Author | Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT pelvic health physical therapist specialist treating lichen sclerosus, pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic pain, bladder, bowel and intimacy related conditions
How can physical therapy help lichen sclerosus?
At Purple Mountain Physical Therapy our licensed PTs have specialized training to offer physical therapy for lichen sclerosus so you can alleviate the pain and associated problems related to intercourse, painful sex, bladder issues or bowel problems. We understand that lichen sclerosus is a private and painful problem and this can cause despair. Our physical therapy for lichen sclerosus is comprehensive, educational and helps calm pain. In this article we detail some of the key features of what our PTs offer you so that you can experience pain relief, comfortable sex, healthy bladder function and normal bowel movements. If you are interested in learning more about our PT for lichen sclerosus, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here to speak with one of our knowledgeable staff.
Physical Therapy for lichen sclerosus will help your scar tissue
Here at Purple Mountain PT, our licensed physical therapists specialize in treating scar tissue. If you peruse our website and Instagram posts you will find information, we have written about treating c-section scars, for example. We work with any scar that a person has and help it to become more mobile and less painful for them. This is true with lichen sclerosus. By using gentle and specific pelvic floor manual therapy methods we will assess your scar tissue, let you know what we are finding and work with you to get this tissue more pliable. Each appointment is private, in a comfortable treatment room and 55 minutes in length. You will work with your same doctor of physical therapy at every appointment; we never bounce you around to someone else and we don’t leave you alone to exercise by yourself. If you are interested in learning more about our lichen sclerosus scar and comprehensive treatment, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
If you have scarring around the clitoris or clitoral hood, our pelvic PT can help you
This is a prime area where we help patients. Quite often the clitoral hood is not able to retract and move. We help you identify if this is a problem and using gentle and effective treatment methods, we will help you improve the extensibility of these tissues. If your clitoral hood cannot move, then intimacy is not nearly as pleasurable or sensitive as it should be. Over the course of PT, you can expect to see visible improvement in your clitoral mobility and, over time, we hope that you experience greater sensation in the clitoral region when you are intimate. If you are interested in learning more about our treatment, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
PT for lichen sclerosus will help your skin and opening of the vaginal canal
The skin of the labia, vulva and vestibule can become fibrotic and tighten up with LS. If the opening of your vaginal canal also becomes restricted, then using tampons, having your annual Gyne exam or trying penetrative sex can be very difficult. “Difficult” is putting it lightly, actually. We’ve worked with women who have severe pain when attempting anything penetrative. We understand your pain and how to help you, very gently, work to improve the restrictions at your vaginal opening and your skin. Our gentle manual therapy methods help to improve the connective tissue of your skin and the tension in your muscles that are contributing to your pelvic pain. To inquire about cost and availability of our pelvic health PTs for your lichen sclerosus or other pelvic health concerns, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
Our PT for lichen sclerosus helps make the tissue more elastic and increases blood flow to the tissues
Our PTs specialize in providing treatment to lichen sclerosus, lichen planus and pelvic floor dysfunction. If we had to boil down what we do for our patients, whether they have lichen sclerosus or other pain condition, we would say that we improve blood flow to tissues. We use very gentle manual therapy methods to the thighs, abdomen, hips, low back, mid back and pelvic floor (external and internal, when possible) to increase blood flow to these tissues. Nerves require more than their fair share of blood flow. Fibrotic scar tissue of lichen sclerosus benefits from physical therapy to enhance blood flow so that the tissue can receive nutrition and healing. We also provide gentle stretching and massaging of the scar tissue and teach you how to do this at home. With lichen sclerosus, you need to have a very focused and do-able routine at home to manage this condition. If you simply ignore it for five years you risk the tissues becoming more scarred and fibrotic. Our licensed physical therapists will work with you, providing trauma informed and compassionate care, so that you feel safe, supported and effectively empowered to navigate this condition. If you would like to speak with one of our knowledgeable staff members to ask questions about our LS and pelvic floor dysfunction treatment, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
Lichen sclerosus physical therapy can help painful sex
People who have lichen sclerosus often experience painful sex. While penetrative sex may hurt and sometimes become impossible, sometimes just touching the area is not enjoyable. The tissue may hurt when touched or may lack sensation. When sex is painful, the lichen sclerosus may be causing scar tissue at the opening of your vagina and, if so, some women experience tearing when penetration is attempted. Medical management of this is very important and using topical steroids is the recommended treatment; without using the steroids as prescribed you risk re-fusing of your scars and continual tearing of the tissue. Physical therapy for lichen sclerosus will address this vaginal stiffness and gently work to get your scarring and tissues to be more pliable. However, in addition to the LS causing the pain, usually there is pelvic floor muscle problems, specifically tension and stiffness, causing pain and we treat that as well. If you are interested in learning more about our treatment, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
Physical Therapy helps calm the pain, spasm, pain cycle that lichen sclerosus may cause.
