What is pelvic floor pain?
The pelvis is located just beneath your belly button and above your hips. Your pelvic floor consists of a group of muscles that control your bladder and bowel movements. Any pain in your pelvis that lasts six months or longer is chronic pelvic pain. While pelvic floor pain can be mild and intermittent, it can also be crippling and constant in some cases.
If you have pelvic floor dysfunction, your pelvis contracts its muscles instead of relaxing them. As a result, you experience pain in instances when you usually wouldn’t, like when urinating or passing a bowel movement.
What are the symptoms of pelvic floor pain?
Pelvic floor pain affects men and women differently. While it’s far more common in women, men can experience uncomfortable pain in the prostate.
Signs and symptoms of pelvic floor pain include:
- Painful cramps
- Sharp pain
- Intermittent pain
- Dull ache
- Pain when urinating or passing a bowel movement
- Erectile dysfunction (in men)
- Pain during intercourse (in women)
- Increased pain after sitting
- Heaviness in the pelvis
- Constipation
Leaving pelvic floor pain untreated can lead to leaky urine or stool (incontinence).
What causes pelvic floor pain?
Many conditions can cause pelvic floor pain, including pregnancy and severe injuries. Other common causes of pelvic floor pain include:
Endometriosis
Endometriosis, a disease affecting women, happens when the endometrial tissue lining the uterus begins to grow outside of it.
Uterine fibroids
Uterine fibroids are noncancerous growths in the uterus that can cause pressure and pain in your lower abdomen.
Musculoskeletal conditions
Any condition that affects your bones, joints, and muscles can also cause pain in your pelvic floor. These conditions include fibromyalgia, hernia, and inflammation of the pubic joint.
Interstitial cystitis
Interstitial cystitis is a bladder condition that can make it painful to urinate. As your bladder fills, you can experience excruciating pelvic pain that subsides when you empty your bladder.
What are the treatments for pelvic floor pain?
Scrambler Therapy is a revolutionary, FDA-cleared treatment for chronic pain that Radiant Pain Relief Centres offers at their office. This cutting-edge device uses cutaneous (skin surface) electro-stimulation to rewire the pain signals that your nerves send to your brain.
A trained technician places electrodes on the skin around your pelvis. The scrambler device then sends low-level electric currents into your nerves, disrupting the pain signals. These currents eventually replace your pain signals with non-pain information.
After a series of Scrambler Therapy treatments, your brain begins to recognize the new information as non-pain signals.
How long does Scrambler Therapy for pelvic floor pain take?
Most people need a 45-minute Scrambler Therapy session every day for two weeks to treat pelvic floor pain. You’ll get a two-day break from treatments at the end of your first week before continuing. As the scrambler device begins replacing your pain signals with non-pain information, you should gradually experience less pain.
To find out if Scrambler Therapy is the right treatment for your pelvic pain, call Radiant Pain Relief Centres today or book an appointment online.