Chronic Pelvic Pain?... Let's look at it from another angle

If you experience chronic pelvic pain such as:

● Bladder pain
● Pain with penetration
● Vulvar pain
● Pain with sitting
● Pudendal neuralgia
● SI joint pain
● Low back pain
● Pain related to endometriosis
● Etc.

You MUST have a mind-body component to your healing to truly overcome your pain. So much of our medical system focuses on “fixing” the things going on in our bodies to
help our pain:

● Stretching tight tissues
● Releasing trigger points
● Nerve blocks
● Adjustments
● Use of creams/ointments
● Strengthening the core
● And more

These things will work for some people but for others they miss the mark and don’t fully help.

So what do you need to do?

1. Understand what pain actually is

All pain is an alarm signal.

It is created in the brain when our nervous system feels unsafe.
Pain does not mean there is physical damage to your body.

If you have ruled out structural problems you have to use a nervous system approach to heal.

Things like tight muscles, trigger points, weakness, asymmetries in your body, inhibited muscles, fascial changes, mobility variations, and neural tension are all normal findings.

What does that mean? It means these things are expected to be found in any person and therefore do not directly relate to a cause of your pain.
Also, even if you do have an actual structural problem your brain is still involved.

Your brain and your body do NOT function separately.

That is why two people with a similar endometriosis presentation will have very different pain experiences.

2. You have to learn how to accept your painful sensations and to not react to
them with fear

While this might sound simple it’s not necessarily easy. There are a lot of strategies to help someone do this and what works for one person may not work as well for another.

3. Your emotions are important

You have to learn to feel your emotions and not just shove them away. Physical sensations such as pain can be caused when you are not in touch with your emotions or when you avoid them.

4. Practice nervous system calming strategies

A lot of times people are told to be mindful and meditate when they deal with chronic
pain. While these can be great tools they don’t work for everyone!
Finding a variety of tools that will help your nervous system be more resilient is a must
when overcoming chronic pain. We need to get your body out of a chronic state of fight
or flight.

5. Utilize brain based exercises to help your brain re-learn how to respond to
perceived threats

Deal with pain every time you exercise a certain way? What about every time you
attempt vaginal penetration? Or maybe you have pain whenever you sit down in certain
types of chairs.
None of these things are actually harmful but your brain sees them as threatening. We
have to help your brain realize this.

6. Bring joyful experiences into your life and learn to recognize positive sensations

When you’re dealing with chronic pain it’s super easy to get caught up in all of the negative feelings and sensations.
It can be hard to enjoy things going on around you.
This focus on the negative will keep you in the pain cycle.

These are some of the main things to work on when it comes to a mind-body approach to healing chronic pelvic pain, but it is not a full list.

If you have been dealing with chronic pelvic pain and you haven’t worked on any
of the things above, join our masterclass on November 16th at 8:30pm to learn
more about Mind-Body Management of Pelvic Pain.