Book-Healing Pelvic Pain

[Melanie526]

Has anyone tried the stretches and massages suggested in the book Healing Pelvic Pain (by Amy Stein)? Just wondering if anyone has had any success with them.

[Thingone]

Stretches

Has anyone tried the stretches and massages suggested in the book Healing Pelvic Pain (by Amy Stein)? Just wondering if anyone has had any success with them.

I do the routine daily, plus additional exercises by my PT. They work.

[123456]

Yes, plus I learned some at physical therapy. I suggest you also go to a physical therapist as they can feel and do stuff you just can't possibly reach.

[earthlady]

I do them daily plus other ones my pt gave me. I haven't had any pelvic floor spasms since starting the exercises, so it seems they are helping. The actual pt for pelvic floor hypertonicity did really help me but couldn't afford to continue pt on an ongoing basis.

[blueberry72]

I tried the stretches from the book for about a month. However, they didn't work so well for me. In my case, at the time I was in quite a bit of pain and very sore "down there" and taking hots baths twice a day was helping alot. The stretches (the series of about 10) didn't seem to help much and actually seemed to worsen the pain somewhat. The perineal massage definitely made things worse, and trying the internal work once per the book instructions put me into ALOT of pain.

I read somewhere on the boards that someone reported holding stretches too long hurt them; they needed to do shorter stretches. So that's one theory I have, that I was holding the stretches too long as instructed in the book. Perhaps for people in alot of pain being helped by heat the stretches can be a bit much? I'm really not sure.

I have seem a physical therapist more recently, and she focused alot on pelvic relaxation. I will still stretch sometimes using the squatting position, but I find the relaxation stuff more helpful. This includes tensing up the muscles (a kegel) and then relaxing fully, not too may times, to focus on the relaxation. Biofeedback can also be helpful; you can "see" how tense your muscles are on the screen and then how much of an effect consciously focusing on relaxing them has.

Good luck!

[Thingone]

Internal

One tip my therapist uses with me is to use a small vibrator. The vibration helps with nerve pain. If anyone like more information please send me a message.

I started PT two years ago. When I first started I would jump off the table when internal was tried. It took a while and a lot of work to get to where I am today. I wanted to throw in the towel many times, but I stuck in there and I am glad I did today. Stretching the thighs hurt me a lot in the beginning as well. The main key I can offer is to go slow and breath when doing any exercise. If it hurts stop—and work on breathing relaxation. I also try to walk at least 15 minutes before I do any PT exercises. I have a pillow case filled with plain rice that I stitched together. I microwave the pillow (homemade heating pad, which I custom shape) and use for 10 minutes before and after my exercises. Warm up is important.

[skybluesoul]

I agree with Michelle. The stretches helped me, but only to a point. If you haven't yet been to see a pelvic PT, you should start there.