Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT | February 11, 2022
Have you wondered if physical therapy can resolve vaginismus and dyspareunia and, if so, what does it entail? We have answers to your questions!
We are Purple Mountain Physical Therapy, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan and we specialize in providing physical therapy to resolve your vaginismus and dyspareunia (painful sex). Not only does our physical therapy help your vaginismus and dyspareunia, it also resolves low back pain, urinary problems, pelvic pressure and constipation.
There are Many Causes to Painful Intimacy and We Help You Figure Out What is Going On, While Also Providing Treatment to Resolve Your Vaginismus and Dyspareunia
We know that these conditions are a bit of a mystery and that you likely have never heard of pelvic floor PT. Well, it turns out that pelvic floor physical therapy is excellent at resolving your vaginismus and dyspareunia. And, bonus, is that our treatments are holistics, healing and have no side effects. If you are interested in learning more, contact us at (616) 516-4334 or fill out this online inquiry and we will be in touch. We treat people in person in Grand Rapids, Michigan and also online via telehealth.
Vaginismus and dyspareunia can show up in a variety of ways and physical therapy can help determine what is going on with your body.
We begin your care with a thorough evaluation so we can best determine what is going on with your body, causing the painful sex. We then create a customized program for you, that accounts for the specifics of your condition. Our licensed physical therapists provide trauma informed care and work with you to create a therapeutic place to heal. If you would like information about our care for vaginismus and dyspareunia, call us at 616-516-4334 or contact us here.
Painful Sex can vary from person to person. This is why we treat you individually and compassionately, with customized care.
Next we will explain some of the different types of dyspareunia and vaginismus that we treat
For some of our patients, sex hurt from the very first attempt.
For some patients, sex has always hurt. In fact, it hurt even when they tried to use tampons as a young girl. Going to the gynecologist can be horrible for these women because the speculum is quite painful. Anything attempting to enter the vagina is painful. Some of our patients have never had full, penetrative sex because all attempts to do so are too painful. The area can simply feel too tight or small. Other times it just feels burning and like something is ripping. If this is you, please know that physical therapy resolves vaginismus and dyspareunia and gives you a safe path forward without fearing intimacy. If you would like information about our care for vaginismus and dyspareunia, call us at 616-516-4334 or contact us here.
Sometimes, penetrative sex used to be comfortable, but over time it started to hurt
For some people who have vaginismus and dyspareunia, there was a time when sex wasn’t painful. They don’t know why it started to hurt, it just did. For some of them there is a trauma experience that contributed to the pain (such as giving birth or a sexual assault). For other women there has been no trauma, just a gradual onset of pain that occurs with sex. For some of these women they can have penetrative sex, but must be very careful of the angle and positions. Sometimes the pain is located at the entrance, other times it feels painful deep inside. We will fully assess and treat your condition to help you know what is going on and how to help it. Our physical therapy resolves vaginismus and dyspareunia and the women we have treated come back to us and say “sex felt like it used to feel, zero pain!” If you are interested in learning more about how physical therapy can resolve your vaginismus and dyspareunia contact us here.
Pelvic floor dysfunction is one cause of pain during sex. Sometimes it is called Levator ani syndrome.
Pelvic pain often has a variety of contributing factors. In the case of our patients, one hallmark of their painful sex is tight or short pelvic floor muscles. In particular, we tend to call their pelvic floor dysfunction “high tone pelvic floor”, meaning the muscles are stiff and tense. The pelvic floor muscles are compromised of a group of muscles called the levator ani and when these muscles are painful sometimes our patients are told they have levator ani syndrome. Whether you have vaginismus or dyspareunia our expert physical therapy can help inform you on what is going on. Contact us here and we would be happy to talk to you about your needs. We treat people in person in Grand Rapids, Michigan and also online via telehealth.
We check each patient very gently, carefully assessing each layer of the pelvic floor muscles to identify where there may be problems and how we can ease the stiffness and tension in the muscles.
We use gentle, hands-on treatment to the pelvic floor muscles and also to surrounding areas of the pelvic floor, including the low back, tailbone, hips, thighs and abdomen. We have found that comprehensive and holistic care to these external areas is a critical component of your treatment. The unique and comprehensive PT methods of our doctors of physical therapy will resolve vaginismus and dyspareunia. It takes years to develop these skills and when you choose you, you are choosing an effective and healing path forward for yourself. Contact us here to learn more.
There are many things we will assess and treat, if they contribute to your pain.
Could your hymen be part of your pain?
We have also worked with women for whom the hymen is contributing to their pain. These women tend to be somewhat older at their first attempt at sex and it can be difficult to experience any penetration because their hymen is stiff and painful. They also tend to have underlying pelvic floor dysfunction, characterized by tight muscles, contributing to the entire opening being constricted. We have successfully worked with these conditions to help you stretch out the hymen and decrease pelvic floor dysfunction. If you are interested in learning more about how physical therapy can resolve your vaginismus and dyspareunia when it is related to your hymen, call us at 616-516-4334 or contact us here.
