Female pelvic pain and sexual dysfunction


It is well recognised that muscle spasm occurs in other pain conditions such as neck and shoulder pain. These muscles are easily seen and examined.

The pelvic floor muscles are like any other muscle in the body and can spasm and cause significant pain with activities such as sex.

As this is something that is often not readily discussed, women often suffer in silence for years with significant consequences for both social interaction and intimacy.

It is estimated that 15% of American Women and 25% of New Zealand Women suffer from pelvic pain. This would makes it more common than asthma (10%) and back pain (14%) in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics Data).

Why is this occurring?

  • Painful periods
  • Trauma to the pelvic area
  • Exercise that involves lot of abdominal bracing such as dancing, running
  • Menopause
  • Childbirth
  • Recurrent UTIs/ Thrush
  • Psychological factors such as stress

What are the signs and symptoms?

  • Painful sex
  • Pain with using tampons/ having internal vaginal examination
  • Painful periods
  • Twitching/ spasm in pelvic floor muscles
  • General pain in lower abdomen region
  • Pain in tail bone
  • Diagnosed with Vulvodynia, Vestibulodynia, Endometrosis, Painful Bladder Syndrome, Interstitial Cystitis.

What can be done to help me?

A comprehensive assessment of the pelvic floor muscles is needed to determine the cause of your pain. We can teach you where your pelvic floor muscles are and how to them so you regain conscious control over them.

Release of any tight bands of muscle in the pelvic floor that might be referring pain to other areas might be performed.

We can also teach you relaxation strategies to help manage stress (which leads to muscle tension) and give you stretches for the pelvic floor and surrounding muscles.