Abstract
Both men and women require treatment for urologic chronic pelvic pain syndromes (UCPPS), which includes interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome, pelvic floor dysfunction, and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. However, it is unknown if men and women respond differently to a protocol that includes specific physical therapy self-treatment using an internal trigger point wand and training in paradoxical relaxation. We performed a retrospective analysis by gender in a single arm, open label, single center clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a protocol for the treatment of UCPPS from October, 2008 to May, 2011. 314 adult men (79.9 %) and 79 (20.1 %) women met inclusion criteria. The median duration of symptoms was 60 months. The protocol required an initial 6-day clinic for training followed by a 6-month self-treatment period. The treatment included self-administered pelvic floor trigger point release with an internal trigger point device for physical therapy along with paradoxical relaxation training. Notable gender differences in prior treatments were observed. Men had a lower median [Interquartile Range] NIH-CPSI score at baseline than women (27 [21, 31] vs. 29 [22, 33], p = 0.04). Using a 1–10 scale with 10 = Most Severe, the median reduction in trigger point sensitivity was 3 units for both men and women after 6 months therapy (p = 0.74). A modified Intention to Treat analysis and a multivariate regression analysis found similar results. We conclude that men and women have similar, significant reductions in trigger point sensitivity with this protocol.
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Abbreviations
- CP/CPPS:
-
Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome
- UCPPS:
-
Urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome
- NIH-CPSI:
-
National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptoms
- TrP:
-
Trigger point
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Rodney. U. Anderson is a consultant to New Pelvic Pain Technologies, Inc. and holds an intellectual property royalty relationship. David Wise is president of New Pelvic Pain Technologies, Inc. that licenses the patent for the Internal Trigger Point Wand. Tim Sawyer is a consultant and holds stock relationship with New Pelvic Pain Technologies, Inc. Brian H. Nathanson, through his company OptiStatim, LLC, has received consulting fees from New Pelvic Pain Technologies, Inc. J. Nevin Smith has no conflicts of interest to report.
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Anderson, R.U., Wise, D., Sawyer, T. et al. Equal Improvement in Men and Women in the Treatment of Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome Using a Multi-modal Protocol with an Internal Myofascial Trigger Point Wand. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 41, 215–224 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-015-9325-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-015-9325-6