Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Hey guys,

So I just recently got diagnose with Pudendal Neuralgia. I have no pain whatsoever with sitting or in the perinium. I only have pain or experience any related symptoms when I urinate. This includes: sharp pain, throbbing urethra, etc. I’ve heard that bending is really bad for you and makes symptoms worse. So my question is does bending make the symptoms of pudendal neuralgia worse? Or can it actually make the disease itself worsen? By this I mean wether bending actually make pudendal neuralgia worse or only makes the symptoms feel worse, but doesn’t actually make it worse. Sorry if it’s confusing...also by bending I would like to know what kind of bending to avoid, such as do I need to avoid all sorts of bending even when lying down? or just when standing up and for example I have to pick up something. also I’m planning on buying a cushion cause I’m very afraid of developing pain in the perinium or with sitting. Was planning on getting a donut coccyx cushion and would like to know yalls thoughts are on this kind of cushion. Lastly, since I don’t have any pain with sitting or in the perinium, are there things I can specifically do in order to avoid this? I’m so scared of making my nerve irritation worse and really want to know everything I could possibly do in order to avoid this. Please let me know any suggestions. Thank you!!

Paola

Hi Paola,

Sitting and bending would be a problem if you have pudendal neuralgia (PN) that's caused by pudendal nerve entrapment (PNE) because it can cause a stretch injury to the nerve but if your PN is not caused by PNE then sitting and bending might not be a problem. You can look at the Nantes team article for information on the criteria for whether your PN is caused by PNE. http://www.pudendalhope.info/sites/defa ... iteria.pdf

If you want to avoid sitting, you can fix up a lying down set-up for you computer so you can use it lying down. That's what I did.

Violet

Hey violet!

Thank you so much for your reply. So basically you are saying that if my never is only irritated due to other reasons, thus not entrapped, it is ok for me to be sitting and bend over and such? Would me not having pain while sitting also show that my nerve is in fact not entrapped just irritated? My doctor only told me that I could further hurt my never if I sit for long periods of time, or had an injury, but that other wise I should be fine. However, I just want to make sure that even if I have no pain with sitting, I’m still doing everything possible to help my nerve heal. Thank you again for helping me understand all this.

Paola

Paola, I'm just going by what the article says -- that pain with sitting is one of the criteria for PNE. I can't say for sure what your diagnosis is or whether you have PNE so I think to be safe you should go by what your doctor says.

Theoretically, if the nerve is entrapped between ligaments or in fascia and can't glide with certain movements then you should avoid those movements or activities.

Violet