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Embracing Sexual Health Awareness: Chronic Pain & Intimacy

In Pain, Pelvic Health, Pelvic Pain, Vaginismus by Emily TranLeave a Comment

By Emily Tran, PHRC Westlake Village   September marks Sexual Health Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about the importance of sexual health and well-being. One often overlooked aspect of sexual health is the impact of chronic pain on intimacy. Millions of people worldwide suffer from chronic pain, and it can significantly affect their relationships and sex lives. In …

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Are Oral Birth Control Pills a Cause Of Or Solution For Pelvic Pain?

In Female Pelvic Pain, Pelvic Health, Pelvic Pain, Vulvodynia by Stephanie PrendergastLeave a Comment

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 …

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Pelvic Hip Pain, A Patient Success Story

In Endometriosis, Female Pelvic Pain, pelvic floor physical therapy, Pelvic Health, Pelvic Pain by Emily TranLeave a Comment

By Jillian Giannini, DPT, PHRC Pasadena, Jennifer Keesee, DPT, PHRC Westlake Village and Emily Schwerdtfeger, BA, PHRC Westlake Village “I’m the exception, right?” “It could never happen to me.” Emily is a 25 year old female that has had left hip pain for five years now. She describes her hip pain as:   Achy or sharp  In front of L …

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Healing Female Sexual Pain, and IG Live with Dr. Irwin Goldstein

In Female Pelvic Pain, Male Pelvic Pain, pelvic floor physical therapy, Pelvic Health by Stephanie PrendergastLeave a Comment

By Stephanie A. Prendergast, DPT, MPT, Cofounder, PHRC Los Angeles On February 18th I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Irwin Goldstein on Instagram Live. Here is a little background on Dr. Goldstein:   Dr. Irwin Goldstein is the director of San Diego Sexual Medicine, where he maintains his clinical practice, Director of Sexual Medicine at Alvarado Hospital and Clinical …

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Thinking Beyond the Dilators: How Vicki Beat Vaginismus

In Vaginismus by pelv_adminLeave a Comment

By Morgan Conner, DPT, PHRC Los Gatos Sadly, the starting point of this success story is not novel to me as a pelvic floor physical therapist or for many who struggle with primary vaginismus. However, this story has a happy ending (pun very much intended!) as well as an interesting middle. When Vicki (not her real name) married her husband …

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Enjoying Sex While Healing From Pelvic Pain

In Female Pelvic Pain by pelv_admin13 Comments

This week, long-time colleague Lorraine Faehnedrich guest blogs for PHRC. Lorraine’s bio and information on her courses can be found at the end of the post. On April 2 Lorraine will be interviewing our own Katie Hunter about how pelvic floor physical therapy can help women recover from painful sex. Stay tuned to our social media for more details! From …

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Recovery From Vaginismus and Painful Sex: Martha’s Success Story

In Female Pelvic Pain by Sigourney CrossLeave a Comment

By Sigourney Cross, DPT, PHRC Walnut Creek Vaginismus is characterized as an involuntary spasm or contraction of the muscles around the vagina. This makes it very difficult for women to insert tampons, receive pelvic exams by their doctors and can also make sexual intercourse nearly impossible and painful. It can affect women anywhere from their teenage years to later in …

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Tech-ual Arousal: The Future of Technology and Sexual Health

In Female Pelvic Pain, Low-Tone Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, Male Pelvic Pain by pelv_admin1 Comment

We live in a different time. I remember when chat rooms and meeting people from the internet was the plot line for a Lifetime movie. Now, we get in cars driven by strangers and fall in love via sophisticated algorithms and profile pictures. What a time to be alive! It is pretty apparent that technology plays a huge role in …

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Off the Press! The Pink Pill and Other News

In Female Pelvic Pain by Stephanie Prendergast3 Comments

By Stephanie Prendergast It has been an eventful few weeks in pelvic health news! We’ve summarized the top stories and included our commentary. “Pelvic pain may be common among reproductive-age women, NIH study finds.” From the National Institute of Health Article summary: Pain reports were highest for women with endometriosis, however ⅓ of those without any pelvic condition also reported …

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Vagi-what? A rough guide to Vaginismus

In Female Pelvic Pain by pelv_admin8 Comments

If you’ve ever said the following: “It feels like there’s a wall there.” “I can’t insert a tampon.” “I can’t have penetrative sex with my husband.” “I was told I need to drink a glass of wine right before sex, but that still doesn’t help.” You might be experiencing vaginismus symptoms. DEFINITION What exactly is vaginismus? Vaginismus, pronounced vaj-uh-niz-muhs, is …

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Come Again? An Orgasm Guide

In Female Pelvic Pain by Stephanie Prendergast8 Comments

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 …

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Sexual Pain Part II: A Look at the Emotional Side of Things

In Female Pelvic Pain, Male Pelvic Pain by Stephanie PrendergastLeave a Comment

In part one of our blog on sexual pain, we covered many of the physiological issues surrounding sexual pain, in this follow up post, we’re taking a closer look at the emotional side of the things. So what are some of the emotional issues that those with sexual pain face? To answer this question we turned to two experts in the …

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Five Steps to Overcoming Anxiety Around Intercourse

In Female Pelvic Pain, Male Pelvic Pain by Stephanie Prendergast8 Comments

  By Guest Blogger: Lorraine Faehndrich “How will I ever be able to have intercourse?” If you’ve struggled with pelvic pain it’s likely that this question is very familiar to you. (Unless of course you’ve been pushing all thoughts of sex and intimacy out of your mind since your symptoms began.) The idea of intercourse or any type of penetration …

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Here’s what’s Wrong with the ‘kGoal’

In Uncategorized by pelv_admin11 Comments

By Stephanie Prendergast There’s a new Kegel aid poised to hit the market called the “kGoal,” and enthusiasts are touting it as “the new FitBit for the vagina”. But, while kGoal has been generating a ton of press, there are problems with the device and how its being marketed. Before I go any further with the issues I have with this …

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Molly’s Pelvic Pain Success Story

In Female Pelvic Pain by Stephanie Prendergast14 Comments

One month after my thirty-second birthday, I woke up in excruciating pain—it was as if someone had set me on fire while I was asleep—the focal point of my pain was the left side of my vulva but I also had extreme vaginal and urethral burning. My first thought was that I had either a yeast or bladder infection; I …

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Shedding Light on Male Pelvic Pain and Sexual Dysfunction

In Male Pelvic Pain by Stephanie Prendergast16 Comments

Guest blogger Dr. Jeannette Potts, of Vista Urology and Pelvic Pain Partners, has a great deal of experience treating male pelvic pain. In this post, she sheds some light on sexual dysfunction associated with male pelvic pain. The continued misuse of the generic diagnosis, “prostatitis,” remains a disservice to the vast majority of patients suffering from pelvic and genital pain …

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Jessica’s Pelvic Pain Success Story

In Female Pelvic Pain by Stephanie Prendergast10 Comments

When you’re in the throes of pelvic pain, it’s hard to believe that you’ll ever get better. You will. But we don’t just want you to take our word for it. We want you to hear from patients themselves who have healed. That’s why we’re kicking off a regular feature of patient “Success Stories” on today’s blog. We’re going to …

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The Case of Female Pelvic Pain, Painful Sex

In Female Pelvic Pain by Stephanie Prendergast12 Comments

This week’s post is a case study of a female pelvic pain patient. Before I get into the specifics of the case, let’s first take a look at female pelvic pain by the numbers: 10% of all visits to gynecologists are due to chronic pelvic pain. 25% of women will experience chronic vulvar pain at some point in their lives. …