New Treatment For Prostatitis From Stanford Researchers Helps Many Sufferers Of Pelvic Pain

Main Category: Urology / Nephrology
Also Included In: Men's health;  Public Health;  Pain / Anesthetics
Article Date: 08 Jun 2007 - 0:00 PDT

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Prostatitis is a condition most men rarely discuss because of its embarrassing symptoms. Sufferers often have urinary frequency, genital pain and cannot sit without increasing their pain. Sexual activity usually makes the pain worse.

A new treatment for prostatitis has been developed at Stanford University Urology Department by Rodney Anderson, M.D., Professor of Urology at Stanford Medical School and David Wise, Ph.D., former research scholar at Stanford Urology Department, called the Stanford Protocol, this new treatment is described in a book called A Headache in the Pelvis and on http://www.pelvicpainhelp.com.

The Stanford researchers have documented their success in articles in the Journal of Urology, the field's leading journal, reporting over 70% rate of significant improvement with men not helped by any other treatment.

Campbell's Urology text estimates that prostatitis is the third-ranked reason men go to urologists, number one for men under 50. It's the only one of the big three -- prostate cancer and BPH are the others -- that strikes men at their sexual peak. Poorly understood and usually unsuccessfully treated, it is estimated that it affects millions of American men. It is thought that half of all men will have some symptoms of prostatitis at some point in their lives.

What is new is that the Stanford researchers do not treat prostatitis as a disease of the prostate gland. Instead the Stanford Protocol relies on research that shows that the prostate gland is normal in the large majority of men carrying symptoms of prostatitis. The Stanford treatment focuses on relaxing chronic tension and releasing spasm in the pelvic muscles.

According to the Stanford researchers, prostatitis usually strikes successful and hardworking often overachieving men who hold tension in their pelvis. It is similar to TMJ pain striking those who hold tension in their jaws.

The Stanford treatment pioneers a self-administered physical therapy done inside and outside the pelvic floor. It identifies over 60 trigger points inside and outside the pelvis that can refer pelvic pain and symptoms. The protocol simultaneously trains patients in a specific method to relax the pelvic floor and to modify the tendency to tighten the pelvis under stress. When the muscles of the pelvis become soft and relaxed, the researchers report a high level of symptom relief.

http://www.pelvicpainhelp.com