Archive for Intercourse Pain

When Intimacy Hurts

June 8, 2011 alishiac One comment

You are not alone

You Are Not Alone
It is estimated that up to half of US women experience pain with intercourse (dyspareunia), according to published studies.

This staggering statistic reveals a condition that often goes unspoken, untreated, and unresolved. For many women, this topic is neglected in their conversations with their physicians, gynecologists, and friends. But why? If this condition affects so many, why aren’t people talking about it?

Stuck in Silence
Women should be empowered over their sexual health, not stuck in silence. It is through empowerment and education that women can find answers to their pain and discomfort and begin on a path to health and healing.

What’s the Cause?
Painful intercourse, or dyspareunia, is often caused by adhesions. Adhesions are internal scars that form after a trauma, surgery, infection or inflammation. Perhaps you fell on your tailbone as a teenager, or perhaps you’ve had bladder infections, or a prior pelvic surgery. All of these can be implications of adhesion formation.

Tiny adhesions form on the vaginal wall and can bind pain-sensitive tissues, causing pain.

Tiny adhesions form on the vaginal wall and can bind pain-sensitive tissues, causing pain.

As adhesions form, they can cover and bind the nearby tissues and organs causing restriction and often pain. When these adhesions form inside the delicate vaginal wall, they can cause intense pain during intercourse. The pain has often been described as though the woman’s partner is hitting something at the entrance or with deep penetration. Some women experience other symptoms including anorgasmia (the inability to have an orgasm or reach a full orgasm) and decreased desire (libido). These side effects of adhesions can severely limit a woman’s ability to have a pleasurable and healthy sex life.

How To Treat Dyspareunia
So how can you treat this condition without causing additional trauma and adhesion formation? A hands-on physical therapy, called the Wurn Technique, has shown excellent results in decreasing pain with intercourse and increasing sexual function without the need for drugs or surgery. A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Medscape General Medicine (2004) showed that 78% of women had increased desire (libido), 74% increased arousal, 70% increased lubrication, and 56% had increased orgasms after receiving this treatment.1

Endometriosis and Dyspareunia
Women who suffer from endometriosis often encounter painful intercourse as well. A study published in Fertility and Sterility showed a 93% decrease in pain with intercourse after receiving therapy.

What Physicians Say About the Wurn Technique


“The Wurn Technique® is remarkable; it is the only therapy shown to improve all phases of female sexual function, including arousal, lubrication, orgasm, and satisfaction. Amazingly, it does this without the side effects and multiple risks of surgery or drugs.”

Dr. John D. Perry, Psychologist
Author of “The G Spot”

“Their studies show improvement in desire, arousal/lubrication, orgasm/satisfaction and pain. I know of no other single therapy reported to increase all areas of sexual function. I am truly excited to learn about the Wurn Technique®”

Dr. Scott Miles, Gynecologist, Medical Director
Miles Ahead Health and Wellness, Indianapolis, IN

1. Wurn LJ, Wurn BF, King CR, Roscow AS, Scharf ES, Shuster JJ. Increasing Orgasm and Decreasing Dyspareunia by a Manual Physical Therapy Technique. Med Gen Med 2004 Dec 14; 6(4): 47. PMID 15775874
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Flowers, Chocolates, and Endometriosis

February 14, 2011 alishiac No comments

Today is Valentine’s Day. For many couples, the day will be met with chocolate roses, gushing cards, and sweet embraces. For women who suffer from endometriosis however, it may be met with heightened anxiety, relational challenges, and debilitating pain.

Studies estimate that up to half of all US women experience problems with painful intercourse, (dyspareunia). This all too common health issue is often met with the response, “It’s all in your head”. This explanation can create a feeling of disempowerment for women who know there is a very real source to the pain they experience.

It is not all in your head

Despite health professional’s dismissal of intercourse pain as a psychological issue, the pain is often a result of a mechanical issue caused by adhesions. Adhesions form as part of the body’s healing process after an infection, inflammation, surgery or trauma.

