By Stephanie A. Prendergast, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles What is dyspareunia? A high number of people with a vagina suffer from painful versus pleasurable sex, including before, during or after sexual encounters. Superficial dyspareunia refers to pain at the opening of the vagina, whereas deep dyspareunia refers to feelings like something is being ‘hot’ or painful, deeper inside. …
Are Oral Birth Control Pills a Cause Of Or Solution For Pelvic Pain?
By Stephanie Prendergast, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC West Los Angeles A frequent question from social media: “I have Vestibulodynia and painful bladder syndrome. I am almost symptom free except for near or during my period. My hormone levels are fine. My urologist prescribed testosterone cream because he found atrophy. At the same time I have another doctor telling me that …
ICYMI: IG Live with Sexual Medicine Expert Rachel Rubin
By Stephanie Prendergast, MPT, PHRC Los Angeles A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Rachel Rubin on Instagram Live. I wanted to interview Rachel because of her unique background as a board-certified female urologist who completed a sexual medicine fellowship with Dr. Irwin Goldstein. Dr. Rubin is a clinician, a researcher, and a vocal educator …
Success Story: Tessa’s Triumph Over Painful Sex
By Shannon Pacella, DPT, PHRC Lexington Do you remember the first time you tried using tampons? Did you have anyone help guide you or were you trying to follow the little paper instructions from inside the box? Once you mustered up the courage to try and insert it, was it painful? Maybe you were not able to get it …
Pelvic Pain Explained: Vulvodynia + Resource List
May is Pelvic Pain Awareness Month At PHRC we want to do our part to help people better understand pelvic pain syndromes and more importantly, help people suffering with these diagnoses get the help they need to recover. Since knowledge is power, we created 5 videos and blog posts that we hope people find useful. This week, in our second …
5 Tips to Reduce Vulvodynia Symptoms
Vulvodynia can affect up to 25% of women in their lifetime.1 The vulva is the anatomical term for the external genitalia in women that includes the clitoris, labia, mons pubis, and vestibule (vaginal opening). Vulvodynia has received specific diagnostic terminology as we now know there are various causes and presentations of symptoms that can be considered “vulvodynia”.3 Box 1 contains …
Vulvodynia, Vestibulodynia, and Vaginismus: what’s the difference and why does it matter?
By Stephanie Prendergast, PHRC Cofounder As many as 28% of women experience painful sex at some point during their reproductive years and that sucks. Knowledge is power and May is Pelvic Pain Awareness Month so we want to provide women with useful information about the three most common diagnoses associated with painful sex: vulvodynia, vaginismus, and vesitbulodynia. Differentiating …
A Biopsychosocial Approach to Vulvodynia
Throughout my years of practice I’ve treated many women with vulvodynia. I’ve noticed that it’s rare for women to return to 100% solely with physical therapy treatment; even though their musculoskeletal impairments may have returned to normal, some women continue to feel pain. In my experience, it takes a team of practitioners to treat vulvodynia, such as a physician …
When Sex Hurts: A Diagnostic Algorithm
Most people know that I am a fan of sexy science. So when I saw that the World Congress on Pelvic Pain (WCAPP) had an entire section dedicated to sexual dysfunction I was pretty stoked. You may already be imagining some very arousing presentations; or you may think listening to a talk on intercourse would induce the same amount …
How Diane beat Vulvodynia
By Diane I suffered with pelvic pain for years. I want to share my story, so others won’t have to suffer needlessly. It started in February 2009 when I tried having sex with my boyfriend. Intercourse was extremely painful, and each time, my perineum tore a bit. I’d be sore for days afterward. Eventually I’d heal, but it …
Love and Vaginismus: Mary’s story of personal growth
By Melinda Fontaine Mary is an amazing story because in a matter of months, she went from not having any penetrative sex for many years to having unrestricted intercourse with her partner. When Mary was a young woman, she saw a gynecologist for a routine exam. Now, lying on the exam table with your butt almost falling off the …
Pelvic floor physical therapy for vulvodynia: a clinician’s guide
By Stephanie Prendergast, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles Recently I was asked to write an article about pelvic floor physical therapy for the treatment of vulvodynia, which will be published later this year as a tool for gynecologists. Since our blog readers are a combination of clinicians and people with pelvic pain I figured I would share it here …
Jagged Little Pill: Part Two
By Joshua Gonzalez, MD After reading my last post, Jagged Little Pill, many of you who have had similar suspected OCP-related problems may be thinking there’s no hope. Trust me, you are not doomed if you’ve ever taken an oral birth control and you have symptoms of vulvodynia. My goal this week is to reassure you that you’re …
Jagged Little Pill: How Oral Contraceptives Wreak Havoc on the Female Body
By Joshua Gonzalez, MD The advent of oral birth control pills in the 1960s was heralded as a huge victory for women’s rights. Finally, women could take control of their bodies and their fertility. Since then, oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) have become ubiquitous in reproductive aged women with nearly 10 million women today using The Pill as their primary …
Slippery When Wet: Is your lubricant causing pelvic pain, infections, or fertility problems?
Lube is great! It adds moisture and decreases friction, but how do you pick from the multitude of different personal lubes on the market? Which one is the safest? Goop recently asked the same questions in response to watching an episode of Grace and Frankie in which Frankie makes her own lube.
Female Pelvic Pain Explained: Megan’s Success Story
By: Stephanie Prendergast The Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center is excited to announce that Pelvic Pain Explained was released on January 13th! In honor of the book and the New Year, we are sharing stories from our patients that were kind enough to be interviewed for this book. Last week we spoke about Tommy’s recovery from pelvic pain. When Liz …
New Classification System for Persistent Vulvar Pain
By Stephanie Prendergast In a previous blog post I described my experience while participating in an International Nomenclature Consensus Conference. As you may recall, the motivation for a consensus meeting originated because there was “an unmet medical need for a comprehensive, evidence-based set of vulvovaginal pain diagnoses that can be easily utilized by …
What is Vulvodynia? The International Consensus Conference on Vulvodynia Nomenclature
By Stephanie Prendergast, PHRC Cofounder What is Vulvodynia? Is it a symptom, a disease, or a syndrome? What does the term ‘Vuvlodynia’ mean to people with vulvar pain, pelvic pain specialists, medical professionals, and the community in general? In a previous blog post I wrote about how in the pelvic pain world, diagnosis does not dictate treatment. Many pelvic pain diagnoses simply …
Growing Pains: A Story of Sex, Vaginismus, and Clinically Approved Dildos
By Jackie M. White This week writer Jackie White, writer, educator, and creator of the website Sexual Healing, shares her colorful story and essay on pelvic pain. Growing Pains: A Story of Sex, Vaginsmus, & Clinically Approved Dildos Not Just Another Blog Post, Folks… Back in September 2014, the North American chapter of World Sexual Health Day announced that my personal …
Vulvovaginal Disease Update 2014: Must-read Nuggets
Last month three of our PTs, Allison, Malinda, and Stacey attended the Vulvovaginal Disease Update 2014. Vulvar dermatoses affects millions in the United States often greatly interfering with a woman’s quality of life. And as pelvic floor PTs, it’s certainly an issue that can overlap with the musculoskeletal impairments that we treat. Therefore, this annual conference, which is hosted by …
Case Study: PT for a Vulvodynia Diagnosis
Over the years we’ve treated a wide variety of pelvic floor syndromes at PHRC, and one of the things we’ve learned is that every case is different. Therefore, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all treatment plan. We hope that our new “Case Study” section will help to drive this important reality home. Every couple of months we will …