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Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions We Receive about Specific Conditions

Other Specifics Regarding Therapy

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Clear Passage Therapies?

We are a very high quality physical therapy practice, highly specialized to women’s health, adhesions and pelvic conditions. Our patients come to us from all over the world with diagnoses of pain or dysfunction, including infertility. We provide hands-on therapy in private treatment rooms. Treatment is ‘one-on-one’ for extended periods of time, totally individualized and focused on your case and your goals, every single visit. Top of Page

Explain the work you do

We first take a thorough medical and gynecologic history. Then, we perform a complete physical evaluation to assess the structure and function of your body. We use our hands and eyes to locate areas of tension and restricted mobility. Our job is to return the organs and tissues in these areas to their normal consistency and function.

We work with soft tissues, such as muscles, organs and connective tissues. These tissues often shorten, become restricted or adhere to neighboring structures after surgery, injury, infection or inflammation. Adhesions or tiny micro-adhesions can form around and between structures, including the reproductive organs. When this happens, organs may adhere to other structures, as if they had glue poured on them. When organs become restricted, they can lose their ability to function properly.

The shortening or restriction which occurs can cause pain or decreased function. Pain complaints may include back, hip or neck pain, headaches at the base or top of the skull or temples, cramping, painful menstruation or pain with intercourse. Functional problems include constipation, loose bowels, poor digestion or infertility.

Adhesions may cause blocked fallopian tubes, poor function of the fimbria, ovaries restricted by thick or filmy adhesions or deviation of the cervix, making a difficult passage for sperm. A sheet of filmy adhesions may decrease the uterine wall’s ability to allow implantation, causing a miscarriage after fertilization. Ovarian adhesions may cause decreased hormonal function.Top of Page

What kind of results have you seen with infertile patients?

Our initial results have been very promising. We continue to conduct clinical studies to help bring science to the results we see in the clinic (click here to view published medical studies). We have conducted and published clinical studies on promising results we have seen and will continue to investigate positive results in these areas:

We performed two pilot studies before we began a more intensive scientific investigation. 50% of the infertile women in the pilot studies had full term pregnancies and an additional 25% had at least one fallopian tube clear after treatment. Said another way, this non-surgical treatment apparently improved reproductive capabilities in 75% of the women, without drugs or surgery. Subsequent studies with many more patients appear to validate these results (click hyperlinks above) showing that we open fallopian tubes in 61% of women with total bilateral occlusion (both tubes totally blocked, or one removed and the other totally blocked). These rates compare favorably with many medical techniques, but at lower cost and without the risks of surgery or drugs.Top of Page

Who may benefit from this work?

We specialize in treating women with infertility, and men and women with chronic or recurring pain. Patients who speak of the most remarkable improvements in both categories are:

Infertility

Fallopian tubes (blocked, scarred, adhered, hydrosalpinx)
61% of women who came to us with a physician report of total tubal occlusion had one or both tubes open after therapy. Many became pregnant naturally.  

Female infertility – all patients
Our first published study showed a 71% natural pregnancy rate among 14 women with an average of five years of infertility. This included patients with blocked tubes, endometriosis, scarring, hormonal conditions, and unexplained infertility. We have an ongoing commitment to research, and to continue to publish our success rates. Since that first study, we have begun to divide our infertility outcomes into categories. You can read more about these outcomes at our success rates page.

Women with prior failed IVF transfers
We have been very encouraged by these results. Our clinical data shows a 71% clinical IVF pregnancy rate after therapy for patients who had never had an IVF pregnancy (despite two or more attempts) before attending Clear Passage. Of those who became pregnant, 57% had a live birth.

Advanced age
Age 35 is the average age that a woman’s reproductive capacity begins to decline. Our published results show a

Pain

Patients with chronic pain who have not found relief elsewhere
The majority of these patients achieve good to excellent results (from pain that can be managed with over-the counter medication, to total elimination of pain).

Women with painful intercourse
A very successful category of patients, 93% to 96% of our patients reported reduced or eliminated intercourse pain after therapy, in published studies.

Pelvic and endometriosis pain
Most women with pelvic and/or endometriosis pain report significant relief after therapy and are able to return to an active lifestyle, unhindered by former pain.

