Objectives: Chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) is a poorly understood and ill-treated condition. It is accompanied by the shortening and increase in tone of the pelvic floor muscles and is closely related to myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). This study aims to evaluate the utility of an anal stretching device (ASD) for improving the pain manifestations of chronic prostatitis (CP) and CPPS.
Methods: Thirty-one men(38.6 years ± 8.2) were consecutively recruited with an average monitoring period of 14.4 months (± 8.2). The treatment duration was between six months and three years. A clinical history was compiled along with a physical examination and neurophysiological tests. To evaluate pain, the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used before and after treatment; at the final visit, the Clinical Global Impression of Improvement scale (CGI-I) was administered. The ASD is a device that is commercially available in different diameters and lengths.
Result: Patients were diagnosed with MPS using neurophysiological tests. Significant differences were found before and after the treatment when evaluating the intensity of the pain using the VAS (6.1±2.1 vs. 1.9±1.3; p < .001). The CGI-I showed a total of 21 patients (70%) whose symptoms were improved or very much improved. Only one patient was worse after the treatment.
Conclusions: ASD appears to be a safe and useful tool to treat the pain manifestations of CPPS without notable side effects.