Internal Pelvic Floor Exercises provoking menstual cramp-like pain

Body: 

Hi,

I'm 28 years old. I've recently begun pelvic floor physiotherapy due to pain in my hip caused by an overload of dance lessons, resulting in a muscle that has been aching and cramped for five months. In the beginning therapists believed it was the gluteus medius or maximus, but later hypothesized that the source is pelvic muscles (I was asked if I have any issues with that area and I replied that sex has always been painful for me). My pelvic floor was examined manually and we noticed that muscles (coccyx, another one with coccyx at the beginning of the word and one more) on the right side (the side that hurts) do really hurt and the left one doesn't. My therapist "released" those muscles manually and I finally felt a significant improval! Then I was given a pointed pyrex thing (from the adult section of a store) to use to perform this exercise at home by myself. I didn't get the chance to because my period started, and during it I took a very long walk which brought back a lot of the pain. When my period ended, I decided to try the exercise (I need to press into the spot, contract and release and then press into it again) - but it provoked terrible pain, exactly like my menstrual cramps. I waited a week, and it's still happening! (I've tried 4 more times) . My period is long over. Is this normal? And it doesn't affect my hip pain in one bit, opposed to the manual thing my therapist did. I contacted him and he sounds pretty exasperated and said maybe this isn't it and I should get a second opinion. I finally thought we were unto something, and with no relation to the hip pain at all - I really want to take care of the painful sex issue. Even inserting a tampon hurts (but I don't have vestibulitis), and I know that physiotherapy is an excellent treatment.

ashley88,
Sounds like you have a lot going on there. I would suggest a consult with Christine as she is the expert on what all the muscles are doing in this area. The hips program may be an option also, because working the whole woman posture and this program may help release some of those stubborn muscles and bring them back to a normal place where they belong.
Best wishes to you.

Hi ashley - I agree it is a little hard for us lay folks to know exactly what is going on here, though Christine would know exactly what to tell you. I will just make two other suggestions: 1) the hips program, definitely, and 2) lay off the pelvic floor PT for awhile. Their approach is one that is stuck in the whole misguided kegel philosophy, which is basically what they have you doing (squeezing on a piece of pyrex, my goodness....). It's just a wrong concept and will not take you anywhere you want to go. Anyway, there is a 20%-off sale going on for the next few days (code to use at checkout is SpringSale) - get the Hips program! Start fixing yourself now. - Surviving