The best candidates for our therapy are those with a history of any of the following:

  1. any infection (such as PID, bladder or yeast infection, endometriosis, etc.)
  2. one or more surgeries (laparoscopy, open surgery, c-section, abortion, hysterectomy, bowel resection, back surgery, etc.)
  3. a fall, trauma, or abuse
  4. radiation therapy
  5. unexplained chronic pain, or unexplained infertility

Surgery anywhere in the abdomen, pelvis, back, or hip is a frequent cause of the adhesions that cause pain or infertility. Infection and inflammation such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), endometriosis, yeast and bladder infections also cause these adhesions. Physical or sexual abuse, falls onto the tailbone, hip or back, car accidents, abortion, appendicitis and other medical conditions affecting abdominal organs are typical causes of adhesions. Please complete and submit the medical history questionnaire to apply for a phone consult to determine if therapy is appropriate for you.

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Who is not appropriate for this work?

Inappropriate candidates include those with a present active infection, cancer, blood clotting disorders (such as hemophilia), abnormal cyst or endometrioma, immune disorders (including HIV), solely male factor infertility (for infertility patients), significantly overweight patients with body mass index (BMI) over 36. Women whose fallopian tubes have been closed surgically and never reopened may be appropriate for pre-IVF therapy, but not for natural infertility reversal.Top of Page

How does your treatment differ from other manual therapies?

Clear Passage Therapies® provides the only hands-on therapy in the world that has been shown to improve female fertility in peer-reviewed medical journals. Also called the Wurn Technique®, this therapy consists of unique manual physical therapy techniques studied, researched, and developed over the last 20 years. Our therapy is designed to decrease adhesions throughout the entire reproductive system and restore function and mobility to specific reproductive organs (e.g. ovaries, fallopian tubes, etc.).   

No other physical therapy, manual therapy, or massage (including Maya massage) has been shown to open blocked fallopian tubes, improve fertility, and improve female sexual function.  Read more about how our therapy differs.Top of Page

How has acceptance been in the medical community?

Most physicians regard physical therapy as a strong adjunct to regular medical care. Its use as an adjunct to infertility treatment is newer, and many physicians have not yet heard of us or read our studies.

Doctors who have worked with us generally love us. Physicians also recognize physical therapy as a conservative, non-invasive approach. Since there is such low risk of complications, physicians generally accept patients' interest in this work and respect their decisions regarding therapy. Patients with recent onset of pain should be screened by their physician for the few conditions which would prevent treatment, such as cysts which are so large that they require surgery. We are glad to consult your physician at any time about your case, or to explain our work.Top of Page

How can I get in to see you?

All applicants must first complete a six page medical history questionnaire. This is available at the bottom of this and every website page. You may also request information by calling our central office in Gainesville, Florida: (352) 336-1433. US and Canadian residents may phone toll-free at: 1-866-BABY-HERE (866-222-9437). You must then fax or mail your completed form to us. We will review your completed questionnaire and advise you if we feel we have a reasonable chance to help you.Top of Page

Personal consultations

We are glad to answer your specific questions by phone or email, but we prefer to do so after we have your completed questionnaire in hand (see below). That way, we have your full history available to us in a format that helps us determine if you are appropriate for this therapy.Top of Page

We have locations in:

We plan to grow slowly and steadily as we can find and train excellent therapists in US metropolitan locations.

Once you apply (by sending in your completed medical history) we will let you know if you are appropriate. At this point, most patients choose to attend for five days in Los Angeles California, Florida or Iowa, Monday through Friday of any week. Otherwise, we will keep your chart open and advise you when we plan to open in your area.Top of Page

Tell us about your patent pending?

