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Painful Intercourse (Dyspareunia): Wurn Technique® Shows Lasting Success for Women

60% of US Women have experienced painful intercourse. Our therapy has been shown to decrease painful intercourse, in peer-reviewed medical journals.60% of US Women have experienced painful intercourse.
Our therapy has been shown to decrease painful intercourse,
in peer-reviewed medical journals.

Painful sexual intercourse is a condition that plagues millions of women worldwide. For some, the pain may occur at first penetration. This is often a very sharp and specific pain in one location, often at or near the opening of the vagina. For others, the pain is experienced at deep penetration. This is often described as a broader, deeper pain, and has been described as if “it feels like my partner is hitting something” and in many cases, he is (see below). Some women may even experience a combination of the two.

Painful intercourse can be totally debilitating. Complaints range from pain at initial penetration, to pain at deep penetration, to a combination of the two. While physicians may give varying primary or accompanying diagnoses, or refer patients for psychological counseling, our clinical experience has shown us that most intercourse pain is of "mechanical" cause. We feel that telling a patient “it’s all in your head” is not only inaccurate, it is totally disempowering.

Due to studies published from our patient base, it is becoming increasingly clear that intercourse pain often comes from pressure exerted by the partner on adhesions within the vaginal wall or nearby structures, during intercourse.

These adhesions may be due to a prior infection, inflammation, surgery, or trauma. For example, typical predecessors to intercourse pain we frequently treat are

The female reproductive tract may be subjected to numerous traumas, infections, inflammations, and surgeries over life. Any of these can lead to adhesions and scar tissue at the entrance, or deep within the vagina.

Random adhesion formation that can cause painful intercourseRandom adhesion formation that can cause painful intercourse

Some women absorb repetitive traumas and stresses to the pelvis without experiencing symptoms or negative side effects. However, some women experience significant, long lasting symptoms including anorgasmia (the inability to have an orgasm or reach a full orgasm), decreased desire (libido) and painful intercourse (dyspareunia). Adhesion formation is totally dependent on how and where the body heals from these conditions.

Painful sexual intercourse plagues millions of women worldwide. According to a report from American Family Physician (2001),1 60% of all US women experience or have experienced painful intercourse.

For some women, the pain may occur at first penetration. This is generally reported as a very sharp and specific pain at or near the opening of the vagina. For others, the pain is experienced at deep penetration. This may be a broader, deeper pain, sometimes described as if “it feels like my partner is hitting something.” The fact is that in many cases he is (further discussed below). Many women we treat experience a combination of the two.

Surgery or a fall can push your tailbone forward, creating a physical block in your body. This can cause pain during intercourse, and may also cause chronic constipation, difficulty sitting for long periods, and headaches at the temples, frontal bone, top of head, or base of the skull (from the pull of the strong spinal cord covering, that starts at the coccyx.)

In cases of pain or tightness at the opening , we find that adhesions, tiny or large, have formed in the area at some time in the past. As the body heals from infection, inflammation, surgery, or trauma, it develops tiny adhesions, which are often invisible to the naked eye. These adhesions can form on the surface of the labia, at the vaginal opening, or within its delicate inner tissues.

As shown in the drawing above, adhesions form in a random pattern. They can create a blanket of glue-like bonds on or within the surface of the labia, or deep within the tissues. These adhered tissues can be stretched at the commencement of intercourse, creating a pull on nerves and other sensitive structures. This pull causes pain at just the time when you should be experiencing great pleasure. The irritation can cause pelvic spasms, which in turn causes more pain and dysfunction, perpetuating the process.

Surgery or a fall can pull your tailbone forward, creating a physical block in your body. This can cause chronic constipation, or painful intercourse.

Pain at deeper penetration is often associated with a trauma or repetitive stress to the tailbone (coccyx), generally caused by a fall on the hip, back, or tailbone. Other causes may include pelvic surgery (such as an appendectomy or D&C), inflammation (such as endometriosis), or infection (bladder, yeast, etc.). Abuse and repetitive stresses (such as sitting for long periods of time) are other common causes of this pain.

