Traction with Heat

[Mending the Bend]

Hi Gentlemen,

Prompted by a post I read here a little while ago - and knowing that physical therapists employ thermal techniques when attempting to stretch ligaments, muscles, etc  - I've been trying a new protocol of wrapping a heating pad around my penis while it's in the traction device armature.

I've been using a soft clay hot/cold pack which is microwaveable. The dimensions are about 6" x 12", and it comes with a cloth cover and an elastic strap with velcro closure. The size is just right. I wrap it snugly around my shaft and the metal extension bars of the traction device, securing it with the elastic strap. In addition to the potential for increased efficacy, the warmth feels good. I do this for about an hour.

A word of caution - NOT TOO HOT. The first time I tried, the pad heated up the metal rods a bit too much...I'm sure you get the picture.

We know that traction is a therapy that requires time and consistency, but hopefully adding heat will make that time and effort pay off more. I've also tried warming my penis before entering the device, which isn't a bad idea either.

Of course, this can only be done while one is at home with some degree of privacy (or in the company of an understanding partner).

Mending the Bend

[NeoV]

I've been using heat with traction for years now, always seems to help out a lot.

[skunkworks]

Heat itself is also a good treatment for Peyronie's so if you're careful about not getting too hot then this should be a really good combination. I have considered getting one of those electric heating pads so I could get a steady heat through the whole traction session, but never found one of a good size.

How have you been applying the heat NeoV ?

[NeoV]

I've always used a heat pad or a rice sock made at home. Unfortunately now that I've moved I don't have my old rice sock so I use use the shower head in the shower, then sit down and do traction.

[Mending the Bend]

skunkworks -

Using an electric heating pad is a great idea. I think it would be relatively easy to fold it up and wrap around the traction device. Sunbeam makes decent ones for about $20. I think I'll try that.

[skunkworks]

Mending did you get a heating pad, how did it go?

[yyy]

Where can I buy it? please post some pics or link as examples, thanks

[Mending the Bend]

Mending did you get a heating pad, how did it go?

I did not end up using a heating pad very frequently during traction - only for a few times towards the end of my treatment. It remains my belief and experience that the vast majority of improvement from traction and manual stretching is achieved in the days and weeks following Xiaflex injections. Weakening of the plaque by the active enzymes in the drug vastly improves the responsiveness to the force applied.

[skunkworks]

Ok but a lot of people have seen great improvement from traction without xiaflex.

[penisstraightener]

I think xiaflex is more hype than anything. Almost everything can be cured naturally with patience and the right information, just take your time and don't rush it.  And by the way... heat will cause the plaque to expand which can do one or two things

1.( good result) be that the plaque is separated enough to make the penis more bendable in which it can gradually be straightened at a quicker pace while wen it contracts the plaque will be formed differently leaving your penis a bit straighter.

2. (bad result) the plaque could expand due to the heat in which case the empty spaces can be filled with blood or tissue in which when the heat dissipates would leave more of a bend than you started.

I believe heat and then injections designed to dissolve the plaque could be helpful, but I haven't heard of anyone with better results than were had via traction devices have given over time.

[NeoV]

I haven't been using heat for a long time.

Though it's an old post, I want to reply to Skunkworks and penisstraghtener,

Skunkworks, that's one of my main criticisms of Xiaflex. Traction works regardless of using it or not, and it's pretty hard to tell which is actually working. Though undoubtedly, xiaflex is actually removing some plaque. Don't we have studies showing that? I haven't really read many studies on Xiaflex..

Still, I find it funny how important traction is in the manual. If so, why the HELL aren't ALL urologists and specialists recommending traction for modeling now? frustrating!

[skunkworks]

Still, I find it funny how important traction is in the manual. If so, why the HELL aren't ALL urologists and specialists recommending traction for modeling now? frustrating!

Especially when you remember the early traction studies were based on it being used after penis enlargement surgery, and the studies showing as good or better results for the non surgical traction users.

In my opinion it is just simply the best treatment available. Everything else is an adjunct treatment.  

[Steveo]

I think Xiaflex would be good for large masses of scar tissue which would otherwise take years to resolve, if ever.

