Do You Have Pain with Sexual Intercourse?

Do You Have Pain with Sex and How a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist Can Help You.

Wait, is that a dildo? No, it does look like one, but it’s actually a dilator. A dilator is used specifically to stretch the muscles of the pelvic floor. This is a common practice for women suffering with pain from sexual intercourse or foreplay.

As a pelvic floor physical therapist, I see women with a variety of conditions. A lot of my patients will report that they have pain with sex, either with entering and/or penetration. Many of them report to me that they thought it was normal to have that pain and that they endure it to please their partner.

However, let’s make one thing clear. Pain with sex is NOT normal. Healthy tissues in the vagina should not hurt with sexual foreplay or penetration. It’s important to find the driver to this pain and there are many pelvic floor physical therapy experts out there who can help you. A lot of these drivers for pain can relate to trauma, hip pain, childbirth, emotional issues or even bowel irregularities.

Circling back to the “smurf” color dilator. That dilator is part of a home exercise program in which you insert it at home several times a week to help stretch out your pelvic floor. That plus the manual therapy with a pelvic floor therapist can help reduce the strain and spasm in the muscles to help promote sex without pain.

It’s very important to see a pelvic floor physical therapist first to make an assessment of your pelvic floor and see if dilators are necessary. If you have any questions or would like to speak to Kristin, please contact her at kristin@femfirsthealth.com.