By PHRC Admin National Condom Week, celebrated every year from February 14th to 21st, serves as a pivotal reminder of the importance of sexual health and awareness. It provides an opportunity to educate about safe sex practices and their significance in maintaining overall wellbeing. As pelvic floor physical therapists, understanding the intricate relationship between sexual health and pelvic health is …
Hormonal Changes in Menopause and What You Can Do About It
By: Rachel Daof, DPT Los Angeles PHRC members, Stephanie Prendergast, Courtney Edgecomb, and I, Rachel Daof, went to a dinner to discuss Intrarosa with guest speaker Dr. Irwin Goldstein. One of the major points of the night was this: menopause is a chronic progressive, degenerative condition, and it does not improve without treatment. This hit home to all of the …
Managing Life on or after “The Pill”
By: Jandra Mueller, DPT, MS, PHRC Encinitas If you are a female reader of our blog, have experienced painful intercourse, and happened to have come to the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center (PHRC) for treatment, then you are probably familiar with our talk about how systemic birth control like oral contraceptives (OCPs) or “The Pill,” may be the underlying culprit. …
What We Didn’t Learn From Sex Ed: The Pleasure Piece
By Melinda Fontaine When you hear mention of “the talk” do you also picture a red faced kid and an adult with sweaty palms talking awkwardly around the topic of the birds and the bees? Thinking back on my childhood, I have to give credit to my parents and teachers for attempting this important task with such bravery. …
You are invited to Becoming UnWOUND: A Conversation about Female Sexual Health & Pelvic Pain with Screening of Animated Short Film“Tightly Wound”
By Stephanie Prendergast The Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center, Femina Physical Therapy, and the Milli, the first Expandable Dilator, are teaming up to bring Shelby Hadden and her animated short film about vaginismus, Tightly Wound, to Los Angeles on Saturday, May 19th! Many of you may know of Shelby and her past struggles with pelvic pain. Her journey …
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 …
Solving Female Sexual Dysfunction
By: Dr. Lisa Valle What if the cure for adding more luster to your life is a fulfilling, sex life? But what happens when a woman feels distress about her sex life? Or she experiences sexual pain? Is there anything that she can do about it? The answer is an emphatic yes! There is an …
Posture and the Pelvis: Part Deux
“Share the load” – Samwise Gamgee “It’s all about the base ” – Meghan Trainor “Drop it like it’s hot” – Snoop Dogg Some different quotes from last time, but after reading today’s post you’ll understand how Samwise, Ms. Trainor and Dr. Dogg are all talking about posture and the pelvis, and they didn’t even know it. …
Foul! What the Media Got Wrong about Women’s Health!
Over the last year, the media has come under increasing scrutiny: visit almost any website, and you’ll see that the terms “fake news” and “alternative facts” have taken over the headlines and the comments section. Now, I love the people who produce pieces that aim to educate the community, especially when the subject is women’s health and the author is …
Make Erections Great Again
By Dr. Joshua Gonzalez As a sexual medicine specialist, I spend a good deal of time talking about erections. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is actually a pretty common problem. Estimates of the prevalence of ED range from 9% to 40% of men by age 40, and generally increase by 10% with each decade thereafter1. ED affects approximately 30 million …
What Hollywood Didn’t Teach Me About Sex
By Admin Art imitates life, though Hollywood’s imitation of sex is often a crude copy. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy a good rom-com, and I may or may not be on my second viewing of True Blood, but sometimes I just don’t get it. The sex on TV is not the sex in real life, …
Pelvic Myths: True or False?
By Melinda Fontaine Have you heard these common pelvic rumors? Can you guess which ones are true or false? As a pelvic floor physical therapist, I’ve heard quite a few old wives tales about the pelvis. Test your Pelvic IQ with these 16 true or false statements! T/F Drinking water will make me have to pee more. T/F …
Come Again? An Orgasm Guide
I remember coming of age as a hormonal teen- before the days of google (believe it), hearing whispers about “orgasms”. It was like I went home for summer break with all of my childhood intact and when I came back to school in the fall, my peers were suddenly obsessed. I was bombarded with comments (from both sexes) of orgasms …
PGAD: Separating Fact from Fiction
Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder or PGAD is a condition that’s been sensationalized in the media for years with headlines like “Nurse has 100 Orgasms a Day.” Back in 2012, a few news organizations did cover the condition in a more thoughtful manner after a woman suffering from PGAD committed suicide. But since then the media has resorted to its old …
Pelvic Pain and Sex: Not Great Bedfellows
By Liz Rummer Akincilar Chronic pain can put a damper on anyone’s sex life no matter the location of the pain, but pelvic pain impacts a patient’s sex life on another level. The reason for this is that the pelvic floor plays a major role in sexual functioning. For instance, if you have vulvar burning or post-ejaculatory pain, you’ll understandably …
The Case of Male Pelvic Pain, Painful Sex
History Ben is a 32-year-old male whose chief complaints are: right testicle ascension and sometimes associated pain, which started after he began using the hip adductor machine at the gym. His symptoms are worse post ejaculation or with strenuous activity, such as biking or playing tennis and remain for 20 to 30 minutes. He has a history of constipation and …
Stephanie talks to New York Times about Male Pelvic Pain Issue
On Sept. 12, the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) posted a new rule on its website prohibiting gynecologists from treating men. A few conditions were listed as exceptions; however, pelvic pain was not one of them. So writes the New York Times in an article published Dec. 10 titled “Men with Pelvic Pain find a Path to Treatment …
How do I know if I have Pudendal Neuralgia or Pudendal Nerve Entrapment?
Part I in the “Demystifying Pudendal Neuralgia” Series For so many the term “pudendal neuralgia” conveys a frightening and mysterious chronic pain diagnosis. And to be sure, at one time, receiving a diagnosis of pudendal neuralgia, or “PN” as it’s commonly called, was truly terrifying, especially considering that it was against the backdrop of a medical community that didn’t …