Integrative approaches to Pelvic Pain

Chronic, unresolved pelvic pain can be one of the most frustrating and depressing conditions you can have.  The pain becomes chronic when it persists for longer than 3 months.

Do you know people with this condition? It’s horrific. Some of my patients have been forced to quit their jobs because the dysfunctional aspect of this type of pain. And sex? Forget about it. It is non-existent. Extreme pain and discomfort is experienced during and /or after intercourse.

Often, practitioners who do not understand this disease and insinuate that the condition “is in your head.” It’s not.

Pelvic pain affects men and women – more so women, and it’s commonly associated with other conditions.

In women, this condition is often the caused by endometriosis, ovarian cysts, ectopic pregnancy, painful bladders syndrome or interstitial cystitis. In men, pelvic pain is mostly associated with chronic non-bacterial prostatitis. Men can also have interstitial cystitis (IC) but IC is much more common in women.

One of the techniques I have learned is dry needling trigger points. Trigger points are hyperirritable bands of muscles that form “knots”. These knots cause local and distant pain. A person with chronic pelvic pain can have a trigger points between on  the inner thigh, for example, and that may cause pain in other areas of the pelvic region.

Dry needling is an acupuncture technique where the practitioner slides the needle back and forth right on the trigger point to “calm” the muscle. I find this approach to be moderately effective ONLY if the practitioner is able to find the affected muscle.

Other helpful approaches include physical therapy with an expert physical therapist in pelvic pain and hatha yoga.

This Saturday at Hilton here in New York City, I will give a presentation to physician’s and acupuncturist on Integrative Approaches to healing Chronic Pelvic Pain at the Integrative Healthcare Symposium. If you are in the area I welcome you to stop by. It’s open for non-practitioners although some of the information may be overly complex for your taste. Although, in reality, I often find non-physician’s to be more knowledgeable in this subject than physicians.