Spanish Oddities
What can your ankle do for your anus?
By h.b. - Oct 21, 2009 - 7:32 AM
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A Spanish hospital has successfully tested a new cure for anal incontinence
What can your ankle do for your anus? Well researchers at the Juan Ramón Jiménez Hospital in Huevla have successfully completed research which shows that electrically stimulating a nerve in the ankle can cure anal incontinence.
The hospital says it is a pioneering procedure which opens a new way of treating the affliction which can serious affect the quality of life of sufferers, estimated to be as high as 5% of the adult population and 50% of those admitted to geriatric establishments.
Women are eight times more likely to suffer the condition than men.
The new treatment consists of pinching a nerve in the back of the ankle with a needle, similar to that used in acupuncture. That sends a current up the nerve which runs along the tibia and frees a series of substances which help in the control of the sphincter.
It’s a treatment which needs no hospital admissions and not even any anaesthetic.
(health story)