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Physiotherapy for Tennis Elbow & Golfer’s Elbow
16 Sep 2024
Bladder Pain and Pelvic Health Physiotherapy
16 Sep 2024
September is Bladder pain syndrome and Interstitial cystitis month. Health care providers and people who suffer from these conditions come together to spread awareness of these conditions, what its like to live with them, and what you can do to help. It’s important to spread awareness to help others understand that they are not alone, to help people who may be suffering with these symptoms but are not sure why, and to spread information on how these types of conditions can be treated to help you live a more comfortable life!
Bladder Pain Syndrome (BPS) and Interstitial cystitis (IC)
Bladder pain syndrome (BPS) is a condition in which you have both pelvic pain and urinary symptoms.
If it has been more than 6 weeks or months that you’ve been experiencing:
-Pelvic pain
-The need to pee more than you feel you should
-Have an urgent need to pee AND you don’t have an infection (eg: UTI )
… then you may have BPS.
When you hear about Bladder pain syndrome, you will often also hear the term IC, or Interstitial cystitis. It can be a bit confusing, but let us break it down.
What is IC then?
Interstitial cystitis IC is a type of BPS where you have the above mentioned symptoms and when a camera is put into the bladder (cystoscopy) red patches called Hunner’s ulcers are seen on the bladder.
This definition is questionable though because these ulcers may even be seen in the bladders of people who have no pain or bladder problems.
So does everyone with BPS also have IC, likely not, but these two things are often linked together.
BPS/IC and the pelvic floor (PF) connection
As you might know, pelvic floor muscles support our pelvic organs (including the bladder), aid in sexual function and contribute to our ability to urinate and defecate. So it is no surprise that BPS/IC always affects the pelvic floor (PF) in some way.
What does this mean?
Tight Pelvic Floor muscles can be the cause of many BPS/IC symptoms!
In fact, the American Urology Association 2022 IC/BPS guidelines recommend assessment and treatment by Pelvic health Physiotherapists who are trained and knowledgeable in the physiotherapy management of IC/BPS. Pelvic health Physiotherapy has the highest grade ( grade A) of scientific evidence to support its efficacy!
So how can Pelvic Health Physiotherapy help you if you have BPS/IC?
- It will give you an individualized assessment to understand the status of your pelvic floor muscles and if in fact they are causing the issue.
- It can treat “tight” pelvic floor muscles with hands-on manual therapy and specific self care and home exercises
- It will provide you with bladder re-education and retraining strategies
- It will help you learn self care strategies that don’t just address “tissue issues” but the whole person (see below)
We also know that BPS/IC is not solely a ‘bladder condition’.
Research shows that people with BPS/IC can have diminished or poor vagal tone. Low vagal tone means decreased tolerance to challenges, stress and change. This can impact our ability to ‘rest and digest’.
Also, when we’ve been in pain for a long time our emotional state can become tied in with our pain state.
The good news is this can be helped with a holistic treatment approach.
Supportive therapies like naturopathy, psychotherapy/ counseling, acupuncture and mindfulness practice alongside Pelvic health Physiotherapy can help manage BPS/IC allowing you to live your best life! Natural Choice Medical Clinic in Guelph can help!
To book an appointment, call us at 519-265-8035 or book online.
Eliza Pereira-Karve
Registered Pelvic Health Physiotherapist
References:
Jilly Bond: The Happy Bladder course online
Nicole Cozean and Jesse Cozean: The Interstitial cystitis solution
Clemens JQ, Erickson DR, Varela NP, Lai HH. Diagnosis and treatment of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome. J Urol. 2022;208(1):34-42.
Malde S, Palmisani S, Al-Kaisy A, Sahai A. Guideline of guidelines: bladder pain syndrome. BJU Int. 2018 Nov;122(5):729-743. doi: 10.1111/bju.14399. Epub 2018 Jun 13. PMID: 29777618
Williams DP, Chelimsky G, McCabe NP, Koenig J, Singh P, Janata J, et al. Effects of Chronic Pelvic Pain on Heart Rate Variability in Women. Journal of Urology [Internet]. 2015 Nov 1 [cited 2024 Sep 12];194(5):1289–94. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2015.04.101
