October’s IPPS Conference Kicked off Today!

ORLANDO, The 21st Annual International Pelvic Pain Society Conference kicked off today in Orlando, Florida at the Peabody hotel with the popular Basics Course.

Topics covered at this year’s Basics Course include: “Evaluation and Treatment of Musculoskeletal Causes of CPP,” “Diagnosis and Treatment of Endometriosis and Other Utero-Ovarian Causes of CPP,” and “Psychological Aspects of Living with CC,” among many others. Check out the Program Schedule here.

For those of you who can’t make it this year, please check our blog, twitter and Facebook throughout the conference for live updates and coverage throughout the entire meeting!

Following the Basics Course, the meeting officially kicks off with my presidential address on Friday morning at 7:55 a.m.

As for the conference agenda, this year’s amazing lineup includes more than 30 speakers with expertise in the pelvic pain arena, including two nationally respected keynote speakers; Jeffrey S. Mogil, PhD, a world-renowned neuroscientist and the foremost expert on how the human brain processes pain and Donna Carrico, WHNP, MS, head of the groundbreaking Women’s Urology Center at Beaumont Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

Speakers will address a host of topics related to pelvic pain, including:

• How the brain processes pain: Jeffrey S. Mogil, PhD, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
• Gender differences in chronic pain: Roger Fillingim, PhD, University of Florida
• Psychological influences on pain perception: Steve George, PT, PhD, University of Florida
• Surgical management of advanced endometriosis: Arnold Advincula, MD, FACOG, FACS, Center for Specialized Gynecology, Celebration, Florida
• Abdominal pain from childhood to adulthood: Lynn Walker, PhD, Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nashville, TN
• 2-D ultrasound in urological chronic pelvic pain syndromes: Tracy Spitznagle, PT, DPT, WCS, Washington University, St. Louis, MO

In addition to the topic-driven lectures and lunch roundtable discussions, we have a few other amazing activities lined up!

For one thing, on Friday evening, there will be a fundraising cocktail party at Opa Taverna, a hopping bar with belly dancers! For another thing, this year we’re hosting a silent auction via the online auction site, BiddingForGood.com, which will technically begin Oct 10^th and run throughout the meeting, ending on Oct 25th. All proceeds will go towards supporting the IPPS in its mandate of providing optimal diagnosis and treatment to the millions of pelvic pain sufferers across the globe.

Check out the fantastic items on the block here.

In addition, on Saturday morning due to popular demand after last year, the yoga class, “Yoga for Pelvic Pain” will be offered by our beloved pelvic pain yogi, Dustienne Miller.

And if all of that wasn’t enough, this year we’re also bringing back our Friday lunch roundtable discussions from noon to 1:30 p.m. We have a marvelous lineup if I do say so myself. Check it out:

·      Sarah Fox, MD and Ragi Doggweiler, MD, ABIHM: CAM Therapies for Pain

·      Henry Lai, MD and Daniel Kirages, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT: Male Pelvic Pain

·      Lara Burrows, MS, MD and Denniz Zolnoun, MD, MPH: Vulvar Pain

·      Amy Benjamin, MD and Juan Diego Villegas Echeverri, MD: Endometriosis

·      Myself and Michael Hibner, MD, PhD: Pudendal Nerve Issues

·      Alain Watier, MD and Frank Tu, MD, MPH: GI/IBS

·      Maurice K. Chung, RPh, MD, FACOG, ACGE and Robert Echenberg, MD: Bladder/IC

·      Amy Stein, MPT, BCB-PMD, IF and Tracy M. Spitznagle, PT, DPT, WCS: General Musculoskeletal Pelvic Pain

Lastly, I am so excited about Sunday’s post-conference function titled “Movement System Approach: Hip and SIJ Diagnosis and Treatment,” delivered by Tracy M. Spitznagle, PT, DPT, WCS, from Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

After her two lectures titled, “Movement System Impairment Syndromes: Theory” and “Pelvic Pain Related Movement Impairment Syndromes: Case Examples Hip and SIJ,” Tracy will lead us through four labs and wrap up with a question and answer session.

All my very best,

Stephanie