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Treating Chronic Pelvic Pain without Surgery or Drugs

Adhesions and Chronic Pelvic Pain

Adhesions can form wherever we heal from injury, surgery, or inflammation. Pelvic adhesions join structures with strong glue-like bonds that can last a lifetime and cause chronic pelvic pain.Adhesions can form wherever we heal from injury, surgery, or inflammation. Pelvic adhesions join structures with strong glue-like bonds that can last a lifetime and cause chronic pelvic pain.

Chronic pelvic pain can refer to any number of acute or chronic conditions, and may stem from various causes. The pain can originate from gynecologic organs (cervix, uterus, or ovaries) or other areas of the pelvis.

The causes of acute pain are generally easier to diagnose than chronic pelvic pain, and may include infection, a cyst, or even an ectopic pregnancy – one which occurs outside the uterus. Women with acute pelvic pain should consult a doctor, especially if the pain disrupts daily life or gets worse over time.

Chronic pelvic pain is defined as pelvic pain which lasts longer than six months. We often find it is associated with the adhesive process that occurs after an infection or inflammation (such as endometriosis), or from a surgery or trauma.

Trauma

According to the American College of Gynecology, 40% to 50% of women with chronic pelvic pain have experienced the trauma of physical or sexual abuse.1 Many people have had bad falls onto their tailbone, back, or hips, especially during sports activities. Any of these events can cause adhesions to form, which may later cause chronic pelvic pain.

Medical causes

Bladder, vaginal, and yeast infections, and inflammations such as chlamydia, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) or endometriosis may cause chronic pelvic pain.

The body’s healing response to all of these conditions is to create adhesions. Once any area has become adhered, the adhesions often remain in the body as a permanent scar, binding nearby structures together. We find that adhesions within and between the structures of the pelvis are a frequent cause of chronic pelvic pain. See our adhesions page for a full explanation of adhesions.

Treating Chronic Pelvic Pain

Most physicians will attempt to treat chronic pelvic pain non-surgically, with medication or conventional physical therapy. If the patient does not fully respond to these methods, a physician may suggest surgery to view the interior environment and clean out any adhesions or endometriosis.


Treating Chronic Pelvic Pain and Adhesions with Surgery

Lysis of pelvic adhesions involves surgery and anesthesia.Lysis of pelvic adhesions involves surgery and anesthesia.

Until recently, lysis of adhesions was the only choice to treat pelvic adhesions causing chronic pelvic pain. This involves cutting or burning the pelvic adhesions under general anesthesia, via laparoscopy or laparotomy (open surgery).

While lysis of pelvic adhesions can be effective, surgery has two major drawbacks:

  1. it carries risks from anesthesia and infection, and
  2. despite the best skills of the finest surgeon, the body creates more abdominal adhesions as it heals from the surgery designed to remove them.

A study in Digestive Surgery showed that more than 90% of patients develop adhesions following open abdominal surgery and 55% to 100% of women develop adhesions following pelvic surgery.2 Another study reported that 35% of all open abdominal or pelvic surgery patients were readmitted to the hospital more than twice to treat post-surgical adhesions during the 10 years after their original surgery.3 Thus, pelvic surgery itself has been implicated as a major cause of adhesion formation and many patients become trapped in a cycle of surgery-adhesions-surgery – with no end in sight.


Treating Chronic Pelvic Pain and Adhesions with Clear Passage Therapies®

Belinda Wurn, PT treats a patient with her manual physical therapy which has been shown to reduce adhesions, decrease pain, and improve function, in peer-reviewed medical journals. Belinda Wurn, PT treats a patient with her manual physical therapy which has been shown to reduce adhesions, decrease pain, and improve function, in peer-reviewed medical journals.

We know pelvic adhesions well. We faced this situation 20 years ago when the physical therapist director of Clear Passage Therapies®, Belinda Wurn, developed severe adhesions after pelvic surgery and radiation therapy. Unable to work due to chronic pelvic pain, and having seen the devastating and debilitating effects of pelvic adhesions in her own patients, she was determined to find a non-surgical way to address chronic pelvic pain and adhesions.

With her husband, massage therapist Larry Wurn, Belinda took a much deeper look at the etiology and biomechanics of adhesion formation. They found that the chemical bonds that attached each of the tiny collagen fibers to its neighbor appeared to dissipate or dissolve when placed under sustained pressure over time. With this knowledge, they developed the Wurn Technique® to unravel the bonds between the crosslinks that comprise adhesions.

The “hands-on” work practiced at Clear Passage Therapies® clinics is designed to reduce or eliminate adhesions crosslink by crosslink. It has been shown in peer-reviewed medical journals to reduce adhesions, decrease pain, and improve soft tissue mobility, without the risks of surgery or drugs.

Visit our “what treatment is like” web page for more information, or click the link at the bottom of this page now, to complete a medical history questionnaire and apply for a free, in-depth consultation.


 

  1. ACOG News Release Feb 27, 2004. ACOG Issues New Document on Chronic Pelvic Pain. http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr02-27-04-2.cfm
  2. Liakakos T, Thomakos N, Fine PM, Dervenis C, Young RL. Peritoneal Adhesions: Etiology, Pathophysiology, and Clinical Significance. Dig Surg. 2001; 18: 260-273. PMID 11528133.
  3. Ellis H, Moran BJ, Thompson JN, Parker MC, Wilson MS, Menzies D, McGuire A, Lower AM, Hawthorn RJ, O’Brien F, Buchan S, Crowe AM. Adhesion-related hospital readmissions after abdominal and pelvic surgery: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet Br J Med. 1999; 353: 1476-80. PMID 10232313.
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About our Book.

What physicians say:

Learn more about therapy for pelvic pain in our book Miracle Moms, Better Sex, Less Pain (publication date: 9/2009).

“This technique makes sense: to put 'hands on' the problem and nurture the body's innate desire to heal from pelvic pain . . . and related dysfunction. Read this book if you suffer from pelvic or digestive disorders, or if you are a doctor who sees patients with these problems.”
- Leslie Mendoza Temple. MD
Medical Director, Integrative Medicine NorthShore University HealthSystem
Professor, Northwestern University Medical School

“In the past treatment for adhesions has been even more surgery, which caused even more adhesions. Now with the amazing ‘Clear Passage’ technique, patients have a safe and effective alternative to surgery. . . . I know it does work and recommend it to all my patients with adhesive disease.”
- Jacques Moritz, MD
Director of Endoscopy Section and Division of Gynecology,St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

“The Wurns are revolutionizing woman's health. Tried and proven, documented and studied again and again – the proof is in the results.We have shared many patients who had . . . complete tubal obstruction, scarring or intractable pelvic pain. I have seen their work help all of these conditions, and more. Their therapy is beyond surgical intervention; it taps right into the body's inherent healing capacity.”
- Dr. Randine Lewis, L.Ac.
Author of The Infertility Cure and The Way of the Fertile Soul