01/05/2025
The Pelvic Health Pain Cycle:
1. Initial Trigger or Injury: Could include childbirth, surgery, infection, trauma, or another event that affects pelvic tissues, muscles, or organs. The brain detects this and interprets it as a threat, triggering a pain response.
2. Pain Perception: The brain processes this input from the pelvic area and creates the experience of pain. Even after tissues have healed, the brain may still perceive danger, leading to persistent pain.
3. Protective Response: Muscles in the pelvic floor may tense or guard in response to pain. This tension can reduce blood flow, impair muscle coordination, and limit engagement in movement all of which can increase pain.
4. Fear, Anxiety, and Catastrophizing: People often develop fear of movement, intimacy, or using the bathroom. This increases stress hormones and nervous system sensitivity.
5. Nervous System Hypersensitivity: AKA central sensitivity. Even non-painful sensations (e.g., light touch, sitting, tampon use) can now feel painful. This is a key driver in chronic pelvic pain.
6. Avoidance and Deconditioning: To avoid pain, people may restrict movement or s*x, avoid exercise, or isolate socially. Over time, this leads to weakness, reduced mobility, and a worsening of symptoms.
7. Ongoing Pain and Dysfunction: The cycle continues unless interrupted! The pain feels more intense, more widespread, and disconnected from any identifiable physical cause.
🔓 Breaking the Cycle
Understanding that pain is not always a sign of damage is empowering. Treatment within pelvic floor therapy may involve:
▪️Retraining muscle tone and improving coordination
▪️Pain neuroscience education (to change how pain is interpreted)
▪️Graded exposure to movement
▪️Mind-body techniques like mindfulness, breathwork, and relaxation to down train the nervous system
▪️Multidisciplinary approaches, including trauma-based therapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy
Have you dealt with ongoing chronic pain? Are you ready to do something about it? Schedule a FREE call to see if we’re a good fit!
📱 813-992-6656
📍 2201 W Swann Ave. Suite 200 Tampa, FL 33606