Adhesions can form as a result of:

  • Endometriosis
  • Bladder or Vaginal Infection
  • Surgery (C-section, episiotomy, laparotomy)
  • Trauma to the tailbone or pubic bones (often a fall or accident)

These adhesions create thick fibrous bands at the site of the initial trauma and can attach to the delicate tissues and organs within the pelvis. These attachments create a pull during intercourse, which often results in pain. This pain has been described as either sharp and specific or broad and deep.

Getting the spark back

A study published in Fertility and Sterility, investigated the decrease of painful intercourse in women with endometriosis after receiving a hands-on physical therapy treatment, called the Wurn Technique®. The study reported the following results:

  • 50% of study participants reported reduced ovulation pain
  • 61% of study participants reported reduced menstrual pain
  • 93% of study participants reported reduced intercourse pain
  • 64% reported increased intensity and duration of orgasm
  • 71% reported increased desire (libido)
  • 86% reported increased arousal
  • 79% reported increased lubrication
  • 71% reported increased satisfaction
  • 93% reported improved overall sexual function

The Wurn Technique® feels much like a deep pelvic massage and can be completed in as little as five days.  The Wurn Technique® is provided by the skilled therapists at Clear Passage Physical Therapy. Each therapist empowers their patients by working with them instead of simply working on them throughout therapy. The Clear Passage team has helped many couples return to a healthy and intimate relationship.

“Before therapy intercourse was too painful.

Since therapy, I have had no pain. This is incredible.

What a gift to our marriage. Thank you.”

-Clear Passage Patient

For more information, visit www.clearpassage.com.

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Discovering a Treatment for Intercourse Pain

March 27, 2009 Jackie No comments

The Clear Passage Therapies (CPT) team is devoted to continual research and development. We always monitor our patients’ progress and feedback after treatment. Once we begin to notice a trend, we expand our research in that area to see how our treatment can help.

Long before CPT began treating intercourse pain, we did not even know our treatment could help in this area. Over time, the CPT team began to notice that many women who came for infertility treatment were also reporting decreased intercourse pain. Some women reported, “I’m not sure why, but I don’t experience pain anymore with intercourse.” Others were considerably bolder and told us, “My orgasms have been incredible since treatment!”

We decided to investigate further and also developed different manual physical therapy techniques that we felt could help female intercourse pain. We then conducted a study to scientifically test how our treatment could help sexual dysfunction and intercourse pain. The results, published in Medscape General Medicine, were more than we could have ever imagined. 91% of study participants experienced a reduction in intercourse pain and large percentages of women reported improvements in orgasm (56%), lubrication (70%), desire (78%), and arousal (74%).

CPT is now proud to offer a treatment plan specifically for women with intercourse pain and sexual dysfunction. As we continue on our path of education, self-improvement, and research, our treatment for these conditions only improves. Even better news is that at CPT, we never treat “parts” of our patients. We believe everything is connected; we often see that pain and dysfunction in one area is linked to dysfunction in another. So if you come for infertility treatment, but also experience intercourse pain, our therapists will treat both conditions. For more information, please see our article Infertility and Sexual Dysfunction are Linked, And Its Not All in Your Head and You Don’t Have to Cope with Painful Intercourse While Trying to Conceive.

Please visit our website to learn more about our treatment for female infertility, female sexual dysfunction, or painful intercourse. Not sure if you have sexual dysfunction? Read our article Is Your Sexual Function Normal?

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You Don’t Have to Cope with Painful Intercourse While Trying to Conceive

February 19, 2009 Jackie No comments

By Jackie

Many women who experience intercourse pain believe the pain is something they just have to live with or tolerate. They manage the pain by having sex sparingly or avoiding sex at times when it might be particularly painful (such as during ovulation or the week before).