Our work is protected by the US Patent and Trademark Office under application number 09/887,884 filed June 22, 2001 (patent pending). In accordance with 35 U.S.C. 122, non-published patent applications are held in confidence and are not viewable online until final publication. When the patent issues, a searchable patent number with full details will be available to the general public online, at the USPTO. (see http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/appxl_35_U_S_C_122.html)Top of Page

Questions We Receive about Specific Conditions

Fibroids
We have no evidence that this work can prevent or decrease fibroids. It does appear to decrease the scarring and adhesions that often follow myomectomy surgery. These adhesions tend to glue down your uterus where you were cut, decreasing your ability to sustain a pregnancy. From there, adhesions sometimes spread to other areas of the reproductive tract. In short, this work can reverse many of the negative effects of past fibroid surgeries, but it does little or nothing to existing fibroids.Top of Page

Frequent headaches
Headaches have a myriad of causes. Interestingly, we often see a strong connection between chronic headaches and the lower part of your spinal cord, especially near the tailbone. The spinal cord is surrounded by a very strong sheath of fascia, called the dura. It starts at your tailbone, surrounds your spinal cord as it goes up within your vertebrae, then attaches again at the base of the skull. Then, it goes into your head, surrounds and infuses with the tissues of the brain.Top of Page

When this structure gets tight anywhere along that route, it can cause problems, pain or unusual symptoms anywhere along your spine, including the two ends. These may include painful intercourse, constipation or difficulty sitting for long periods (from the pull at your tailbone), or severe headaches (from the pull at your skull & brain). It may also affect your FSH levels, as it torsions the bone which holds your hypothalamus and pituitary glands. We address all of this in therapy.Top of Page

Adhesion related disorders
We have seen some wonderful success treating post-surgical adhesions and adhesion related disorder (ARD). While much of our material (and national attention) centers on our therapy for infertility, the same adhesions which cause infertility also cause pain. In chronic (longstanding) pain cases, we find adhesions are almost always involved, and generally the primary cause of the pain. We generally do very well with adhesion related pain and dysfunction.Top of Page

Blocked fallopian tubes
We have recently completed a study on the positive results we are seeing opening blocked fallopian tubes. Our success rate with these cases (61%) compares favorably with medical techniques, but without the risks or side effects of drugs or surgeries. We have similar success rates opening tubes with blockages which are proximal (near the uterus), distal (by the ovary) and mid-tubal.Top of Page

Pre-IVF considerations
The pregnancy success rates we are seeing with our pre-IVF patients have been significantly higher than the national average. These are patients who come to us to help prepare the uterus and cervix for IVF transfer. The US national average for IVF pregnancies after transfer is 41%. When patients received this therapy first, that number increased to 67%, a 63% increase. In other words, your success with a post-therapy IVF appears to be about 63% higher that the national average (based on CDC tables).Top of Page

Failure to ovulate, irregular periods
We have only seen a few women with these complaints. We have seen success with several types of hormonal based infertility, including failure to ovulate. We feel that these conditions are sometimes caused by mechanical restrictions at organs and endocrine glands which secrete or trigger hormone releases. These mechanical restrictions are exactly what we treat.

We do not yet have enough data to make any scientific claims about reversing failure to ovulate. Following therapy, we have seen follicles recommence in ovaries that had no follicles for several years. These anecdotal successes are very promising, and we will continue to investigate this very intriguing result.Top of Page

Vaginismus (tight, small opening at the vagina)
We have seen that we can help most cases of vaginismus. The spasm and associated adhesions which can form as a response to that spasm are mechanical processes,- which is exactly what we treat. Once we have decreased the mechanical dysfunctions, the organs should work more normally. With that, we would hope to see a return to fertility, like many of the other patients we have seen.Top of Page

Polycystic ovaries and PCOS
For years, we thought this work would have little or no effect women with PCOS. In fact, we actively refused therapy to these women. Due to a recent case, we are changing out stance on that, as we feel we may be able to help PCOS in some women. This work is quite new, and we do not know all of the conditions which it may assist. We know that polycystic ovary syndrome or similar symptoms have a strong visceral component, generally related to the ovaries and the pancreas. Since the cause is unknown, it makes us wonder if this work may help polycystic ovary patients.

We have some clinical indication that we can assist organs that are being pulled or squeezed by tiny adhesions that formed naturally within the body. We wonder if PCOS is another of those ‘mystery conditions' caused by these tiny strands of collagen, formed during a healing process, gluing down organs and preventing their normal function.

