User:Ygarbourg/sandbox/Paula method

The Paula Method, named after its creator, Paula Garbourg, is a unique collection of exercises designed to activate the so-called ring muscles, also known as sphincters. The exercises attempt to trigger natural rhythms in various body systems that are directly served by, or are functionally related to, the sphincter muscles. The method is based on the belief that through the direct pulsation of the various sphincter systems one can cause natural and medically beneficial chain reactions in seemingly unrelated musculature. Re-enforcing the inter-dependence between these various muscle systems is a key principle of the method. Paula Garbourg believed that when the ring muscles are de-synchronized or out-of-step with each other, various biological dysfunctions are manifested.

The Paula Method is also known as the Ring Muscles Method, taken from the title of the founder's book, The Secret of the Ring Muscles, which was originally published in 1982 in Israel. It has also been called Sphincter Gymnastics. The method is a popular alternative medicine in Israel. It has created a national industry of practitioners and clinics dedicated to serving patients exclusively in the Paula Garboug method, or as a complement to other conventional or alternative medicines. It has been studied by various physicians and physiologists, who have tried to find a scientific basis for the evident, but badly understood, success of the methodology by a large population of patients, since its inception in in the 1940's.

Efficacy & Research
The Paula Method appears to have helped countless individuals in resolving various dysfunctions and ailments from asthma to arthritis to depression and autism. However, much of the evidence has come in the form of anecdotes and single case histories reported in Garbourg's seminal book, and by practitioners and clinics who have been using the method to treat patients over the years. Paula Garbourg, in the introduction of her book in 1982, herself acknowledged that there was a lack of scientific rigor or understanding in the application of her exercises. She insisted that the burden of proof and understanding was on the scientific community. Due to the persistent and growing popularity of the exercises, a body of scientific literature has emerged, which provides some objectivity to this topic.

Urinary Incontinence
The Paula Method has been proposed as an alternative treatment for urinary incontinence. The idea is that by strengthening the eye and mouth muscles, the ring muscle exercises would also strengthen the sphincter muscles in the pelvic floor. There have been several studies to measure the method's efficacy in this regard and in comparison with conventional pelvic floor muscle or Kegel exercises and the evidence to support the method as a treatment for urinary incontinence is mixed.

Sexual Function Disorders
The list of disorders the Paula Method is reputed to treat varies from impotence to a prolapsed uterus. However, one particular sexual disorder - vaginismus - has been studied clinically, and the study concludes that the Paula Method is a simple, easy and effective treatment for vaginismus.