Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Hi - I have tingling/fluttering/numbness in my pelvic region and am trying to isolate the cause. One thing that may be causing it is from my pelvic muscle being very strong. On a scale of 0 - 10 (0 being rest and 10 being agony) the closest I get to rest is a 4. I was always told that you could never do too many pelvic floor exercises as that muscle could never be too strong........but mine is? Anyone else had this as a possible cause for possible pelvic neuralgia? x

Not sure what you mean by too strong but many pudendal neuralgia patients have pelvic floor muscles that are overly contracted, tight, and sometimes described as "hard as a brick." This often leads people to the chicken and egg question -- which came first, the overly contracted muscles that are causing irritation to the nerve, or irritation to the nerve that is causing the muscles to become overly contracted?

Violet

Hi Violet - thanks for your reply. It's a bit deflating to only get one response though......

Anyway.....so you had surgery.....what sort of surgery was it? You mean the nerve block? Thanks. Just looking at my options.

Ladybird,

Yes, surgery helped me but it was only a last resort after more conservative therapies failed. I tried medications, biofeedback, physicial therapy (including mysofascial release), nerve blocks, and some other things but they didn't work for me so I decided on the surgery route. Surgery is not for everyone, it is considered a last resort, and before you go that route you would need to be certain of your diagnosis.

You can see some of the options at this link: http://www.pudendalhope.info/node/11
There are probably others that we haven't listed yet but those are the ones many people try.

Do you think that your pelvic floor muscles being overly contracted (too strong) are contributing or causing you to have pelvic pain? In the world of pudendal neuralgia, strengthening exercises (kegals) are actually contraindicated because overly contracted muscles can aggravate the pudendal nerve. One of the treatments for overly contracted muscles is myofascial release to try to get the muscles to relax. What are your physicians suggesting for your treatment?

Violet

Back when I was first starting to get help for entrapment the first PT I went to had me work on kegels and pelvic strengthening. It made the pain worse.

Now partly due to the sacrospinous ligaments being removed my pelvic floor has to work harder to stabilize my gait and while standing.

The good news is that PT can work on trigger point release on the pelvic muscles.

It is internal work but I literally cannot live without it.

I would try to find a pelvic health PT and see if they can work on relaxing your pelvic floor, also during that time they can help teach you to relax the floor. Relaxing the floor successfully is much harder than contracting it.

I hope this helps.