If every time you attempt intimacy, using a tampon, or a gynecologic exam, you have pain, then this pain may cause more muscle spasms and guarding. You end up with a pain-spasm-pain cycle: you have pain from LS, you try to do something like use a tampon and you experience muscle spasm, the pelvic floor muscle spasms cause more pain. Our pelvic PTs work to stop this cycle of pain and to calm down the muscles, nerves, scar tissue and other contributing factors (such as an imbalanced pelvis or abdominal wall scars from a C-section). Our hope is that, with pelvic PT for lichen sclerosus, and with what you are doing at home (that we will teach you), your body becomes more comfortable and able to receive stimuli and will not perceive it as a threat, therefore, you will not go into spasm and pain. If you would like more information about our pelvic health physical therapy program for lichen sclerosus and pelvic pain problems, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
Physical Therapy for Lichen Sclerosus helps address pelvic floor dysfunction.
Our PTs treat both lichen sclerosus and lichen planus. The patients who come to us often find us through google searching, Instagram or word of mouth from one of their friends. Usually, they have not been told that they have pelvic floor dysfunction. But, if you have lichen sclerosus and sex has been painful or using a tampon is a challenge, it is very likely you also have pelvic floor muscle issues. In particular, we find that the superficial muscles, located in the vulva and vestibule region near your vaginal opening, become stiff and restricted. We also sometimes find deep pelvic floor muscle tone and tension; these are the levator ani muscles that you may think need Kegels. In fact, usually Kegels make the problem worse. It is only through an evaluation by our physical therapists that you will learn if you need to be doing Kegels or not. We will teach you the exercises that will best help your pelvic pain, lichen sclerosus and pelvic floor dysfunction. If you are interested in learning more about our treatment, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
Why your pelvic floor muscles need to relax
The pelvic floor muscles, both the superficial muscles that are near your vaginal opening and the deep muscles lining the base of your pelvis, need to be able to lengthen, relax and have mobility. When someone has lichen sclerosus or lichen planus, it is common that these muscles experience tension, restrictions and stiffness. Physical therapy helps gently improve the flexibility, movement and tone of the pelvic floor muscles and surrounding fascia and nerves. This will help ease your pain. If you have questions about our treatment for lichen sclerosus and pelvic floor dysfunction, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334 to speak with one of our knowledgeable staff members.
When you have lichen sclerosus sex may hurt because of scarring and tearing and also because of pelvic floor muscle tension and pain.
You may think that the only reason you have pain with sex is because of LS (lichen sclerosus), but our patients have found that they have painful sex because of several reasons. They may have LS & also have pelvic floor dysfunction. Or they have LS & also have c-section scar pain. Or they have LS & also have perineal scar tearing pain from prior labor and delivery tearing. Or they have LS & they have endometriosis pain. Or they have LS & also have a hip labral tear issue. The point is that our patients come to us looking for comprehensive treatment and often have multiple things going on that are causing painful sex. We will give you answers and a clear physical therapy treatment plan to address all of the things causing your painful sex.
Our patients receive physical therapy for lichen sclerosus, and are often able to get back to comfortable intimacy, including penetrative sex.
