Pelvic Pain Help
pelvic pain help
Pelvic Pain Help

Treatment of Pelvic Pain with the Stanford Protocol

If you suffer from pelvic pain, you'll be happy to know that researchers at Stanford University have developed a new treatment called the Stanford Protocol, for prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndromes that helps a large majority of qualifying male and female patients. In a recent study in the Journal of Urology (see below), researchers showed that an overall reduction of symptoms was reported by 72% of the participants in the study.

This treatment, called the Stanford Protocol, was developed at Stanford University in the department of Urology over an eight year period. The treatment is offered monthly in California in a 6 day clinic open to qualifying patients. The purpose of the monthly clinics is to teach patients how to reduce or resolve their symptoms using the methods taught at the clinic and to help participants become independent of professional help.

In the case of men with prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndromes, 95% of patients with prostatitis symptoms do not have an infection or inflammation that can account for their symptoms. The evidence is compelling that in these cases, the prostate is not the issue.

The Inappropriate Use of Surgery and Antibiotics
in Treating Pelvic Pain

Those of us who developed the Stanford Protocol involved in treating patients with pelvic pain of presumed neuromuscular origin, particularly when the pain arises from a chronically contracted pelvic floor with active trigger points, no evidence of infection, and no anatomical abnormality have never seen a satisfactory surgical intervention. We have seen patients who have undergone multiple surgeries in a vain attempt to eradicate their problem. In fact for these conditions, surgery, in our experience, has often hurt the patient, complicated management of their condition and often created new pain and made it more difficult to treat the original pain and dysfunction. We strongly advise against surgery for the kind of pelvic pain we describe on this website and in our book, A Headache in the Pelvis. Furthermore, pelvic pain with no evidence of infection rarely responds to antibiotic treatment, and we have occasionally seen patients suffer increased problems from antibiotic treatment, particularly when antibiotics are given over long periods of time. 

Most of the symptoms of discomfort, urinary dysfunction and pain related to sitting or sexual activity in cases diagnosed as prostatitis have nothing to do with infection but are caused by chronically tightened muscles in and around the pelvis. Our natural protective instincts can tighten the pelvic basin, causing pain and other perplexing and distressing symptoms. Stress is intimately involved in creating and continuing of these symptoms. Once the condition starts, the symptoms tend to have a life of their own.

And the good news is that it is possible for a large majority of sufferers to reduce and sometimes eliminate symptoms. The groundbreaking book, A Headache In The Pelvis: A New Understanding and Treatment for Prostatitis and Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndromes, now out in the 4th edition, by Drs. David Wise and Rodney Anderson, describes how chronic tension in the pelvic muscles can cause many of the bewildering symptoms of prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndromes. People with pelvic pain successfully treated by the Stanford Protocol initially had reported at least on and sometimes more of these symptoms before begining the Stanford Protocol:

  • Pain in the rectum, abdomen, testicles, penis, vagina, groin, legs, area above the pubic bone around the bladder, thighs, lower back , or other places
  • A need to urinate frequently even when there is little to urinate, nocturia, dysuria, uninary frequency, urinary urgency
  • A sense of a golf ball in the rectum, rectal spasm, rectal discomfort, anal pain, anal discomfort
  • Pain in the penis, tip-of-the penis discomfort/pain, urethra, groin
  • Increased pain or discomfort when sitting
  • Discomfort hours or days after (or sometimes during) sex
  • Not feeling fully empty or normally relieved after urination
  • Either discomfort or relief after a bowel movement
  • Other symptoms of pain and urinary, bowel or sexual dysfunction

For the last few years Drs. Wise and Anderson presented their findings at the American Urological Association meetings and published their results in the Journal of Urology. They have created an effective treatment that "breaks the cycle by rehabilitating the shortened pelvic muscles and connective tissue supporting the pelvic organs while simultaneously using a specific methodology to modify the tendency to tighten the muscles of the pelvic floor when under stress."

Pelvic Pain Hekp

Below are abstracts of recent studies published in the Journal of Urology reporting the effectiveness of the Stanford Protocol. These results have been reported at the American Urological Association Meetings.

You can contact the National Center for Pelvic Pain
by clicking here:

Latest Published Research

pelvic pain help

 

 

  National Center for Pelvic Pain, Box 54, Occidental, California 95465
Telephone: 707 874 2225 • Fax: 707 874 2335
Email: ahip@sonic.net