I am Irene Hernandez, a physical therapist specializing in pelvic floor therapy for the last 10 years. I am located in NYC, where I offer a very unique form of pelvic physical therapy that integrates with a technology named TECAR offered by the Winback device.
Tecartherapy is an electrical current at a high frequency that, when interacting with the cells in the human tissues, produces ion movement that stimulates the cellular membrane and enhances cellular metabolism. This improves cellular function and enhances healing processes.
Winback tecartherapy is an FDA-approved medical device that delivers a high-frequency current ranging from 300kHz to 1MHz. The therapeutic benefits have been acclaimed by thousands of patients and elite athletes and it has become a globally recognized treatment with more than 10.000 centers adopting the technology worldwide for the last 10 years.
For more information about the technology, USA adoption, and areas of application: please visit Winback USA
Winback is widely used worldwide. In Europe, it’s used in EUROPEAN HOSPITAL CENTERS to improve postpartum care. In the US, Winback has been adopted by the John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore as their main technology for pelvic floor therapy. See this revelatory interview with Mary Austin, the director of Pelvic Health at John Hopkins about their work with Winback.
How is this therapy better than traditional pelvic physical therapy?
Pelvic physical therapy integrated with Winback becomes highly effective by integrating tissue healing concurrently with manual or exercise-based interventions. Furthermore, many conditions do not improve sufficiently only with traditional therapy. In those cases in patients do not improve with hands-on therapy, stretches, and holistic advice, they are left with not much more.
Enter Winback providing anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and tissue healing which is unavailable with the use of the hands only. A summary of the therapeutic benefits is as follows:
- Eliminate pain: Winback energy works on nociceptors, blocking nerve pain impulses, producing immediate relief, through the release of tension and the improvement of tissue homeostasis. It provides an immediate analgesic effect that lasts for more than 48 hrs.
- Release of tension: Winback energy helps release tissue tension (that is: edema, adhesions, muscle hypertonicity, inflammation, etc) by locally increasing the blood flow of stressed areas. The energy circulates in the injured tissue restoring flexibility.
- Accelerates cell regeneration: Winback energy accelerates the body’s natural repair system by promoting intra and extra-cellular exchanges. The effects of the treatment continue after the session.
An example of what this means and how revolutionary it is is being able to administer pelvic floor internal therapy in conjunction with the application of tecartherapy with the use of the Winback bracelet. The bracelet conveys the energy through the gloved therapist’s hand. For example, if we are dealing with very tight painful pelvic floor muscles, the targeted intervention of manual therapy with tecartherapy produces increased vascularization, increased tissue temperature, thus increasing elasticity and reducing pain.
Another example would be the treatment of a perineal or C-section scar after childbirth to achieve improved healing, quality of scarring, and thus, reducing pain and improving the rehabilitation of abdominal or pelvic floor muscle function.
Why sometimes traditional pelvic floor therapy is not effective enough?
There may be varied reasons, such us: excessive pain with manual therapy and very slow progress, the presence of scarring and fibrosis that can’t be reduced solely with the use of hands, pain that is not just caused by tight muscles but by tissue hyperalgesia caused by inflammation and nerve sensitization, damage and weakening of tissues due to trauma (postpartum, surgery) or systemic or hormonal conditions (menopause).
What conditions can be helped beyond what traditional therapy can offer?
Although Winback can be used for the enhanced treatment of any pelvic and orthopedic conditions, these are some conditions for which, Winback can be a must-have for improvement:
- Painful conditions with an inflammatory component: painful bladder and urethra, vulvar pain, pain from endometriosis, pain from uterine fibroids,etc
- Post-surgical tissue: C-section, perineal scars, abdominal surgeries, internal scars from pelvic surgeries, transgender surgeries, oncology
- Otherwise weakened and traumatized tissue that needs healing: postpartum,, menopause
- Dermatological conditions causing irritation and inflammation: like lichen sclerosus
- Hypertonicity that doesn’t improve enough with traditional therapy
Please read my clinical case about the treatment of vulvodynia here: The treatment of vulvodynia with Winback
European experiences: improvement of the Birth Experience and Postpartum care
The statistics regarding pain and trauma in the postpartum period speak for themselves: among women who gave birth vaginally and presented with perineal lesions, more than 60% suffered from perineal pain 7 days after delivery, about 70% of births result in tissue trauma. As for the cesarean section rate, this is estimated in 19%.
Read this research study conducted at a hospital in France about the treatment of postpartum pain in PubMed:
Capacitive-resistive radiofrequency therapy to treat postpartum perineal pain: A randomized study
The following is a testimony by a French midwife: testimony of Marine Golka on reduction of vulvar edema postpartum