The Wise-Anderson Protocol began when Dr. David Wise, a psychologist in California who had suffered from Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome for many years, contacted several urologists including Dr. Rodney Anderson, a professor of Urology at Stanford University School of Medicine and a leading practitioner and expert in the field of pelvic pain. Dr. Anderson was considered to be the court of last resort for patients with pelvic pain and prostatitis who had not been helped by any other treatment.
Through many years of suffering, Dr. Wise discovered a way to become free of his symptoms. He reported the method he used to Dr. Anderson, who headed the chronic pelvic pain clinic in the Department of Urology at Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Wise then began working as a Visiting Research Scholar at Stanford’s Department of Urology alongside Dr. Anderson, treating men and women who were referred to Dr. Anderson with a variety of diagnoses including chronic pelvic pain, prostatitis, levator ani syndrome, pelvic floor dysfu nction, pelvic floor myalgia, interstitial cystitis and other chronic pelvic pain syndromes. Dr. Wise and Dr. Anderson worked together for eight years at Stanford, treating patients with the protocol that Dr. Wise used in his own recovery. At Stanford, the protocol was administered to patients on an individual basis in a conventional medical format.
During these early years, the substance and results of the Wise-Anderson Protocol were presented at meetings for pelvic pain and prostatitis researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other scientific meetings. In 2003, Dr. Wise and Dr. Anderson published the first edition of A Headache in the Pelvis, a book for patients that described the new protocol in detail. In the first edition of A Headache in the Pelvis, this protocol was called the Wise-Anderson Protocol. As the protocol became more widely disseminated, those on the internet dubbed it the Stanford Protocol. The term Wise-Anderson Protocol is now again used to describe this protocol, although it was popularly called the Stanford Protocol for many years. The Wise-Anderson Protocol is identical in form and substance to what has been called the Stanford Protocol in the public arena through the years.
When Dr. Wise left Stanford, he began treating patients using the Wise-Anderson Protocol in a six day comprehensive, immersion clinic in Sonoma County, California. The immersion clinics have been offered continuously in Sonoma County since 2003. Patients come from all around the world to learn the Wise-Anderson Protocol in these immersion clinics.
Competence in self-treatment has produced the best results in patients who have learned the Wise-Anderson Protocol. The focus of the Wise-Anderson Protocol has evolved over the years to train patients to be able to do the protocol without the assistance of professionals. While the immersion clinics in Sonoma County are not affiliated with Stanford, Dr. Anderson, who is currently a Professor of Urology Emeritus (active) at Stanford University School of Medicine continues to evaluate patients with pelvic pain at Stanford and refer patients to the immersion clinic. Additionally, Dr. Anderson continues conducting and publishing research on the Wise-Anderson Protocol, as well as other medical research on a variety of subjects. From 2003 to the present, Dr. Rodney Anderson, Dr. David Wise and Tim Sawyer (Physical Therapist) have actively and enthusiastically collaborated on research involving patients seen at both Stanford and the immersion clinics.
Since 2003, Anderson, Wise and Sawyer have published a number of articles in the Journal of Urology on data from patients they have collaboratively seen and treated. Abstracts of these articles can be found at http://pelvicpainhelp.com/abstractofresearch.php. In 2005, Dr. Wise was a plenary speaker at a National Institutes of Health conference on pelvic pain, presenting research results on the Wise-Anderson Protocol. Further, Dr. Wise presented the protocol to scientific meetings including those of the International Continence Society. Both Dr. Wise and Dr. Anderson have written chapters in medical textbooks describing the Wise-Anderson Protocol. At the time of writing this section, Dr. Anderson presented a clinical poster of our work at the American Urological Association. A report of Dr. Anderson’s presentation at the American Urological Association was published in Medscape Medical News, titled Intensive Therapy Regimen Helps Men With Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome.
Tim Sawyer, who is the architect of our physical therapy program, was chosen to write the pelvic floor section for the new edition of Travell and Simons, Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction, The Trigger Point Manual, which is the authoritative medical textbook on myofascial trigger point therapy. Tim Sawyer trained and treated patients with Dr. Janet Travell and Dr. David Simons, the physicians who introduced trigger point therapy to medicine. Dr. Travell was the White House physician to President John F. Kennedy. Tim Sawyer is considered one of the top pelvic floor physical therapists in the world.
Recently, Anderson, Sawyer and Wise have published a pioneering article in the Journal of Urology showing the relationship of trigger point location and symptoms in patients with pelvic pain, using the data from the immersion clinics held in Sonoma County. Another article updating these results has been completed and recently submitted for publication. Currently, Anderson, Wise and Sawyer have completed a study on the effectiveness of a new internal trigger point physical therapy device for the self-treatment of trigger points. The study data on the physical therapy device is being prepared for publication and will hopefully be published soon.
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