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Successful Vaginismus Specialist Manual Therapy at Sayer Pelvic Pain Clinic in Kensington, London W8

Successful Vaginismus Specialist Manual Treatment at Sayer Pelvic Pain Clinic in Kensington, London W8

Vaginismus

One in 500 women experience vaginismus, but likely far more as so many sufferers don’t get the right help and receive an incorrect diagnosis.

Vaginismus is involuntary vaginal muscle spasm, with variably moderate to severe pain which makes vaginal penetration painful or impossible and tampon insertion and sex uncomfortable or impossible.
Vaginismus is pelvic floor muscle spasm with the severely contracted pelvic floor muscles which connect the pubic bone to the coccyx effectively forming a muscular wall or barrier to penetration.
Very common causes of pelvic floor muscle contraction or tightness and tension include:
1. Misaligned coccyx and sacroiliac joints, hip and spine is often due to leg length difference of 1-2 cms creating asymmetry and tension in deep and external pelvic and spinal muscles or following previous falls and injuries to your tailbone / coccyx.
2. Chronic constipation, inflammatory pelvic or urinary tract infection (UTI) or gastrointestinal dysfunction and pain can cause chronic tension in your pelvic floor muscles

Alignment Affects Your Pelvic Floor

 
Your entire body is interconnected and misalignment affects your pelvic floor. 
These disorders link with pelvic floor muscle (PFM) dysfunction:

Dyspareunia pain with sex

Interstitial cystitis painful bladder syndrome

Chronic or frequent yeast infections

Chronic urinary tract infections (UTI)

Coccyx pain with sitting 

Chronic constipation or Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Chronic Stress aggravates PFM spasm

Childbirth Trauma

Vulvodynia - Vestibulodynia - Levator ani syndrome

Other symptoms of vaginismus include:

Episodic, Pelvic floor muscle spasms lasting for hours of very frequent anal, perineal and vaginal spasms at a frequency of 1-2 spasms per second.

Constipation

Difficulty Urinating - Urinary hesitation - frequency and / or urgency or pain with urination

Pain with pelvic exam

Feeling of vaginal or rectal fullness or pain with sitting 

Low back, hip & groin pain

Sacroiliac SI joint dysfunction

You may feel like you have a urinary tract infection (UTI) or yeast infection which always tests negative but inflammation and urinary burning is a potential symptom of chronic pelvic floor asymmetry, pain and spasm.

Specialist Manual Therapy at Sayer Clinic W8 for Vaginismus 

Sayer Clinics’ Specialist Manual therapy releases the tension in deep pelvic floor muscles.

If your body has been out of alignment for months or years, your pelvic musculature will be out of balance and asymmetrically contracted. 

Our specialist manual therapy helps realign and balance your muscles and joints along with complete rehabilitation of your posture, balance and overall efficient body function and movement. 

If muscles have compensated for a long time, they need our specialist medical massage and Sayer physiotherapy team’s help to regain proper function once your pelvic tension is released.

Sayer Specialist Manual Pelvic Therapy addresses internal as well as external muscles and fascia of the pelvis, abdomen, hips, buttocks, thighs and low back, gradually improving internal myofascial pelvic floor tension and spasm using specialist pelvic stretching therapy and our unique and extremely effective broad trigger point sweep techniques. 

Sayer Clinics’ uniquely effective approach to postural rehabilitation includes deep releases to diaphragm, pectoral and intercostal muscles to release the chest to open and free-up breathing, flexibility in the middle back and to regain elegant, tall, functional pain-free, upright posture. 

Our specific deep diaphragmatic stretch-massage frees your breathing which works synergistically with and links directly to the internal pelvic floor diaphragm which supports your rectum, vagina & uterus and bladder.

Gradually your complete vaginal and pelvic floor confidence returns with a fully-functioning, pain-free and enjoyably healthy sex life.

Note from leading Pelvic Neuromusculoskeletal treatment specialist Michael Durtnall:

Vaginismus can follow a painful first sexual experience, a painful medical examination or a belief that sex is shameful.

Our team can successfully treat chronic and severe vaginismus after previous treatment has failed. 

If you have extreme vaginal muscle spasm following a painful gynaecological exam in the past or painful, failed attempts at sex then we can help you achieve excellent results despite failed treatment with drugs, psychologists and sex therapists with no physical improvement of your vaginismus.

Painless pelvic manual manipulation gradually results in desensitisation of extremely sensitivity around the clitoris, labia, pelvic floor and introitus with vaginal relaxation, opening and painless entry. 

After initial sessions patients are instructed how to use dilators at home.

In my 44 years experience I have manually treated pelvic, musculoskeletal and coccyx conditions and resolved pelvic pain, pudendal neuralgia, PGAD and especially vaginismus disorders following my intensive training with Dr Amy Stein, Dr Rhonda Kotarinos and Dr Stephanie Prendergast, three of the leading USA pudendal and pelvic pain experts. I have learned so much from the esteemed French gynaecologist Dr Eric Bautrant over several international coccydynia conferences at which we both presented and most recently at his Convergences in PelviPerineal pain conference at Madrid Medical School in 2019.

In my experience of successfully treating vaginismus, pelvic pain, Pudendal and perineal neuralgias, PGAD and vulvodynia patients all had previously experienced ineffective treatment approach of mindfulness, breathing and gentle-touch exercises to try to help relaxation of vaginal muscles. Education of pelvic anatomy and function is essential but counselling and mindfulness alone just do not work.

Pelvic tissues need to be carefully and progressively mobilised which sends calm, reassuring feedback to your previously anxious brain which gradually starts to understand that the manipulation of the pelvic floor and vaginal muscles is not painful and becomes easier and easier and, before you know it, your brain ‘changes its mind’, everything starts to relax, fear evaporates, allowing healthy brain-pelvic neurological reconnection to start to get you back to tiptop pelvic and sexual health.

So, once we have achieved perfect vaginal relaxation, the next stage involves pelvic floor muscle movement techniques to mentally gradually reconnect to regain full, calm vaginal contraction and relaxation smoothly and painlessly.

Out of curiosity I attended a pelvic pain seminar at a leading London Hospital about 5 years ago where the senior pelvic physiotherapist opened the presentation by saying:

“Pelvic physiotherapists first need to make it clear to pelvic pain patients that they will not get better!  You are there to help manage their pain. I was completely shocked and stunned! 

The audience were female physiotherapists and appeared to accept this approach as taught in UK Pelvic Physiotherapy courses. I was shocked because this is exactly the opposite of what I and my team do. 

We focus on gradually regaining pelvic function, confidence, movement, and sexual activity when completely ready, and empower the patient to take control as soon as possible to get back their happy active lives. The mindfulness and drugs approach just perpetuates the misery - the gabapentin and amitriptyline and antidepressants just cover-up maybe 20% of the pain but maintain sufferers in a miserable state of powerlessness, inactivity, weight gain and depression. If you’re trapped in a deep dark slippery-sided abbyss you need to be sharp, clear-minded and mentally focussed to climb out of your dark pit of misery and escape using good clear advice, constant exercise, focussed movement, posture and positivity. 

Email mail@sayerclinics.com to book your initial consultation and treatment with the acknowledged world-leading specialist in manual and manipulation treatment for vaginismus, coccyx and pelvic pain Michael Durtnall and his excellent team of senior specialist pelvic physiotherapists and expert medical massage therapists