Butterflies and FICQ

This post was written by H&W faculty member Teri Elliott-Burke, PT, MHS, BCB-PMD. Teri will be teaching Pelvic Floor Level 2A in Maywood, IL next month.

A new product has hit the stores – Butterfly Body Liners. These pads are specifically designed to deal with fecal incontinence (aka ABL – Accidental Bowel Leakage). The good news is that advertisements for these pads bring fecal incontinence out in the open. The ads promote discussion of this topic and offer one solution for this condition. A patient first brought this product to my attention. So I thought it would be a good idea for all of you to know about them as well (as I have discussed the concept of the pad with other patients they have liked the idea). However, I would also like to voice two concerns: One is that the pads seem pricey ($.30 each) especially for patients who have to change them often or are on a fixed income. My second reaction is that for some people these small pads don’t have enough capacity to deal with the problem.

I am grateful for the development of pads for this condition, however I find myself frustrated with this advertisement, as well as advertisements for urinary incontinence pads. I find myself wanting to strangle celebrities touting the use of pads (notice so far none of them are willing to own up to fecal incontinence). The pads, which are a necessity for some, offer only a passive solution. The fact that this condition can be accurately diagnosed and treated is never mentioned. Of course, mentioning an active solution doesn’t sell the products. Therefore, we need to be the voices out there letting people know there is an active solution to this issue. This includes marketing to physicians to let them know of the treatment we can provide.

Another “product” related to fecal incontinence is the newly developed Fecal Incontinence and Constipation Questionnaire. (Check out the February 2004 Physical Therapy Journal (PTJ) article that addressed the formation of this questionnaire). This is an exciting development in the area of outcomes questionnaires to address the specific patient population of fecal incontinence and constipation. Although there are other questionnaires available this one was developed specifically for patients seeking put patient rehabilitation services for pelvic-floor dysfunction. This questionnaire has two subscales Fecal Incontinence (FI) and Fecal Constipation (FC). Analysis showed sound psychometric properties of this scale, although further fecal constipation items were recommended to increase content coverage. Reminder: For those of you how are APTA members the PTJ has a app.

If you are treating patients with urinary incontinence, but are not adequately addressing fecal incontinence or constipation you are missing out on giving relief to many people. Make your way to PF2A where issues of constipation and fecal incontinence are addressed.