Vulvodynia is a chronic vulvar pain condition affecting 8-16% of women at some point in their lives1. It is the most common cause of sexual pain in pre-menopausal women.1 Despite the high prevalence and significant impact on quality of life, it remains poorly understood and often mis-diagnosed and mis-managed. With advances in pain neuroscience and central pain mechanism research over recent years, our understanding of vulvodynia has moved from a focus on local nociception to viewing it as a complex pain presentation. This demands a neurobiological and biopsychosocial approach to assessment and management1.

The evidence is now conclusive - educating patients about the science of pain is an essential component of treating persistent pain. Exploring how pain experiences are constructed in response to dangers and threats in our bodies and influenced by our thoughts, beliefs and context and the insight and knowledge gained throughout this process can be one of the keys to recovery. We first wrote a blog article on this topic in 2016; The Importance Of Pain Science Education that concluded with a call to action for clinicians working with persistent pelvic pain (PPP) patients - Considering biopsychosocial factors in PPP and combining these with pain science education provides an exciting new tool for effective management and hope for both patients and practitioners.

Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) is an extremely common condition where one or more of the pelvic organs (such as the bladder, uterus, or bowel) descend from their normal position and bulge into the vagina due to weakness in the pelvic floor muscles (PFM) and connective tissues. POP is often classified by stages, ranging from Stage 1 (mild descent) to Stage 4 (complete eversion).1

Nocturia is often dismissed by patients and their health care providers as a trivial condition and normal part of ageing when in fact it is an independent predictor for early death(1).

As health professionals supporting women following birth, we often find ourselves being asked “when can I return to running – it’s the form of exercise that works best for me.” In the back of our minds is wanting to prevent the occurrence of the statistic we all know well - 1 in 3 women will experience pelvic floor dysfunction after childbirth.