Pelvic floor muscle spasms can be downright frustrating. They can lead to pain all around the pelvic area, including the vagina, and even in the lower back. Often, pelvic floor muscle spasm is known as vaginismus.
Pelvic floor spasm is a common cause of pelvic pain that involves involuntary contractions of the pelvic floor muscles, which support the uterus, vagina, bladder and rectum. It’s quite similar to the kind of cramping you’d experience in another body part, like your calf or foot, and it can be very painful. Essentially, the muscles in the pelvic floor are tight and overcontracting – the opposite issue to weak pelvic floor muscles.
There are a few symptoms typically associated with pelvic floor muscle spasm. Some of the most common pelvic floor spasm symptoms include:
These symptoms can often feel like a bad UTI or bladder infection, but if it’s a case of pelvic floor muscle spasm, tests will not reveal any infection.
It can be tricky to find the underlying cause of pelvic floor muscle spasm, but often it can be due to vaginal childbirth, undergoing an episiotomy (perineal cut) during childbirth, high-impact exercise or activity, surgery, or another medical issue like endometriosis, vulvodynia, and more. It can also be due to psychological factors, which is a condition known as vaginismus.
Luckily, there are a few really easy ways to manage the symptoms of pelvic floor muscle spasm.
To help relax the muscles around your pelvis and vagina, you might want to try vaginal dilation therapy. Using silicone vaginismus dilators, this progressive therapy works to gently relax your body and slowly stretch the area. This can help with the pain associated with pelvic floor muscle spasm, as it can help the muscles learn to relax and return to their resting state instead of being held in a tightened position.
Pelvic floor spasms often cause painful sex, or dyspareunia <link to dyspareunia page>. Using a tool like the Ohnut, you can control penetration during sex and choose how deep you’d like your partner or toy to go. We also recommend using the Ohnut with a natural lubricant to make penetration even easier.
When you’re experiencing the pain associated with pelvic floor muscle spasm, delivering some much-needed warmth to your pelvic area can soothe the discomfort.
Our perineal soothers can help relax your perineal area prior to dilation or can be used after intercourse to help relax your pelvic floor muscles. The best thing is you can heat them up and pop them in your underwear so you can keep going about your day.
We also recommend speaking to your doctor, who can discuss other treatment options like physiotherapy. A specialised physiotherapist might help to rehabilitate your pelvic floor muscles and assist with getting them to work properly again.
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