A Pilot Study Investigating the Use of a Therapeutic Wand in Addition to Physiotherapy for Bladder Pain Syndrome

Bladder pain syndrome is a condition where pain is experienced when the bladder fills with urine and eases briefly when the bladder empties. There can also be a constant need to urgently empty the bladder.

The internal pelvic floor muscles in people with bladder pain syndrome can be tense and painful, and relaxing and stretching them may improve symptoms; reducing bladder pain, urgency and how often people have to empty their bladder.

This pelvic floor release is done by specialist physiotherapists.Therapeutic wands, such as the TheraWand®, are used routinely throughout the United Kingdom to allow people to relax and stretch their pelvic floor themselves. Using a therapeutic wand has been shown to be safe and to reduce pelvic pain, improve bladder and bowel symptoms and relax the pelvic floor muscles. However, this research was conducted mostly in men with pelvic pain.

The aim of this study is to find out if using a therapeutic wand at home as well as having a specialist physiotherapist massage the pelvic floor gives any added benefit than just having the physiotherapy treatment. The investigators hope to find out if the therapeutic wand gives women a way of managing their symptoms independently in their own homes.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Painful Bladder Syndrome
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Routine physiotherapy control; Device: Therapeutic Wand

Detailed Description

A volunteer sample of ten women will be recruited and randomised into two groups, with descriptive analysis of their demographics at baseline. Both groups will receive six weeks of standard pelvic floor myofascial release by a specialist physiotherapist and one group will also use a therapeutic wand twice weekly at home. Outcome measures of bladder urgency, pain, health related quality of life and the perceived effect and ease of therapeutic wand use will be measured weekly for six weeks of treatment and then six weeks following treatment. A diary of therapeutic wand use, release exercises and medication use will also be kept for 3 months. Analysis of any significant difference in symptom change between the two groups and of subjective ease of wand use will then occur and inform the development of a randomised controlled trial.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 10
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 16 years to 63 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 18- 65 years - upper limit to reduce the risk of vaginal bleeding upon treatment with the therapeutic wand
• A diagnosis of Bladder Pain Syndrome or interstitial cystitis as per the definition of the International Society for the Study of bladder pain syndrome
• Symptoms of bladder pain, urgency and frequency in at least the last month prior to study participation
• Pain on palpation of the pelvic floor muscles, as per the European Urology Association bladder pain syndrome guidelines
• Ability to attend the department for treatment
• Ability to give informed consent
• Sufficient upper limb control to allow the participant to manipulate the therapeutic wand for self-treatment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Concurrent diagnoses which may cause pelvic pain including; chronic pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, dysmenorrhoea, or irritable bowel syndrome
• Postmenopausal atrophic vaginitis due to risk of vaginal trauma and bleeding with therapeutic wand use
• Reasonable suspicion of other treatable pathologies, such as urinary tract infection
• No appropriate investigations completed such as urinalysis, urodynamic or cystoscopic assessment during diagnosis of bladder pain syndrome, as per National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance
• Pregnancy or planning to conceive
• Symptoms associated only with menses
• Undergoing concurrent treatments that could affect outcome e.g. botox or analgesic injections, sacral neuromodulation or physiotherapy treatment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Usual physiotherapy treatment group; This group will receive standard specialist physiotherapy intervention for bladder pain syndrome: dietary advice regarding fluid and fibre intake, advice regarding bladder retraining and 15 minutes manual intra-vaginal pelvic floor muscle myofascial release and gentle stretching each week for 6 weeks. They will be instructed to briefly contract and then fully relax their pelvic floor muscles independently (clothed, in a seated or lying position) for 5 minutes daily.	Other: Routine physiotherapy control; This group will receive standard specialist physiotherapy intervention for bladder pain syndrome as stated in the arm descriptor, and will not use the therapeutic wand.
Experimental: Therapeutic Wand group; This group will receive the standard specialist physiotherapy intervention for bladder pain syndrome for 6 weeks, but will also be provided with an intra-vaginal therapeutic wand and taught how to use it. They will then be asked to use the therapeutic wand at home twice a week to release and relax their pelvic floor muscles for 5 minutes.	Device: Therapeutic Wand; The therapeutic wand will be used to apply a gentle caudad pressure on the pelvic floor, encouraging a release and gentle stretch of the muscles. The participants will follow a protocol of sweeping gently along one side then the other to find tender or tight areas, and then to apply the wand to relax and stretch the muscles for up to 5 minutes in total, twice weekly for the duration of the study.; Other Names: TheraWand