The comprehensive, whole-body care that we are known for truly does alleviate pain, bladder control problems, defecatory issues and back, SI joint, tailbone and hip issues. The physical therapy we offer to treat lichen sclerosus and lichen planus includes very gentle treatments to the pelvic floor muscles, either completed externally or internally (or both), depending on what your body is able to handle. We also provide exercise-based care, myofascial mobilization and self-care education and instruction. We work with you to develop a comfortable and safe treatment program. If you would like more information about our treatment for painful sex, vaginismus, pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic pain or lichen sclerosus, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
Physical Therapy can help Lichen Sclerosus by calming inflammation
For our patients who have lichen sclerosus we want to help you to have a plan to heal autoimmunity, which means we have to reduce inflammation in your body. We work holistically with our patients to develop a comprehensive treatment program to calm down lichen sclerosus. One thing that we help guide is efforts you can make at home to reduce inflammation. We provide you with dietary recommendations, for example. We also help promote optimal digestion and reduce your abdominal wall tension so you can experience better gut health. We work to enhance blood flow through your connective tissue and myofascial tissues so your nerves have optimal blood flow and less nerve pain. In the clinic we use our whole-body vibration machine to get your lymph fluid moving and to help with muscular control. If you are interested in learning more about how we can help you, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
Our physical therapy treatment for lichen sclerosus is customized to your whole-body findings.
While lichen sclerosus may be present in the vaginal or anal region, we find that our patients have myofascial and musculoskeletal problems in the abdomen, low back, hips, posture or inner thighs. You can expect us to assess and treat all of these areas so we can optimize all of your systems. This is really important for your care. For example, many of the nerves that go to your pelvis come out of your thoracic or lumbar spine and traverse your abdomen and hips. Therefore, we treat all of these areas so that you experience less pain, dysfunction and inflammation in the pelvic region. If you are interested in receiving whole-body, natural and comprehensive treatment, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
Are you recently diagnosed with Lichen Sclerosus? We encourage you to get an experienced pelvic PT on your team as soon as possible to avoid worsening scar tissue and pelvic pain.
While it is never too late to start pelvic PT treatments for lichen sclerosus (and some of our patients with LS have their first appointment nearly two decades after being diagnosed!), we encourage you to get PT going as early on in the process of your diagnosis as possible. This is because scar tissue, pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic pain, bladder or bowel challenges may all be developing and our physical therapists can treat these before they become more severe issues. If you are interested in learning more about our physical therapy for lichen sclerosus, pelvic pain, painful sex or pelvic floor dysfunction, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334.
We do encourage you to work with a specialist physician who can diagnose and treat your lichen medically and give you clear understanding of the medications you need to use and any other options available to you. This condition does require a devoted self-care routine at home and your physician and pelvic physical therapist will help you determine what you need to be doing.
Why choose Purple Mountain PT for your lichen sclerosus physical therapy treatment?
Purple Mountain PT is a specialty pelvic health and TM joint clinic located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We treat adults and children in-person or via telehealth. Everything we do here is designed to give our patients hope and true relief from their symptoms. We are known for helping people who have already been to other providers and did not experience relief. Our PTs are specially trained in pelvic health conditions, including treating complex pelvic pain problems, lichen sclerosus, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, endometriosis, interstitial cystitis and more. If you are looking to work with a pelvic PT, our team pledges to provide you with compassionate and comprehensive treatment in a comfortable, private and therapeutic setting. Each appointment is 55 minutes in length and this time allows us to provide you with whole body care that truly addresses all of your needs. If you are interested in learning more about our treatment, contact us here or reach out to us at (616) 516-4334. We pledge to give you our best effort and methods so that you have the greatest opportunity to experience true recovery!
Peace,
Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT specialist in pelvic health physical therapy for more than two decades. She and the team of PTs at Purple Mountain PT have advanced post-doctoral training specific to treating lichen sclerosus and complex pelvic health conditions.
To learn more about our clinic, you may be interested in these articles we’ve written:
Vulvar Pain and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction go together.
5 Tips To Ease Pelvic Pain that Won’t Go Away!
What is High Tone Pelvic Floor Dysfunction?