For some of our patients who have vaginismus and dyspareunia, they have provoked vestibulodynia
Some people have an area of the vulva/vestibule that is particularly sensitive to touch. They don’t have pain unless it is touched, so this is called provoked vestibulodynia. We assess every patient for this condition. If you do have it, we use methods to calm down the muscles and the nerves so everything doesn’t feel so on fire. We also teach you what you can do to balance your nervous system and reduce your inflammation. We work with your physician providers who also can give you insights and options for medical treatment to ease this; sometimes they prescribe medications applied topically to this area to calm down the tissues. If someone has provoked vestibulodynia they always also have pelvic floor dysfunction, so it is important to receive the holistic treatment we provide to alleviate the pelvic floor tension and stiffness that is contributing to your provoked vestibulodynia. If you are interested in learning more about our physical therapy that resolves vaginismus and dyspareunia, contact us at (616) 516-4334 or fill out this online inquiry and we will be in touch. We offer treatment in person at our clinic in Grand Rapids, Michigan and also online via telehealth.
We have patients who travel from multiple states and all over Michigan to receive our treatment.
Quite often they have been to other providers and did not experience results. Our physical therapy program for vaginismus, vestibulodynia and dyspareunia is truly holistic and healing. We love working with individuals who experience pelvic pain, because we are confident we can help you and we find it rewarding to see you come back to yourself. We have written about our care for pelvic pain here. We provide trauma informed care and gentle, myofascial manual therapy methods to your thoracic spine, rib cage, low back, hips, abdominal wall and thighs. Assessing and treating these areas is a key feature of our program and one that is commonly not effectively included in other methods. If you have questions about our physical therapy that resolves vaginismus and dyspareunia, contact us at (616) 516-4334 or fill out this online inquiry and we will be happy to answer your questions. We provide treatment in Grand Rapids, Michigan and also via telehealth.
Our pelvic physical therapy evaluation and treatment will help you learn if you have vulvodynia as a cause of your vaginismus and dyspareunia
Women who have vulvodynia are really suffering. Their vulva hurts. It hurts all day long. It might hurt after doing something specific, like sitting in a movie or wearing pants that pull slightly on the crotch area. Or it might hurt after wiping following urinating. Or it might hurt just doing nothing, like standing and doing the dishes. We have worked with countless women who have vulvodynia. Physical therapy resolves vulvodynia, vaginismus and dyspareunia. For these women, the thought of having penetrative sex is very unappealing. You can imagine, the area might already feel burning, stinging or tight. When someone has vulvodynia they also have pelvic floor dysfunction. In particular, we find short and tight pelvic floor muscles that are all tensed up, potentially pinching on nerves and reducing blood flow to the vulva. We work with you to alleviate these problems. As with all of our treatment, we assess and treat holistically. Because nerves in the abdomen and low back come into the pelvic region, you can expect high quality pelvic PT will be treating your low back, hips, gluteal folds, thighs and abdomen. It is only through this comprehensive treatment that you can achieve good results. Yes, we treat your pelvic floor, but we also treat so much else. Contact us here or call (616) 516-4334 to learn about how to set up an evaluation, either in person at our clinic in Grand Rapids or online via telehealth.
Could you have pinched or compromised nerves causing your vaginismus or dyspareunia? Pudendal neuralgia or pudendal nerve entrapment, in particular
Yes, you might. We check every nerve in the abdomen and low back that goes to the pelvic floor and contributes to vaginismus and dyspareunia. There are many nerves involved and we find that certain branches of some nerves contribute to painful sex. In particular, some of our patients have problems with the posterior femoral cutaneous nerve, sciatic, pudendal nerve or genitofemoral nerve. The pudendal nerve runs from the sacrum around the anus and genitals; pain anywhere along the pudendal region can contribute to painful sex. There are other nerves, as well. Our doctors of physical therapy are specifically trained in how to assess and treat all of your pelvic nerves. Nerves need excellent blood flow and passageways from the spine, through the tissues and into the pelvic floor. Any myofascial restrictions in and around the nerves can contribute to pain in the nerves themselves. This is why our expert manual therapy methods are so effective, because we free-up space for nerves to travel and for blood flow to nerves. When we free up your nerves using these advanced techniques, physical therapy resolves nerve pain, vaginismus and dyspareunia. To get started with one of our doctors of physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or fill out this online inquiry and we will be in touch.
We treat scar tissue that causes vaginismus and dyspareunia
We commonly find scar tissue from perineal tearing during labor and delivery, episiotomies, hysterectomy, C-sections or pelvic reconstructive surgeries. We also find scar tissue or adhesions related to endometriosis, inflammatory bowel issues or hernia surgeries and these can also contribute to pelvic pain and vaginismus. If you have a scar, rest assured we will check your scar to determine if its mobility is contributing to your painful sex. Our high quality manual therapy and visceral treatments to scars are very effective at alleviating pain related to scars. To get started with one of our doctors of physical therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 or fill out this online inquiry and we will be in touch.