When any of these occur, internal tissues may shorten, pulling the tailbone out of its normal position. The tailbone then acts as a physical block to your partner during intercourse, causing you to experience a deep pain during or after sex.

Tiny rope-like adhesions with the cervix can cause painful intercourse.Tiny rope-like adhesions with the cervix can cause painful intercourse.

Similar conditions can occur at the cervix, or other vaginal tissues. As seen in this illustration, tiny rope-like adhesions can form between the muscle cells, deep within the cervix. Thus, when the cervix is contacted by the repeated thrusts of a partner, deep pain is often the unwanted consequence of intercourse.

Intercourse should be a time of great pleasure. Because the female reproductive organs are susceptible to adhesions and tailbone trauma over time, intercourse can become a time of pain and embarrassment. Our therapists have decreased pain, increased sexual function, and restored the pleasures of intimacy and intercourse for most of the women we treat with pain or dysfunction (per published studies). In doing so, we enrich their lives and those of their partners.


Success rates

96% of women in our Sexual Function study and 93% of women in our Endometriosis study found their intercourse pain reduced or eliminated after our therapy.

Patients generally respond quickly to our unique, non-surgical hands-on physical therapy treatment for painful intercourse. We are the only therapists we know of who have treated this condition enough to publish studies.

Our first sexual function study was published in the respected peer-reviewed medical journal, Medscape General Medicine (2004).2 Those published results have been among our highest success rates for any condition. We decreased or eliminated intercourse pain in 96% of the women we treated.

Subsequent published study findings published in Fertility and Sterility (2006)3 investigated the decrease of painful intercourse in women with endometriosis. These investigations produced similar numbers, as shown in the graph on the right.

After our therapy, 56% of women had increase in orgasm, 70% found increase in lubrication, and 78% found increase in their sexual desire.

In addition to eliminating painful sexual intercourse, our therapy also significantly increased orgasm and sexual function in our sexual function study participants as follows:

Please visit our details on our success rates for patients with painful intercourse and sexual dysfunction for more information.


  1. Heim LJ. Evaluation and differential diagnosis of dyspareunia. Am Fam Physician. 2001;63:1535-1544. PMID 11327429.
  2. Wurn BF, Wurn LJ, King CR, Heuer MA, Roscow AS, Scharf ES, Shuster JJ.  Treating Female Infertility and Improving IVF Pregnancy Rates with a Manual Physical Therapy Technique. Med Gen Med. 2004 Jun 18; 6(2): 51. PMID 15266276.
  3. Wurn LJ, Wurn BF, King CR, Roscow AS, Scharf ES, Shuster JJ.  Improving sexual function in patients with endometriosis via a pelvic physical therapy. Fertil Steril. 2006; 86 (Supp 2): S29-30. Abstract.
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About our Book.

What physicians say:

Learn more about therapy to decrease or eliminate intercourse pain in our book Miracle Moms, Better Sex, Less Pain (publication date: 9/2009).

“The ‘Wurn Technique’ in my professional opinion, is a blockbuster breakthrough both for physicians and women who have known for so long that there was something better out there for treatment of infertility, painful intercourse, sexual dysfunction, endometriosis, and chronic pelvic pain. Their studies also document improvement in all areas of sexual function including desire, arousal/lubrication, orgasm/satisfaction and pain. I know of no other single therapy reported to increase all areas of sexual function.”
- Dr. Scott Miles
Board certified gynecologist and sexologist
Medical Director, Miles Ahead Health and Wellness, Indianapolis, IN

“Clear Passage Therapy is remarkable because it is the only therapy empirically shown to improve all four classical phases of female sexual function --- arousal, lubrication, orgasm, and satisfaction . . . ‘low desire’ and ‘pain on intercourse.’ And it does this, amazingly, without the negative side effects and multiple risks of treatments like surgery or drugs.”
- Dr. John D Perry
Author of “The G-Spot”