Pelvic health tip of the week: Stop looking for pain

It's complicated, but it's neuroscience.

I recently began coaching a new client and saw her for the second time yesterday. She was a completely different person than when I had met her just the week prior. “Turns out I DID have a UTI!” she exclaimed, the relief written all over her expression. “I took antibiotics and I feel so much better. Everything feels better, even my hip, and so standing and sitting are way easier.”

Why, pray tell, would antibiotics cure a hip?

Neuroscience, baby. My client was experiencing the positive feedback loop that is feeling a sense of autonomy and control. She was physically in less pain.

But what about the opposite situation? A classic one is when a client comes in with a complaint of some mild heaviness in the pelvis, and I diagnose a mild prolapse. The next visit, they arrive and report that the heaviness is substantially worse and it’s all they can think about. Even though the sensation of prolapse isn’t pain per se, it follows the same neurological pathways.

So here’s our pelvic floor tip of the week: stop looking for the pain. I’m going to tell you how to do that without gaslighting yourself.

brains, they’re wild.

Related reading:

• Here’s why everything always hurts. Regularly referenced for a reason, this goes deep on the neurophysiology of pain.

• What if the pain doesn’t quit? Particularly relevant if you have an chronic condition (e.g. endometriosis, MS, other autoimmune illness, etc.)

• What the hell even IS the nervous system?! A primer on the physiology of the nervous system and its importance in our bodies.