For small masses I'm thinking it's not as good because it's harder to inject the drug into the correct place and would be more likely to break down healthy tissue.  This may be the reason it's only available for curves >30 degrees, since presumably the amount of scar tissue needed to cause that much deviation would be fairly significant.

[skunkworks]

Yeah fair point. Once they have the injection procedure down (ultrasound guided as standard IMO) xiaflex would almost certainly be the best treatment for large masses. In that situation traction would be the adjunct treatment.  

[MoatazKad]

does traction help with flaccid length?

[NeoV]

Steveo, I think I agree. I wonder though, is there evidence that Xiaflex can indeed break down healthy tissue?

Moatazkad, yes traction will help improve your flaccid length. For some reason it made my flaccid much longer actually, look more natural, and hang without the hinge effect.

[QuackAttack]

I am going to second NeoV on that. I have gained 3/4" in about 5 months of traction in the flaccid state and a reduction of about 5-6 degrees in curvature. My URO told me he has seen good success with people that are compliant with traction while taking Pentox, which is why I am discontinuing the use of my Size Genetics and will have my Phallosan Forte at my door by the middle of next week. While I was getting about 4 hours a day of use with the SG, time in, is important and I don't mean 20 hours a day like the fools doing penis enlargement, but I do mean 6-8 hours a day and the only way to do that consistently is to wear it sleeping, in my opinion.

[Gutted]

does traction help with flaccid length?

For me definitely, after 3 months, 4 - 6 hours a day (Andropenis model) I got at least .5". In general everything looked much bigger flaccid actually. However, there was zero impact on curvature or hourglass. In month 4 of traction I switched to VED to focus on the hourglassing and was advised not to do both treatments at the same time

[skunkworks]

You can definitely use both. Without a doubt.

Re flaccid length. For me that was the first thing to improve. First flaccid length, then straightness, then longer erect length.  

[MoatazKad]

thanks for the replies. i might buy one and use it after i finish my VED cycle.

[NeoV]

I re-read the hyperthermia studies on Peyronie's and was very impressed by the outcomes.

The last week I started using the rice sock method again with manual traction and it makes things feel very good. I plan to get on a schedule again and will report how things go. I haven't been on a schedule with traction since meeting my wife, but I still do it daily for short intervals in the rest room.

I do not see why heat and traction would not have a good combined effect.

[Steveo]

Steveo, I think I agree. I wonder though, is there evidence that Xiaflex can indeed break down healthy tissue?

Yes, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2988615/

[CHC refers to Clostridium histolyticum collagenase, ie., Xiaflex.]

"First, they compared CHC activity (via measurement of desiccated tissue weight and release of free α-amino acid groups) on Peyronies Disease plaque tissue and healthy tunica albuginea tissue, with tissue derived from three patients for each tissue type. They showed there was no significant difference in the degree of collagen degradation between the diseased and healthy tissues, ie, CHC did not selectively degrade Peyronies Disease plaque collagen but would affect surrounding healthy tissues."

Xiaflex seems to spare non-collagenous tissues but breaks down both healthy and fibrotic collagen deposits equally readily.  Hence the necessity for it to be accurately injected and in a dose that only dissolves the problematic penile tissue.

The question is then: Ok, you've dissolved most of the plaque and perhaps some of the surrounding healthy tissue.  What's to prevent the whole problem from starting over with fibrosis and contraction when you begin to heal from this new trauma?

It seems that the way to prevent this is through traction (or manual stretching per the Xiaflex instructions).  I believe that VED use might even be a better choice because it mimics the normal inflation of an erect penis, whereas traction only stretches it longitudinally.  

For whatever reason it does appear that stretching the tissues during the healing process seems to prevent later scar contraction. This, despite experiments showing that tension during healing tends to cause, rather than avoid, hypertrophic scarring.  ("In the majority of cases, hypertrophic scarring develops in wounds at anatomic locations with high tension, such as shoulders, neck, presternum, knees and ankles..."   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3022978/ et al.)

[itsme]

By what I know heat can kill the enzimes, a quick search on google about heting enzimes and you will confirm that.