However, if a woman is trying to conceive, she cannot avoid sex or only have sex when it feels best for her. Emily, a former CPT patient, struggled with just this problem. When she and her husband married, she was disappointed to find that sex was extremely painful. She told us that the pain “was almost unbearable.” Emily and her husband seldom had sex due to the pain, but when they decided to have children, she had to endure the pain. Emily told us, “We tried to have sex more often, and the stress of trying to push past the pain was making my menstrual cycles irregular.”

Adhesions at the cervix can cause painful intercourse and infertility

Adhesions at the cervix can cause painful intercourse and infertility

Painful intercourse is not normal. In fact, pain with intercourse is a clue that there might be something else wrong. CPT has treated many women who experienced infertility and a large majority of them experienced painful intercourse as well. We feel that painful intercourse is a sign that adhesions have formed in the reproductive tract, possibly adhering, restricting, and preventing proper function and fertility.

When Emily came to us for help, CPT therapists delicately and sensitively treated adhesions in her reproductive tract. Emily stated, “I felt very comfortable at CPT and in control of the treatment. At times, it was uncomfortable because they were treating a very pain-sensitive area, but I could tell the difference as the pain decreased with each session.”

Emily and her husband were eventually able to resume regular intercourse. Emily reported, “Before treatment my husband had never been able to enter me fully, and finally he was able to!” Emily’s menstrual cycle also returned to a regular cycle and she is currently expecting.

Emily’s full story, along with stories by over 75 patients, will be featured in our upcoming book, Miracle Moms, Better Sex, Less Pain. To read more about the connection between painful intercourse and fertility, read our blog post: Infertility and Sexual Dysfunction are Linked – And It’s Not All in Your Head
Please visit our website to learn more about our treatment for painful intercourse and female infertility.

Fertility, Intercourse Pain, Recent Posts ,

Is Your Sexual Function Normal?

February 5, 2009 Jackie No comments

By Jackie

Many comedic movies like to poke fun at the relationship between men and women in the bedroom. While these portrayals are sometimes humorous, they fail in one regard: showing a real woman. In comedic movies, women are either portrayed as the sex kitten who will bring out the whip at any given moment or the completely bored lover who has to use “fake orgasms” or the excuse of headaches.

What is normal female sexual function? Occasionally having a “headache” or trying to spice things up certainly isn’t abnormal, but for most women, these two extremes don’t represent their sexual relationships.

To help define “normal” female sexual function, doctors designed the Female Sexual Function Index. It breaks-up female sexual function into six quantifiable categories:

  • Desire
  • Arousal
  • Lubrication
  • Satisfaction
  • Orgasm
  • Pain

Doctors have designed a questionnaire to help a woman determine her overall sexual function score. To take the test and see your score, visit the FSFI website.

If a woman scores low on the test, it does not mean there is something “wrong” with her. It may be that a woman isn’t lubricating enough, making sex painful. Or a woman may not be receiving enough foreplay, leading to decreased arousal, lubrication, orgasm, and overall satisfaction. Another possibility is that a woman is experiencing a particularly painful emotional time, thus decreasing her levels of arousal and desire.

But what if you scored low and you feel your sexual function has been low for years? What if you and your husband have tried to increase your sexual experience in multiple ways, but it just isn’t working? What if no matter what you do, you still experience pain with sex?

If any of these questions sound like you, adhesions may be contributing to your sexual dysfunction and pain. Adhesions form after any injury to the body – including vaginal infections, bladder infections, rough sex, etc. The minute an infection occurs, tiny strands of collagen rush to the site. They not only seal off the area from the rest of the body, but also help it heal. Although helpful, these strands of collagen can blanket the sensitive walls of the vagina. When the nerves of the vagina are blanketed, desire, lubrication, satisfaction, and orgasm can be decreased.

In addition to blanketing the vagina, collagen can continue to build and form adhesions. Adhesions can constrict the vagina, pull on the cervix, or pull on nearby structures. Whenever a woman attempts sex, pain is generated as the adhesions are stretched.

To learn more about a safe, non-invasive treatment for sexual function and intercourse pain, please visit our painful intercourse page and sexual dysfunction page.

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