Chronic pelvic pain is often specified as pain in the area below your bellybutton and between your hips. Pain is generally classified as chronic after 3 months duration.
As I think in a more holistic way, pain in the pelvic area MUST involve the rest of your body, brain, and mind. These last two are different; brain is about neurology and neuroplasticity or changing the way the messages are sent and received by the nervous system, the mind is our emotions and reactions to life.
May is Pelvic Pain Month
This month is set aside for us to think about chronic pelvic pain in its many forms. Early on Monday morning, 5am, I zoomed to join an international discussion between multidisciplinary pain specialists sharing their case studies.
Many of the countries lamented the lack of people trained to treat chronic pelvic pain. Such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and endometriosis, bladder and the urinary system, gynaecological problems, sexual intimacy problems and much, much more.
Pelvic Pain from IBS to Hysterectomy are Life changing
Some of the diagnosis that could be classed as pelvic pain
· Musculoskeletal problems – many bones, muscles, and ligaments in pelvic area
· Irritable bowel syndrome
· Painful bladder or urinary infection
· Kidney infection or kidney stones
· Result of surgery for a variety of problems – digestive, reproductive, excretory organs
· Endometriosis and other conditions of the reproductive organs
Important Note: If your pain is severe, unexplained, or drastically changes always consult your doctor.
Unexplained Pelvic Pain or Unable to get a Diagnosis
Doctors may run tests and imaging but there are two things to consider here.
1. All results may be ‘negative’ meaning that a clear diagnosis cannot be given.
2. Tests, especially imaging such as ultrasound or MRI may show structural changes but cannot guarantee to be the cause of your pain.
3. Ongoing treatment may be painful or have unwanted side-effects.
Christchurch Kinesiology Clinic Approach to Chronic Pelvic Pain
When people find my clinic, they have often been to many doctors, specialist, or therapists without satisfactory relief from their chronic pelvic pain symptoms. You may see chronic pelvic pain shortened to CPP in clinical reports and medical research.
I guess you could call my natural holistic clinic the place of ‘last resort’ – it feels that way sometimes. This is understandable as chronic pelvic pain impacts so, so much on the people, men and women who suffer pelvic pain.
Kinesiology can be a pain clinic of last resort as:
· Nothing has helped pain symptoms
· You would prefer drug-free therapy
· Unwanted side effects of pain medication
· Physiotherapy exercises have become too painful
Introducing Jean Jordan Natural Therapist
Trained in Naturopathy I felt that there was more that I could do to help people in chronic pain.
Therefore, as part of my Diploma in Naturopath I decided to put Kinesiology Therapy to the test by doing my thesis on the ‘Effectiveness of Kinesiology Treatment for chronic pain.’
This clinical research involved 25 people with a variety of chronic pain conditions, each having up to six consultations. Not only did I discover that Kinesiology therapy improves many aspects of chronic pain management not covered by other therapies, medical or complementary, but also worked in a holistic way to boost overall health and wellness.
Previously, I listed three difficulties experienced by you if your reason for having pelvic pain could not be fully explained or treated. I’d like to return to these and explain how my kinesiology treatment may help.
Unable to get Diagnosis for Your Chronic Pelvic Pain
Both kinesiology and naturopath work in a holistic way working to identify some of the many and varied things that happen in your daily life, happened in the past or concerns about your future with the possibility of having to live with your pain.
For this reason, we don’t diagnose in the same way as allopathic medicine. Having a diagnosis can be helpful but does it really change your health and wellness. It may inform your doctor what medication to take or which specialist to refer you to.
Physical Structural Changes may Not be the Cause of your Pain
The use of technology in medicine has certainly increased over the years, and up until recently if your MRI indicated that there was some wear and tear within your musculoskeletal system this was immediately shown as the reason for your pain. After some years the excitement of these discoveries has waned as physical changes may have no relation to your pain. Research has shown that physical changes happen with ageing, even in our 20’s and 30’s but most people don’t get pain. This page goes into a more detailed discussion on this topic – click here
Pain Management Treatment Painful or has Unwanted Side-effects?
Over my 20 years in practice, both in Australia and here in Christchurch, I’ve listened to tales of the past experience of chronic pain patients, both good and bad. One aspect has been the side effects of treatment. In search of pain relief more medications are added to their treatments protocol. One such example is explained below.
· Firstly, an increase in pain medication, such as pain killers that can damage your stomach lining.
· Therefore, another medicine is needed, a protein pump inhibitor (PPI) to treat the side-effect of the first medication. More information
· Research has shown that PPI’s are generally not recommended for long term use.
· PPI’s can affect your magnesium levels, and magnesium helps relax tense muscles
I understand the complexity of chronic pelvic pain and it can take many years of visits to doctors and specialists that doesn’t always get the results you hoped for. So, I ask you to walk through one more door, that’s to my place in Mandeville Street in Riccarton, Christchurch
NOTE: If you have an unexplained pain get it checked by your doctor