fact is where the trigger points are found in the pelvic floor. In other words, these symptoms, no matter the variety of names given, is a problem in the pelvic muscles. And the most important fact is that the treatment is the same…. all are treated by undoing the knot in the pelvic floor, releasing the trigger points and daily reducing arousal in the nervous system.

Conventional medical training does not include an effective treatment for pelvic floor dysfunction. Physical therapy is necessary but in many cases done inadequately by the therapist. Psychiatry tends not to be particularly helpful, and even when it is, is as inadequate as physical therapy. In other words, there are no subspecialties who are trained in the effective treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction. The Wise-Anderson Protocol specializes in a treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction that addresses what none of the current conventional subspecialties address: resolving the pelvic floor pain and heightened nervous system arousal which perpetuates it.

Over the years, we have found that when sensitivity and pain of pelvic floor trigger points are reduced or eliminated, and the nervous arousal triggering them is reduced, symptoms and pain reduction almost always reduces or goes away in the majority of our patients.

THE WISE-ANDERSON PROTOCOL

6-Day Immersion Clinic

We began treating varieties of pelvic floor dysfunctions in patients at Stanford University in 1995 in conventional office visits. In 2003, we reorganized our treatment in a private practice in the form of a 6-day immersion clinic held in Santa Rosa, California. The clinic, limited to 14 patients and offered throughout the year, has evolved to implement the Wise-Anderson Protocol, a treatment to teach patients to rehabilitate the chronically contracted muscles of the pelvic floor and to reduce anxiety daily. The Wise-Anderson Protocol, done daily at home by patients we have trained in self-treatment, has helped to give many their lives back. The purpose of our self-treatment is to help patients become free from having to seek additional professional help. For over a decade, research has documented our results of training patients with self-treatment.

For more information, please visit our clinics page by clicking here.

For questions about cost and eligibility please fill out the form below, email us at ahip@sonic.net or contact our office at +1 (707) 332-1492.