Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Flyer, I'm very sorry to hear about your worsening of symptoms. When your PT presses along the course of the nerve via the rectum is that painful? I could not tolerate internal PT before surgery either.

Violet

Violet, Difficult to say, because all internal stuff is painful for me, and I got the feeling that e.g. Alcock is not particularly more painful than the muscles themselves.
The muscles were most painful. But definitely, internal work makes my pain worse.

I just noticed this thread and I am wondering about the amount of emphasis on internal work. I tried some internal work, several weeks in to my PT, without any positive results. It is certainly not the sum total of PT. I got tremendous benefit from PT: External trigger point massage belly-button-to-knees, progressive core excercise program, manual therapy to adjust the bony pelvis. I agree that no progress in PT after a few weeks is an indication one should probably quit, but the PT has to be comprehensive. If your PT puts a great emphasis on internal work although it isn't helping, don't give up on PT, get a 2nd opinion from a PT who has a more diverse approach to pelvic pain.

reckless wrote:The physio I'm seeing could not find any internal trigger points ...

This is something I often hear, and then, from the same patient who visits another, better trained therapist, Voila!, trigger points found!

• Is the therapist trained by someone who is expert in finding internal trigger points? There are very few such people at the moment, although that is changing.
• Is the therapist female? Women have much shorter and weaker fingers than men, and many of the men who report finding no trigger points with one therapist and then very painful trigger points with another therapist have in fact moved from a female to a male therapist.

Just some things to consider!

Good luck,