harborne physio & acupuncture news
Female & Male Pelvic Pain Research: We need patients to get involved

As a leading female and male pelvic pain physiotherapy clinic in the UK we are keen to support Karen and her Physio colleauges with this important research. 

Please see all the details below and the survey link. 

Best Wishes 

Gerard & team 

As part of the Masters of Clinical Physiotherapy (Continence and Women’s Health major) course, we are completing a research project involving persistent pelvic pain (PPP) and associated psychological factors. PPP can include diagnoses such as vulvodynia, vaginismus, chronic prostatitis, bladder pain syndrome, pudendal neuralgia and so on, or undiagnosed pain perceived anywhere in the pelvis.

We know there are negative cognitive, behavioural, sexual and emotional consequences associated with PPP. Last year, a screening tool titled the Pelvic Pain Psychological Screening Questionnaire (3PSQ) was developed via a panel of experts (attached). It is a short questionnaire designed to detect the presence of psychological factors in individuals with PPP. This is the first screening tool specific to a PPP population that combines various aspects of psychological welfare. It has excellent potential to allow clinicians to make more informed decisions regarding pain management, guide appropriate referral to other healthcare providers and ultimately impact management outcomes in a positive way.

Our project aims to validate this questionnaire so we can ensure:

→    It accurately measures psychological distress in all PPP subgroups

→    It is relevant and representative of various psychological constructs

To do this, we have designed an online survey for people with PPP to complete. It collects basic demographic information and asks them to fill out the 3PSQ as well as other psychometric questionnaires. It will take approximately 20 minutes for participants to fill out and all data will remain anonymous. We are hopeful this will be completed on an international level.

We require a minimum of 150 participants for meaningful analysis and therefore we need the help of other health professionals and groups to increase the awareness of our study in people with PPP.  We would really appreciate it if you would consider directing clients over the age of 18 with pelvic pain, who are not pregnant and who have not given birth or had pelvic surgery in the last 6 months to our survey. If you are interested in helping, we have attached poster/flyers (for you to put up in your clinic, hand out to eligible clients or to place on your social media platforms) that provide details on how to access the survey. The following link will take you to the survey: Pelvic Pain Survey  ( See the link below) 

Every participant filling out the survey is a step closer to validating this important PPP psychological screening tool, and could ultimately improve the management outcomes for those experiencing pelvic pain.  Thank you for taking the time to read this email.

Kind regards,

Alanna Barwood, Ebony Ryan, Karen Crudden, Laura Yammouni, Leanne Slater, Nadine Yassin, Rachelle Symons, Steph Dwyer, Dr Jane Chalmers and Dr Judith Thompson