Why is my pelvic pain not decreasing?
Pain that is nagging or debilitating and not going away? Have you tried just about everything (physio, massage, chiro, acupuncture) and it’s still not reducing or going away? The brain might be involved. By NO means are we saying the pain is in your head.
Research indicates most tissue healing should take place by the 3 month mark and beyond this the spinal cord and brain (nervous system) may get involved. Well, what the heck does that mean?
Everything in the body is connected. We have small nerves in tissue that send the brain signals, and the brain can send signals back down. Think of it as this way. You are walking around doing your normal daily things at home and then you notice a paper cut on your finger. OH!!! All of a sudden, you are so acutely aware of the irritating cut on your finger. When did it happen? How long was it there for? Why didn’t you feel it right when it happened? Because of…the brain! The brain is constantly assessing what is harmful in your environment and what is not. If it didn’t think the paper cut was that important, it let it go but then it was brought to its attention when you visually saw it and perhaps got worried about it = pain. For some, discomfort. For others, like me, I better go lie down and nurse myself. My pain tolerance is very low.
While pelvic pain by no means is like a paper cut, similar concepts can apply. Depending on the exact location of pain and if all the tissues have healed and there is no nerve, muscle, connective tissue, bone damage, the brain can indeed become involved.
A specific example can be pain with sex. If someone had an experience where there was pain, the brain MAY pick up on this for the next time around. It wonders “is this going to hurt again? Well we don’t want that, so we better stop this activity from happening” and this can lead to anticipation of pain, tightening of muscles, holding of the breath and then the pain is recreated. This reinforces the pain and the brain can become more and more involved over time.
So, what does all of this mean?! This means that all of the therapy you have done previously may have been done with good intentions and have been appropriate at that time, but perhaps a change in treatment is needed with targeting the brain. The brain is plastic and using this neuroplasticity can help to change it in positive ways for our health and wellbeing.
Your pelvic floor physiotherapist and other care providers should be able to provide you with specific brain training techniques for the symptoms you are having.
Questions? Comment below, e-mail us at hello@kaaiaa.co or book a free phone consult.
