With expert input by Dr. Natalia Obzejta, Pelvic Pain Specialist in Los Angeles
According to the NHS, 1 in 6 people will experience pelvic pain during their lifetime. A common condition that is often overlooked yet can wreak havoc on one’s quality of life is having a hypertonic pelvic floor, also known as pelvic floor hypertonia. It’s a term that might sound intimidating, but in essence, it signifies a common issue many individuals face—a pelvic floor stuck in a state of spasm.
What is Hypertonic Pelvic Floor?
Imagine those familiar cricks and knots you might experience in your neck or back, now imagine that kind of tension in a crucial area of your body—the pelvic floor. As the foundation of our bodies, this very important network of muscles, ligaments, and connective tissues is designed to gracefully contract and relax, playing a pivotal role in functions ranging from bowel movements to sexual activity.
Symptoms of Hypertonic Pelvic Floor
However, for many patients who walk through the doors at Pelvic Rehabilitation Medicine, the pelvic floor is anything but relaxed. Instead, it’s locked in a perpetual state of tightness, rendering its natural contract-and-release mechanism ineffective. This phenomenon, known as hypertonic pelvic floor, manifests in a myriad of distressing symptoms that can disrupt daily life. These symptoms can include pain with bowel movements, painful intercourse, and urinary incontinence.
Symptoms of Pelvic Floor Hypertonia
How to Recognize the Symptoms
Picture this: constipation that defies conventional remedies, sharp rectal pains that catch you off guard, or urinary urgency that dictates your every move. These are just a few examples of the issues individuals with hypertonic pelvic floors may encounter. The symptoms, seemingly disparate, are often interconnected by one common denominator—the dysfunctional pelvic floor.
Treatment and Relief for Pelvic Floor Hypertonia
Recognizing the signs and symptoms is the first step toward finding relief. If you find yourself grappling with unexplained pelvic discomfort or experiencing any of the issues mentioned above, seeking guidance from a pelvic pain specialist can be the first step on your journey to healing.
By a thorough, but gentle physical examination, our pelvic pain specialist can determine the state of your pelvic floor nerves and muscles. From here, we gather a history of all of your symptoms to diagnose your condition and create a treatment plan, which includes the PRM Protocol™. Using an office-based, ultrasound-guided approach to the pelvic floor, we provide a direct treatment to inflamed nerves and spastic muscles, which relieves pain and restores function.
