By Elizabeth Akincilar, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Lexington In the past, when most folks in the medical community thought about pelvic pain, the assumption often was that it was due to pregnancy or labor and delivery, or something related to a woman’s menstrual cycle or reproductive organs. Thankfully, the medical community has come a long way. Within the community of medical …
Early Trauma and Its Effect on Chronic Urogenital Pain
By: Elizabeth Akincilar, PHRC Cofounder Another October, another International Pelvic Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting has come and gone. This year, we gathered in Toronto, Canada to learn about the latest and greatest in the world of pelvic pain. It seemed fitting that the first lecture of the general meeting would discuss possible early contributors to chronic urogenital pain. Dr. …
Summary from IPPS 2019: Chronic Pain in Endometriosis
By: Morgan Conner, DPT, PHRC Los Gatos In October I had the pleasure of attending the International Pelvic Pain Society’s Scientific Meeting with a number of my colleagues here at PHRC. On the second day of the main conference, Catherine Allaire MDCM, FRCSC gave the James E. Carter keynote lecture titled Endometriosis: Towards Prevention of Chronic Pain. There were two …
IPPS 2019: Sexual Health and Sexual Pain Across Cultures
By: Nina Chou This year’s IPPS meeting was held in Toronto, Canada, which is one of the most diverse cities in North America. In fact, the official motto of the city is “Diversity is our Strength.” Today, I want to recap a lecture on the impact of culture on sexuality by Beatrice “Bean” Robinson, PhD. Dr. Robinson is a licensed …
Pelvic Floor Anatomy, Physiology & Physical Therapy Resource List
May is Pelvic Pain Awareness Month and at PHRC we want to do our part to help people better understand pelvic pain syndromes and more importantly, help people suffering with these diagnoses get the help they need to recover. Since knowledge is power we created 5 videos and blog posts that we hope people find useful. This week, in our …
NEW COURSE: Advanced Management of Complex Pelvic Pain Syndromes
By: Stephanie Prendergast, MPT After a five year break from traveling, lecturing, and teaching courses Liz and I are excited to announce that we are re-entering the classrooms! Many people who know us or follow us on social media know our work promoting pelvic floor physical therapy at medical conferences, my leadership role as the first physical therapist to …
Abdominal Wall and Hernia Pain
By: Elizabeth Akincilar, PHRC Cofounder For some of you reading this, October conjures images of autumn leaves, Halloween, and pumpkin spiced…everything. For me, there’s one additional thing that I associate with October. The Annual International Pelvic Pain Society Scientific Meeting. Every October, for the past 13 years, I’ve attended and participated in this meeting. This year, I was pleased …
Center for Disease Control Opioid Guidelines: notes from #IPPS2018
By: Kim Buonomo, PT, DPT, PHRC Lexington At the International Pelvic Pain Society’s annual meeting I had the great opportunity to listen to two presenters discuss the role of medications in managing pelvic pain. In this blog, I’ll be talking about Dr. Stephen Ziegler PhD, JD from Purdue University’s lecture regarding the opioid epidemic and ways that we can …
Wait there’s a (secret) society for that?
In the age of social media and WebMD, often times I will have a patient who has gained information from all sorts of sources all over the internet. It takes a lot of effort to weed through the information that the patient has “learned” and separate fact from fiction. One of the best and most rewarding parts of my job …
A Biopsychosocial Approach to Vulvodynia
Throughout my years of practice I’ve treated many women with vulvodynia. I’ve noticed that it’s rare for women to return to 100% solely with physical therapy treatment; even though their musculoskeletal impairments may have returned to normal, some women continue to feel pain. In my experience, it takes a team of practitioners to treat vulvodynia, such as a physician …
Mechanistic Interplay among Peripheral, Spinal and Brain Adaptions to Chronic Visceral Pain
For those of you following our journey through the 3rd World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain (#WCAPP17), here is another light-bulb lecture explaining the interconnections of chronic visceral pain. The presenter, Melissa A. Farmer, PhD, is a researcher at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University with a long-standing relationship with the International Pelvic Pain Society (the …
Autonomic Dysregulation in Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders
By Melinda Fontaine, DPT, Walnut Creek At the 3rd World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain organized by the International Pelvic Pain Society, Professor Qasim Aziz spoke about Autonomic Dysregulation in Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. Qasim Aziz, MBBS, FRCP, PhD is Professor of Neurogastroenterology at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary, University …
The Peripheral Nervous System, Interstitial Cystitis, and Pelvic Pain
By Katie Hunter I had the pleasure of attending Dr. Kenneth Peters’ lecture on the role of the Peripheral Nervous System(PNS) in the development and management of pelvic pain. Kenneth Peters, MD is a urologist practicing at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oaks, MI, who specializes in treating complex pelvic pain including interstitial cystitis. For more information on Dr. …
Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain & Manual Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy
By Shannon Pacella While attending the 3rd World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain organized by the International Pelvic Pain Society, I had the privilege of listening to Rhonda K. Kotarinos, DPT, MS give a lecture on the topic of urologic chronic pelvic pain and manual physical therapy. Rhonda K. Kotarinos, DPT, MS is a Doctor of Physical …
Autonomic Features of Chronic Pelvic Pain
By Elizabeth Akincilar Understanding and effectively treating chronic pain continues to challenge the medical community. Now more than ever, there is a sense of urgency to treat this disease. With the astounding reports of opiate addiction and opiate related deaths in this country, we now know that throwing drugs at chronic pain is not the answer. So what …
3rd World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain Pain Updates, Part I
By Stephanie Prendergast Last month, pelvic pain enthusiasts traveled from all over the globe to attend the 3rd World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain in Washington, DC. The World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain is joint scientific meeting between the International Association for the Study of Pain Special Interest Group on Abdomino-Pelvic Pain, Convergences in pelvic-Perineal …
2014 IPPS Conference Must-Read Nuggets: Part I
Last week our staff attended the 2014 Annual Meeting of the International Pelvic Pain Society (IPPS) in Chicago. During its nearly 20-year existence the IPPS has been a major driver of the progress made in the treatment of chronic pelvic pain. And what makes the Annual Meeting of the organization so exciting is that it provides an opportunity for our …