Pudendal Neuralgia (PN) is a neuropathic condition that causes patients to suffer chronic pain or numbness.  Furthermore, PN is often accompanied by fecal incontinence, urinary incontinence, and numbness of the genitalia.  Patients experiencing PN struggle with one of the most difficult nerve conditions and one that affects men and women alike.

Physical therapy has shown itself to be one of the few methods to successfully treat PN.  However, few physical therapists have the knowledge, experience, and skills required.  Recently, Greg Vigna, M.D., J.D. wrote an article for New York Injury News about pudendal neuralgia.  In it, he describes the obstacles facing patients with PN:

"Historically the management of pudendal neuralgia was only available at a select few centers throughout the country. The reasons for this is that pudendal neuralgia was quite rare, often overlooked, and under diagnosed by the medical community. There are only a few doctors in this country who have received the advanced training in the management of this disorder. Even fewer have the advanced surgical training. A great number of physicians do not have a base understanding of the pudendal nerve and are unaware of pudendal neuralgia."

We are excited to announce Herman & Wallace instructor Ginger Garner, PT, MPT, ATC, PYT will speak at the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s (NATA) 64th Annual Meeting and Clinical Symposia this June. Her advanced presentation, titled Yoga Pulls Double Duty: Establishing Controlled Flexibility in Athletes, has already sold out!

With PF1 Durham just around the corner, and PF1 Seattle in January sold-out with a 20-person wait list, our next PF1 is filling up quickly.

PF1 in Maywood, IL from March 1-3 is over half-full, and additional registrations are rolling in each day. If you are interested in joining us for PF1 in Maywood, do not hesitate to register. We expect this course to fill up before the holidays are upon us, so act quickly.

Once PF1 in Maywood is full, the next available PF1 is in Houston, TX in early May 2013. If you'd like to take this popular course before May of 2013, we suggest registering for the Maywood course today!

A big thanks to everyone who completed our PTPC Job Task Analysis Survey over the past few weeks. We received over 400 responses, which is more than enough data that we will need to perform the necessary analysis.

On May 2nd, we drew the names of our two lucky participants, who will each received a free course registration of their choosing. Congratulations to Christy Kline, PT and Kate Middleton, PT on winning the drawing!

Over the next few weeks, our subject matter experts and test development partner, Kryterion, will work together to finalize the quantitative blue print. This blue print will determine the relative amount of exam items that will be devoted to various sub-topics within pelvic rehabilitation. While not a "study guide", those interested inpursuing PTPC could use this test blue print to determine the topicson which to focus their studying efforts.

In a study from the Center for Aging at the University of Alabama, Birmingham and the Birmingham/Atlanta Veterans Affairs Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, researchers determine that physical therapy, bladder control strategies, and biofeedback significantly reduced the incidence of urinary incontinence in post-radical prostatectomy males when compared to a control group.

Check out the abstract of the study here.

The Institute is sponsoring a radio show hosted by Dr. Melanie Barton and featuing Amy Stein, MPT, BCB-PMD. Amy will talk about Interstitial Cystitis and Pelvic Pain and the role of physical therapy in treating these problems

Tune in on April 28th or visit Dr. Melanie's site to download the podcast.

Recently, the Institute was made aware of an internet scam that is targeting physical therapists, including members of our teaching faculty. A bogus website called ComplaintsBoard has listed many PTs, including several respected Herman & Wallace faculty members, on a list of convicted sexual abusers. This site contains a similar list of doctors and lawyers that it claims have criminal records, meaning that patients or clients seeking professionals may find false and damning histories on internet search engines. The site then invites those whose names are posted to pay money through a different website to clear their records.

Clearly, this is the work of scam artists that are tarnishing the reputations of physical therapists. It is unclear who these perpetrators are, but they have targeted a number of respected professionals, including members of our faculty. Herman & Wallace is dismayed to see the character of professionals with whom we work and respect being attacked for profit. The APTA has been made aware of this, and is seeking legal action. If you find your name on such a list, please contact the APTA.

The Institute would like to make our community aware of this problem and to show our support of our faculty and our colleagues.

Earlier this month, Datamonitor released a report on Urinary Incontinence in the 7 major global markets (The US, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK). Check out the highlights here. The whole report is pretty expensive, but they touch on a point that we have long emphasized: the prevalence of urinary incontinence will grow over the next ten years, with the most cases occurring in the United States.

Demand for innovative and effective treatments for urinary incontinence will continue to increase for years to come. Therapists with extensive clinical experience treating urinary incontinence will be well positioned for this demographic trend.

On April 18th, a group of German and Italian researchers published this article on the impact of episiotomy on pelvic floor dysfunction. The paper found that "Episiotomy appears to be a protective factor for women's wellness. Women who had episiotomy and who experienced perineal symptoms have a better psycho-physical health status in the 12.79 months follow-up."

Available for download is a 15 page PDF of "Impact of episiotomy on pelvic floor disorders and their influence on women's wellness after the sixth month postpartum: a retrospective study". The PDF contains research highlights (including Abstract, Background, Methods, Results and Conclusion)