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in O'Leary-Sant Interstitial Cystitis Symptom Index Score	Single page questionnaire of bladder symptoms and rating of bother. This outcome measure has 4 questions and scores for each question range from 0 to 4 or 5. The total achievable in this outcome measure is a score of between 0 to 19. A higher score describes greater symptoms of Interstitial Cystitis. Total scores were collected for analysis.	Baseline to 6 weeks and 6 to 12 weeks
Change in O'Leary-Sant Interstitial Cystitis Problem Index Score	Single page questionnaire of bladder symptoms and rating of bother. This outcome measure has 4 questions and scores for each question range from 0 to 4. The total achievable in this outcome measure is a score of between 0 to 16. A higher score describes greater burden of Interstitial Cystitis symptoms on the individual. Total scores were collected for analysis.	Baseline to 6 weeks and 6 to 12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Genitourinary Pain Index	Single page questionnaire of genital pain and rating of perceived bother. This outcome measure has 9 questions, each has between 4 and 10 potential responses which are weighted differently, between 0 and 10 units. The total achievable in this outcome measure is a score of 45 and the least achievable is a score of 0. A higher score describes a higher perceived genital pain level and greater burden of symptoms on the individual. Total scores were collected for analysis.	0 to 12 weeks
Pelvic Pain and Urinary Urgency Frequency Patient Symptom Scale	Single page questionnaire of urinary symptoms, sexual symptoms and perceived bother. This outcome measure has 12 questions, each has between 2 and 4 potential responses which are weighted between 0 and 4 units. The total achievable in this outcome measure is a score of 35 and the least achievable is a score of 0. A higher score describes a worse urinary symptoms, sexual symptoms and a greater burden of the symptoms on the individual. Total scores were collected for analysis at baseline and 12 weeks.	0 to 12 weeks
Change in Perceived Urinary Urgency	This outcome measure is a single 10 centimetre visual analogue scale rating the participant's perceived urinary urgency. The total achievable in this outcome measure is a score of 100 millimeters and the least achievable is a score of 0. A higher score describes a greater perceived urinary urgency. Patients mark along the score line to indicate their perceived urinary urgency. The number of millimeters from the 0 point was recorded as their score, for example "57mm". This outcome was recorded at baseline and at 12 weeks for each participant, averaged, and the change in average score was recorded.	Baseline to 12 weeks
Change in Perceived Overall Pain	This outcome measure is a single 10 centimetre visual analogue scale rating the participant's perceived overall pain. The total achievable in this outcome measure is a score of 100 millimeters and the least achievable is a score of 0. A higher score describes a greater perceived overall pain. Patients mark along the score line to indicate their perceived overall pain. The number of millimeters from the 0 point was recorded as their score, for example "57mm". This outcome was recorded at baseline and at 12 weeks for each participant, averaged, and the change in average score was recorded.	Baseline to 12 weeks
Perceived Ease of Therapeutic Wand Use	This outcome measure is a single 10 centimetre visual analogue scale rating the participant's perceived ease of using a therapeutic wand. The total achievable in this outcome measure is a score of 100 millimeters and the least achievable is a score of 0. A higher score describes a greater perceived ease of therapeutic wand use. Patients mark along the score line to indicate their perceived ease of therapeutic wand use. The number of millimeters from the 0 point was recorded as their score, for example "57mm". This outcome was recorded at baseline and at 12 weeks for each participant, averaged, and the change in average score was recorded.	0 to 12 weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Subjective Reports of Adverse Events	Participant reports of adverse events will be recorded to inform development of the method	0 to 12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Bradford
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jilly Bond, MSc, University of Bradford

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Imamura M, Scott NW, Wallace SA, Ogah JA, Ford AA, Dubos YA, Brazzelli M. Interventions for treating people with symptoms of bladder pain syndrome: a network meta-analysis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Jul 30;7(7):CD013325. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013325.pub2.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: April 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): October 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 4, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 14, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): April 19, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 3, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 2, 2018
• Last Verified: May 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Urologic Diseases; Urinary Bladder Diseases; Disease; Cystitis; Syndrome; Cystitis, Interstitial
• Other Study ID Numbers: Uni Bradford Protocol 4

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No