Vaginismus is a condition characterized by involuntary spasms in the pelvic floor muscle, which make penetration of the vagina painful or impossible. It can cause severe distress in both a woman's physical and emotional life because of the impairment to intimate relationships and quality of life.
Some effective treatments are designed to assist the woman in managing and overcoming vaginismus. This blog will outline the top five vaginismus treatments, from pelvic floor therapy to Botox injections.
Vaginismus is the most common indication for pelvic floor therapy as a first-line treatment. A course of conditioning exercises, strengthening and relaxing the pelvic floor muscles, is recommended since these muscles cause involuntary spasms related to pain experienced during penetration. A physiotherapist of good clinical practice provides the exercises to the patient by incorporating specific exercises to improve control over the muscles and increase comfort.
Pelvic floor therapy also enables women to understand how to relax tension in the pelvic area so that she relaxes and reduces the body's tension to penetration. Other techniques are sometimes used, which include biofeedback, which gives an idea of visual or auditory representations of muscle activities, and then patients can become more aware of what is happening by the muscles in question.
Another commonly used vaginismus treatment is vaginal dilators. These are small cylindrical devices available in various sizes. Gradually, these objects are inserted inside the vagina. The idea here is to help gradually desensitize the area, thus gently stretching the vaginal muscles over time.
It can sometimes be tricky to know if you are contracting the correct pelvic floor muscles. Biofeedback is a technique physios can use to monitor the activity in the muscles in real-time. Small sensors are placed on the skin around the pelvic area and report any activity to a computer that plots contractions of those muscles. This can help you better understand how to contract the muscles and make exercises more effective.
In some instances, it can be part of the treatment if the pelvic floor muscles are so weak they cannot contract. This is a special type of treatment where small electrical pulses have to be sent through to the muscles to make them contract. This can help the muscles regain strength and control. Electrical stimulation is particularly useful for people who cannot exercise using the Kegel exercises on their own.
Bladder training involves controlling the urge to urinate by gradually increasing the intervals of visits to the bathroom. This can be assisted by a physiotherapist through bladder training programs that would result in a regular bladder-training schedule and consequently. This technique, when combined with exercises for the pelvic floor muscles, can improve bladder control significantly.
Even postures and breathing will impact the pressure applied to your pelvic floor muscles. Your physiotherapist will educate you about appropriate postural alignment along with optimal ways of breathing to eliminate unnecessary strain on your pelvis. Simple postural modifications such as diaphragmatic breathing can help reduce the excessive stress applied to the pelvic floor over the bladder and increase the functioning of pelvic muscles.
Benefits of physiotherapy for the management of stress incontinence include:
You don't have to let your stress incontinence become a cause for anxiety that clouds the rest of your life. Incontinence rehab physiotherapists offer several simple, painless avenues by which you may recover strength in the pelvic floor muscles and better control your bladder again.
Dr. Leena Daware, a trained physiotherapist, has a wide knowledge of pelvic rehabilitation and also shows clients how to free themselves from stress incontinence. As one of the best physiotherapists in Mumbai, she closely works with various specialists who come in for treatment purposes on the premises.
