My name is Dr. Allyson Shrikhande. I am a Doctor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. I went to medical school at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland, and then went on to do my internship in general surgery in Boston at Harvard Medical School, then did my residency at NYU and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Now, I’m a practicing physiatrist or physical medicine rehabilitation doc who treats male and female pelvic pain.
The main society that I’m involved with is the International Pelvic Pain Society, otherwise known as IPPS. I am the Chair of Medical Education Committee. I am board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation. I am a member of the National Vulvodynia Association, giving patients with vulvodynia options for treatment. I am also a member of the New York City PM&R Society, also am member of pudendal.org. I got interested in the field of pelvic pain when I was first pregnant. I had difficulty walking and couldn’t figure out what it was at first, ended up being sacroiliac joint pain and dysfunction and pelvic floor muscle dysfunction.
At the time, had trouble finding someone to help me, and that made me realize that there’s a large need in this field for medical practitioners. The passion for pelvic medicine really started when I met a patient that flown to New York City from L.A. She was in her mid-20s and had been complaining about pelvic pain symptoms for over 10 years. After 10 years of being sent from psychiatrist to psychiatrist, she arrived in our office extremely frustrated and very concerned for why there was not a diagnosis. She was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis, however, it was late stage endometriosis, and I really feel that if we can educate both the medical professions and patients that, we can catch things earlier and allow people to suffer less and not feel that they’re alone and/or crazy.