The BioPsychoSocial approach to treating pelvic pain
The BioPsychoSocial approach was proposed by George Engel in the 70’s. It takes into account the multiple aspects of a patients life that can contribute to their pain state. It looks beyond a single causative factor and weighs up the individual, addressing not only their biological factors (muscle tightness, increased sensitivity to the nervous system, immune response factors (inflammation) contributing to increased sensitivity, fight and flight or stress response, changes to breathing patterns etc.), but also psychological factors (catastrophisation, fear avoidance, hyper-vigilance, anxiety, worry, procrastination, depression) and social factors (what it means to have pelvic pain in the work environment, how it changes relationships with partners, friends and family, what happens when the individual starts to socialise less, excluding themselves from those activities that provide them with a sense of community, self and a social life. Plus it address the personal nature of the condition, its physical location and the distress of not being able to talk openly about it, unlike neck or back pain for example).
Up until now a traditional model of healthcare has been described as a biomedical approach, only considering single factors (only the prostate, only an infection, only the muscles, only an anterior hip tilt etc.). The approach has been to only focus on single, primary factors and to treat them with traditional medical interventions (antibiotics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID’s), antidepressants etc. or through postural correction techniques like chiropractics). To date this has not been a proven, nor successful model in the treatment of male pelvic pain. Instead a multi factorial approach yields far greater results in the short and ling term recovery of patients
In adopting a BioPsychoSocial model I look to treat the whole patient, not just single causative factors that may or may not contribute to your condition
To gain a real insight into the BioPsychoSocial model in the context of male pelvic pain and how it permeates through the approach used at The Pelvic Pain Clinic please view these 2 videos I have put together
If you have any questions or queries regarding the BioPsychoSocial approach to the treatment of male pelvic pain please contact me here. I would love to answer your questions
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