By Jessica Newman, LMHC Living with persistent pelvic pain is, by definition, painful physically. What can be hard to talk about (especially for folks with pelvic pain) is just how emotionally distressing the pain is. And because the mind and body are a functional whole (think: a Mobius strip) emotional distress can trigger or amplify physical pain and vice …
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 …
Pelvic Pain and Childbirth. Dr. Mark Conway tells us what we need to know.
By Elizabeth Akincilar-Rummer As we learned in a recent previous post by Stephanie Prendergast, the vast majority of women are not well informed when it comes to their pelvic floor, pregnancy and childbirth. In fact, 93% of women felt like they were insufficiently informed about their pelvic health! Unlike the rest of the population, many of our patients …
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 …
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 …
Why Stephanie and Liz are Writing a Book
For the past six months, Stephanie and Liz have been busily working on writing a book titled Pelvic Pain Explained: Everything you Need to know to Help you Navigate the Complex Terrain of Pelvic Pain. The book will be published by Rowman & Littlefield. (We don’t have the publication date yet, so stay tuned for that info!) As we’ve watched …
2014 IPPS Conference Must-Read Nuggets: Part II
Last week we brought you our first round of “must-read” nuggets from the 2014 IPPS Conference in Chicago, this week we’re offering up the second round. Allison heard Andrew Goldstein, M.D. discuss The Role of Combined Hormonal Contraceptives and Vulvodynia. Dr. Goldstein argues that the use of birth control pills could be linked to the genesis of female pelvic pain. …
2014 IPPS Conference Must-Read Nuggets: Part I
Last week our staff attended the 2014 Annual Meeting of the International Pelvic Pain Society (IPPS) in Chicago. During its nearly 20-year existence the IPPS has been a major driver of the progress made in the treatment of chronic pelvic pain. And what makes the Annual Meeting of the organization so exciting is that it provides an opportunity for our …
Do Oral Contraceptive Pills Cause Vulvodynia?
by Guest Bloggers: Dr. Andrew T. Goldstein, Dr. Jill Krapf, Zoe Belkin The debate about the role of oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) in vulvodynia has been underway for almost two decades. More than a dozen different research articles have been written on the topic, both supporting and refuting the association. In this article we will examine this very important issue. …
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 …
Molly’s Pelvic Pain Success Story
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 …
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 …
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