Vaginismus: What Is It and How Is It Treated?
Vaginismus is a painful disorder of the pelvic floor muscles surrounding the vagina. Involuntary contraction of these muscles results in difficulty or impossible vaginal penetration and associated pain and burning.
Image description: A cross-sectional diagram of the organs of the female pelvis with arrows pointing inward toward the vaginal canal labeled “muscle constriction.”
Image description: A color-coded diagram showing the superficial and deep muscles of the pelvic floor.
A handful of devices exist to treat vaginismus:
Image description: An array of 8 colorful vaginal dilators arranged from smallest/thinnest to largest/thickest.
1️⃣ Dilators: Graded-size penetration devices used to reduce penetration anxiety and support penetration-related pain.
Image description: A purple curved pelvic wand with a slightly thicker and more pointed side at the bottom and thinner, more rounded side at the top.
2️⃣ Pelvic Wands: Devices inserted into the vagina and manipulated into specific positions to manually massage the muscles of the pelvic floor.
Image description: A curved, light green device is sitting on a flat hand. The shallow tip of the device is falling between the index and middle finger.
3️⃣ Kiwi: A device designed by clinicians who treat pelvic pain for people with pelvic pain. The device vibrates and has a shallow insertion depth to relax the muscles around the vaginal canal.
Image description: A stack of 4 light teal, round devices with small dimples in them. The top device has a small lip at the top.
4️⃣ Buffers: Devices placed on penetrative devices or the penis to decrease the length of penetration.
In addition, some exercises can support pain management and muscle relaxation related to vaginismus:
Image description: A diagram demonstrating diaphragmatic breathing.
1️⃣ Diaphragmatic Breathing: Belly breathing, where you inhale through the nose, expand the belly (not the chest), and exhale through the mouth, using the belly to force the air out.
Image description: A person with their hair in a bun, wearing a tank top and leggings, demonstrates child's pose.
2️⃣ Child’s Pose: A modified kneeling pose where you lay your chest over widened knees and relax into the pose.
Image description: A person with mullet-styled hair wearing a tank top and shorts demonstrates cobra pose.
3️⃣ Cobra Pose: Similar to a push-up position, but with the hips down to the floor and arms straightened.
Image description: A person laying with shoulder-length hair, wearing a tank top and leggings lies on their back demonstrating happy baby pose.
4️⃣ Happy Baby Pose: A very deep hip opening pose to stretch the muscles of the pelvic floor. It can be modified by where you position your hands on the legs/feet.
Image description: A person with short hair wearing a tank top, leggings, and sneakers, demonstrates a deep squat.
5️⃣ Deep Squat: Another deep hip opener to support the release of the pelvic floor muscles.
References
adding soon!
