At the University of Wisconsin’s pediatric urology department, an educative and noninvasive method has helped cure children of incontinence.
Pioneered more than 10 years ago, the method the program uses to help children with urinary issues has since become wildly popular across Madison. So popular in fact, it currently has a seven to eight month waiting list.
The program differs greatly from many others, as it works with children and families to educate them. It covers issues such as hygiene before evaluating children’s conditions and starting noninvasive methods like biofeedback, Patrick McKenna, a professor of urology at UW and head of pediatric urology at UW’s American Family Children’s Hospital said.
“The main part of our sessions with children and families is education. Education is a very important part of our program before we start looking into more conservative treatment options,” McKenna said. “Using medications and more invasive methods are used at the very end for children. That’s what makes our methods perhaps backwards from other clinic’s methods.”
There are essentially three parts to each session. The first part of the session is spent reviewing “homework” given to children as part of the education aspect of the program, McKenna said.
The second part concerns the biofeedback, where children stare at a graph to help separate their pelvic muscles and abdominal muscles contractions. Those contractions are then reinforced in the last part of the session where children play interactive games emphasizing the pelvic floor contractions, McKenna said.
Children are taught to play the games in order to reinforce what they learned and practice during the biofeedback part of their treatment. This also allows the children to have some fun during the sessions as well, McKenna said.
“The most popular game children like to play is golf. Children are taught to play by making contractions with their pelvic muscles,” McKenna said.
A putt would be a soft contraction, a chip would be a more stronger contraction, a drive would be a very strong contraction, but the children have to do all of these without using their abdominal muscles, he said. When they do it correctly, they can see the difference in their shots.
By the end of the treatment, McKenna said many children are really excited because they are able to shoot under par.
Due to the popularity of the games and their outdatedness, UW engineering and biomedical students are working to create new games for children to play, McKenna said.
Though the program has been very successful and UW is even looking to open a third clinic, few other clinics are able to follow the noninvasive method, due to the amount of time it takes and the cost for the sessions, McKenna said.
Yet despite the amount of time and cost of the program, it has proven effective in cutting down surgeries urologists have to do. In fact, McKenna said the program is so popular that children are telling other children to have their parents sign them up.
“Never in my entire career have I ever had such a thing occur,” McKenna said. “When you have children talking about the program to their parents, then you know that the program must be working and doing well.”
