For years, doctors were confounded by what seemed to be a very well known set of symptoms: difficulty urinating, accompanied by pain in the groin, pelvic area, and genitals, that did not respond to any treatment and revealed no obvious underlying pathology. Cases like these piled up, and along with some other diagnoses such as interstitial cystitis (also known as Painful Bladder Syndrome) there appeared to be no obvious reason for the pain and discomfort that seemed to take over the lives of those suffering. Other diagnoses seemed to be centered around the pelvic area, the bowels, and the rectum. Again, multiple diagnoses were made, but the condition did not respond at all to treatment, and no underlying cause could be found for the pain being reported by the patients.
Patients reported intense physical pain and discomfort in their pelvic area and preliminary tests seemed to indicate that this was being caused by intense, persistent muscle contractions in the pelvic region, but beyond that, no other cause could be determined, and none of these conditions responded to obvious treatment protocols like antibiotics. Treatment became about managing the pain.
So, in 1995 a research team operating out of Stanford University got together in order to research, determine the cause of, and alleviate the symptoms of the chronic pain syndrome that was being misdiagnosed as so many other disorders. Led by doctors David Wise and Rodney Anderson, an underlying theory that linked several seemingly disparate disorders was developed to account for the one symptom that seemed to be present in all instances: chronically contracted muscles in the pelvic reason.
Since muscle contractions can be caused by severe tension and anxiety, it was very possible that the symptoms that appeared to have no underlying cause may, in fact, be psychological in nature. For instance, extreme stress and anxiety are known to cause severe muscle tension and heart disease.
Thus the Wise-Anderson Protocol was born. It consisted of two key elements. Since the pain disorder associated with syndromes was chronic, medication management for the pain often focused on anti-inflammatory medications and muscle relaxants. While these medications will reduce the pain and make the condition manageable, these medications used over too long a period will present serious health problems in the long run. Corticosteroids can cause bone loss resulting in an earlier onset of osteoporosis, diabetes, and an increased risk of infections. Muscle relaxants cause heavy sedation and can be physically addictive, leading to high rates of abuse and difficulty ceasing the medication once they are no longer needed.
The Wise-Anderson protocol as developed by Wise and Anderson from the Stanford study focuses on two main areas of concern. The first is the underlying psychological distress that is believed to cause the muscle tension in the first place, and the second is pain management that does not require the prolonged use of prescription drugs over lengthy indefinite periods of time.
It was discovered during the research conducted at Stanford that the pain was related to several key muscles in the pelvis and these could be identified as certain trigger points. For those who believe they are suffering from the condition described above and have exhausted all other somatic avenues of explanation, then the Wise-Anderson Protocol may be exactly what they are looking for.
The protocol involves training individual patients on the use of an Internal Trigger Point Wand that when used correctly has been shown by clinical research to reduce pain symptoms in the majority of those who employed the Wise-Anderson Protocol. The method also involves retraining the individual patient in avoiding cognitive processes the cause them stress; namely catastrophic thinking or anxiety. More than a third of those patients who employed the Wise-Anderson protocol reported 6 months later being completely free of any and all medications relating to their chronic pain syndrome.
In 2003, the fellows at Stanford University who conducted the original study began offering 6-day immersive clinics to train individual patients in the correct use of the Internal Trigger Point Wand and to help with calamitous thought patterns that seemed to plague so many of individuals who were afflicted with this mysterious condition. In the study published in the Clinical Journal of Pain, they showed that patients who had gone through the clinic reported a median pain reduction 7.5 down to 4, and much no longer felt the need to take any medications to help manage their pain. That’s quite encouraging.
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