PT can help chronic pelvic pain syndrome that is causing vaginismus and dyspareunia
At Purple Mountain PT we have great compassion for our patients who experience chronic pelvic pain and dyspareunia. Our PTs have advanced training and offer comprehensive treatment methods to help you reduce pain and experience penetrative intercourse without pain. We specialize in treating people who have chronic pelvic pain syndrome, myofascial pain syndrome, vaginismus, dyspareunia, pinched nerves, interstitial cystitis and endometriosis. If you are someone who has always had some lower abdominal pain or have always had some pelvic heaviness and pain, we can help you. You should not have ongoing abdominal pain and if you do, we can assess and treat this. Our patients have underlying myofascial pain, such as trigger points and scar tissue, causing their pain. By treating these problems, the pelvic floor muscles can optimize and calm down, causing penetrative sex to be possible again. To get your questions answered about our treatment, cost and availability, call us at (616) 516-4334 or fill out this online inquiry and we will be in touch.
Could piriformis syndrome or sciatica be causing your painful sex?
Many of our patients who have painful sex experience either a bad back, low back pain, SI joint pain or a hip issue, such as a hip labral tear, gluteal tendinopathy or arthritis. Piriformis Syndrome involves the compression of the piriformis muscle and sciatic nerve in the buttock. Problems in these areas of the low back, hip or pelvis contribute to pelvic pain and pain down the legs. Our PT evaluation will check out all of these areas and determine if you require treatment for them. Whatever we find, our PTs are able to treat. We are fully trained and experienced pelvic health and spine physical therapists, so rest assured that we can help you. Because we treat all neck and back conditions that contribute to pelvic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction and painful sex, we are able to help our patients even after other methods have failed. If you are interested in learning more about our clinic, call us at (616) 516-4334 or submit this online inquiry and we will be in touch. We work both in person at our clinic in Grand Rapids, Michigan and online via telehealth.
Because the autonomic nervous system (fight or flight, rest & digest) has branches into the pelvic floor muscles, sometimes your dyspareunia is related to a heightened nervous system.
The pelvic region is wise and it tends to go on-guard, to protect you, in theory. It reacts to physical and emotional stress. In fact, the pelvic floor muscles themselves have autonomic nervous system inputs directly into the muscles. This is unique and renders these muscles very responsive to emotional factors in our life. Many of our patients are experiencing a cycle of anxiety causing pelvic pain and pelvic pain causing anxiety. We find that with our treatment, we are able to help your body come into better balance to cut down the pelvic pain and sympathetic nervous system anxiety.
Our PTs are sensitive to the emotional strain that vaginismus and dyspareunia play in your life.
We understand that this weighs on your relationship and is a barrier to you feeling connected with your partner. If you have dyspareunia or vaginismus, vulvodynia or provoked vestibulodynia, consider also working with a high quality counselor who can support your mind and stress levels through your journey to resolving this. If you are interested in learning more about our clinic, call us at (616) 516-4334 or submit this online inquiry and we will be in touch. We work both in person at our clinic in Grand Rapids, Michigan and online via telehealth.
Men, we also treat your painful sex! Could you have chronic prostatitis or myofascial pain syndrome contributing to your pain?
We treat men who have any pelvic condition. Quite often the men we treat experience pain with or after orgasm. They also may feel pain in the perineum, testicles, tip of penis or anus. If you are a man and wonder what can be done to help resolve your pain, our physical therapy can help you. We provide expert assessments of your low back, hips, abdomen, thighs and pelvic floor. These areas usually are found to have myofascial restrictions, trigger points, impaired blood flow and stiffness. By effectively treating all of the contributions to your pain, you will find our physical therapy resolves your painful sex and after appointments you feel better. It is common that our male patients leave an appointment and say “this is the first time I haven’t had that pain in a long time.” If you are interested in learning more about our program, contact us at 616.516.4334 or fill out this online inquiry. We are specifically trained in male pelvic health, so our methods are targeted to your needs.
Physical Therapy Can Help Vaginismus and Dyspareunia.
At Purple Mountain PT we specialize in helping people overcome all types of pelvic pain, including vaginismus and dyspareunia. Our licensed physical therapists are often the first person that has been able to help our patients. Our heart breaks for people who suffer silently and do not know where to turn to get help. Our expert methods are delivered in a safe, healing and therapeutic environment. We provide trauma informed care, which means that you experience a safe partnership with your therapist. If you are interested in learning more about how physical therapy can help your vaginismus or dyspareunia, contact us at (616) 516-4334 or submit this online inquiry and we will be in touch. We offer in person visits in Grand Rapids, Michigan or online via telehealth.
Peace,
