Prostatitis is a psychoneuromuscular condition: Study

Nov 10 2009

In the November 2009 issue of the Journal of Urology, Stanford Medical School researcher Dr. Rodney Anderson and researchers at the National Center for Pelvic Pain Research, in a new study, demonstrated a high correlation between the location of painful trigger points inside the pelvic floor muscles of men with chronic prostatitis and the location in the body where they routinely complain of pain.

A new treatment called the Wise-Anderson Protocol, originally developed at Stanford University in the department of Urology, treats men with chronic prostatitis in a monthly 6 day immersion clinic. It has been successful in helping to reduce the symptoms of a large majority of men diagnosed with chronic prostatitis who have not responded to any other treatment. The clinic aims to rehabilitate chronically contracted pelvic muscles and modify the tendency to tighten the pelvic muscles under stress.

It is estimated that 8 to 10% of American men suffer from prostatitis in which they have symptoms of urinary frequency, urgency, sitting pain, genital, sexual and rectal discomfort. Prostatitis is typically treated with antibiotics according to the conventional model that the source of prostatitis symptoms is an infection or inflammation in the prostate gland. Antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications routinely fail to resolve chronic symptoms of prostatitis in well over 90% of men diagnosed with chronic prostatitis.

The Stanford article adds to mounting evidence that prostatitis (chronic pelvic pain syndrome) is a psychoneuromuscular condition in which the muscles of the pelvic floor, in response to psychological or physical stress, become chronically contracted. Once this stress causes the muscles of the pelvic floor to chronically tighten, a condition of chronic spasm and muscle contraction occurs and is fed by a cycle of tension, anxiety, pain and protective guarding. Dr. Anderson et al have published other articles in the Journal of Urology showing the efficacy of their treatment. They have written about this new treatment in the popular book A Headache in the Pelvis, now in its 5th edition. More information about the Wise-Anderson Protocol is found on chronic prostatitis, pelvic pain and their treatment, in a number of videos at www.pelvicpainhelp.com and in written information.