The Energia Donna association has donated an electrostimulator, also suitable for women with oncological pathologies who suffer from painful and dysfunctional disorders affecting the pelvic floor
Bari, 1 October 2024 – The San Paolo hospital now has new equipment to treat female pelvic floor pathologies. These are the electrostimulator and biofeedback, an additional therapeutic offer that guarantees a multimodal approach and more complete management of women with problems such as urinary and fecal incontinence, pelvic-perianal pain and disorders related to menopause.
The equipment was donated to the Female Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation clinic of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, led by Dr. Massimo Merlo, by the Energia Donna association. This morning, on the occasion of the official activation of the equipment, the acting general director of the ASL Luigi Fruscio, met with the representatives of the association, together with the director of the Rehabilitation Department of the ASL, Vito Piazzolla, the medical management of the unit and all the staff of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine and Gynecology involved in the initiative.
“Thanks to this healthy collaboration with the Energia donna association – commented the general director – we can make a real and tangible contribution to people who face a pathology and/or fragility. The enthusiasm, imagination and passion of the volunteers together with the commitment of the hospital makes us all proud and determined to always do better for the good of the community”.
The clinic is part of a broader corporate project for the overall reorganization of the network dedicated to the well-being of the male-female pelvic floor, currently being defined by the Rehabilitation Department.
The objective is to establish a multi-professional network committed to the management of male and female pelvic floor pathologies.
Doctors from specialist medical disciplines and rehabilitation professionals are involved, together with general medicine and consultants, with a view to real integration between Hospital Care and Territorial Care.
“Electrostimulation and biofeedback represent fundamental physiotherapeutic techniques for the treatment of many pathologies in the rehabilitation field – explained Dr. Laura Maria Barulli – including the different forms of incontinence, urinary and fecal, and pain in the perineal area, i.e. all pathological conditions that negatively impact the quality of life of those affected. Biofeedback, in particular, is of fundamental importance in being able to actively train the patient to become aware and control her pelvic muscles”.
Electrostimulation is a technique that – through the application of electrodes or probes – uses controlled electrical impulses to stimulate the pelvic floor muscles when they are weak or do not respond adequately to manual exercises. The impulses are regulated in intensity and frequency, respecting the patient’s comfort limits.
Rehabilitation of the pelvic floor can also interest all those women undergoing oncology therapy who face a state of pharmacological menopause even at a young age – 30 or 35 years old and who need to stimulate muscles and tissues.
“With our donation – said the president of the Energia Donna association, Mariagrazia Ramires – we intend to support all those often young cancer patients who can develop pathologies that affect the pelvic floor with a lowering of the quality of life. Concretely – he continues – with this method we can provide women with an additional tool to guarantee a condition of well-being in the common activities of daily life”.
The rehabilitation method with electrostimulator also represents the starting point in the instrumental therapeutic offer for the treatment of vulvodynia. The ASL clinic, inaugurated two years ago, unique in the center and south and among the very few public services present in Italy, to treat painful pathologies related to the vulva or vagina, often chronic and still little known and underestimated but already quite widespread in the female population , supported and supported the acquisition of the instrumentation, as only with the multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis and with the multimodal approach to therapies can the best results be achieved for the patients belonging to the centre.
“Vulvodynia – confirmed Dr. Zaccaro – can occur at any age and can also be the result of a condition of vulvo-vaginal atrophy linked to the reduction of female hormones following spontaneous or induced menopause. To complete the therapeutic path dedicated to women – he concluded – we are proceeding to acquire a Co2 laser and a magnetic field armchair which are currently the gold standard for the treatment of vulvo-vaginal atrophy, including post-oncology, hypertonicity due to vestibulodynia, and mild urinary incontinence”.
The first specialist visit at the Female Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation clinic is carried out following a prescription with a request for “first physical medicine and rehabilitation visit”. Reservations can be made directly at the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation secretariat or by telephone on 080.5843522 (12-1pm, Monday to Friday). Any information can be requested directly by email: [email protected].