Solving The Riddle Of Pelvic Pain

There is hope for women with a debilitating condition that can cause misery for sufferers, says Professor Kerryn Phelps.

- Kerryn Phelps

Nerve pain is difficult to deal with at the best of times, but for sufferers of pudendal neuralgia, the pain is only exacerbated by the frustrating and lengthy process of being correctly diagnosed. However, once a diagnosis has been made, sufferers can experience incredible relief at discovering the cause, particularly when they learn that the majority of cases can be successfully treated with a simple course of physiotherapy.

“Pudendal neuralgia is a condition that is desperate for public and professional awareness,” physiotherapist Angela James of Sydney Pelvic Clinic, who specialises in the treatment of pelvic pain, explained to me. “When I first started treating PN over 10 years ago, I found many of my patients had their pain for many years and had been misdiagnosed and poorly managed, and often had been told they just had to live with it, or take medications and try ineffective surgeries. I feel it is slowly starting to improve, but there is a long way to go to have people understand PN the way they understand sciatic pain.”

What is pudendal neuralgia?

The pudendal nerve is one of the main nerves in the pelvis, processing sensations from the perineum (the area between the genitals), the buttocks and rectum.