We recently had a pregnancy in a woman diagnosed with PCOS. IN fact, she reported her first normal hormone levels in over 15 years, following a week of therapy here. However, we have not treated enough PCOS patients to make a statement about our efficacy with PCOS. In essence, we will consider treating women with PCOS,- we do not see any harm. But we still have to gather more data before we would make any claim that we can definitely help this condition.Top of Page

High FSH
One interesting aspect of this work that we are actively investigating is its apparent potential for decreasing high FSH levels. This was brought to our attention after a woman came to us who was refused IVF, due to failure to produce enough follicles. In the two subsequent months, her FSH levels were 20 and 28. Her RE told her should could not possibly conceive. The following month she came to see us for therapy.

She became pregnant naturally at her next cycle after therapy. We subsequently saw a significant decrease in FSH levels in a second woman following therapy. We have begun pilot studies which are very encouraging regarding lowering FSH levels. While it is far too early for us to make any concrete scientific claims, we have overwhelmingly positive results in clinical pilot cases, showing that we lowered FSH levels and that therapy preceded pregnancies in women with high FSH, including several women who were also refused IVF. It makes sense that when the glands and organs are less adhered, they will function better. For this reason, we are now beginning a full, scientific study on our potential to decrease high FSH levels.Top of Page

Planned tubal reversal
Our entire focus is the freeing of scar tissue, and we have opened totally blocked fallopian tubes. We should have a reasonable chance to increase the function and the flow within tubes that have been surgically reopened and reattached. We would want to wait 10-12 weeks after any surgery to treat you.Top of Page

Other Specifics Regarding Therapy

Treating by the program, not by the hour
We do not treat by the hour, we treat by the program. We are highly focused on attaining your objective, maintaining program consistency, publishing research and results based on those programs. For most patients, 20 hours of therapy is all you will ever need. Once we have freed the area, there is no further need for therapy. Some patients who are very adhered request more than our 20 hour recommendation. We usually allow you to schedule additional therapy by the hour, if you like.Top of Page

Weekends, evenings - Frequency of therapy
Performing this work is physically and mentally demanding. We regret that we need our weekends and evenings free.

Treatment frequency does not seem to matter greatly, in figuring success rates, according to our NIH PhD researcher. Therapy may be received in one week, or spread over weeks or even months. We would prefer to allow the body more time to recover from each session, but due to our locations, some women do not have the option of spreading therapy over time. We find that we generally achieve extraordinary changes, in either case.Top of Page

Explain your success rate percentages
Initially, we had four infertility reversals in a row,- a 100% success rate, but with very few patients. Then, we treated four women with total bilateral occlusion, opened two of their tubes, but none became pregnant. That dropped our success rate to 50% (four births of eight women). This was still a very respectable number, and our numbers were growing. Over time, our success rate for full term births has ranged between 50% and 74%.

Unlike IVF or IUI (when you know the next month if you have failed) we have to wait 12 to 24 months to let nature take its course, to know whether we have failed. [Twelve months is used by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC); 24 months by the World Health Organization (WHO)]. We have now seen at least 150 babies born or expected by 'infertile' women, using this technique.

Perhaps this is the best way to think about it: Our success rates appear comparable to medical techniques, without risks sometimes associated with drugs or surgery. You also avoid the additional adhesions which are the natural by-product of surgeries.

The worst that ever happens with therapy is nothing. Our patients commonly speak of greatly decreased back, intercourse or menstrual pain. We often hear stories of increased sexual function (increased lubrication, quality, intensity and duration of orgasm).

In the end, if therapy is not successful, we have credible data that a subsequent IVF will be twice as likely to produce a pregnancy, once you have gone through therapy first. In other words, if you do not become pregnant from therapy, your success with a post-therapy IVF appears to be about double the national average (based on CDC tables).Top of Page

Insurance
Our therapy addresses adhesions and microadhesions which cause pain and poor function. We treat the adhesions. Decreased pain and increased function are secondary to our adhesion treatment.

While you will pay us directly for our services, some insurance companies may reimburse you for part or all of your therapy here, especially if you have complaints of pain. We will give you copies of all paperwork including your initial evaluation, daily notes and completed billing forms to submit to your insurer, if you choose.

You may feel more comfortable about possible reimbursement if you call your insurer to clarify your benefits before coming to our clinic. You can generally find out exactly how much your insurer will reimburse, before you ever commit to therapy.

Please refer to our Insurance Page for further advice.Top of Page