Treating Pelvic Pain with Graded Exposure

In Your Pants with Dr. Susie G

There are many, many challenges with pelvic pain that don’t happen if you sprain an ankle or have a shoulder injury that you can point to and talk about with your co-workers.

With pelvic pain, it may feel hard to show others where it hurts— even a health professional, awkward to talk about it with friends or someone you love, that your morals or faith will be questioned because of religious beliefs, or that the pain will never stop.

Dr. Sandy Hilton is a pain and pelvic health physical therapist currently in Chicago at Entropy Physiotherapy. Sandy works in the clinic and online to help people with pain recover and is an international invited speaker and instructor of other health professionals. Sandy teaches classes on manual therapy and sensory integration techniques that are purposefully non-painful and help recover tolerance to sitting, bike riding, sexual function and more!

Dr. Sandy shares strategies to move through challenges with pelvic pain:

• Using your imagination to identify what can trigger pain and how to unhook your thoughts from the pain
• Using graded exposure (from sports psychologists and used in Olympic-level recovery strategies) to start doing something challenging again
• Gaging your progress in relation to what else is happening in your life— a flareup doesn’t mean your progress is slipping away
• Making it a priority to do something you love every single day

I love how Dr. Sandy reminds us that even though the pain can become the center of your life, life is not about dealing with the pain; managing pain is about how you approach living your life beyond the pain and making your happiness a priority.

RESOURCES:

Free sex and pelvic pain resources https://drsusieg.com/resources-for-pelvic-pain-in-men

Online Pelvic Pain Relief Program for Men https://drsusieg.com/pelvic-pain-in-men-online-program

Why Pelvic Pain Hurts

https://www.amazon.com/Pelvic-Pain-Hurts-Adriaan-Louw/dp/0985718684 Self-Care for Pelvic Pain: A Sensory Integration Toolkit https://www.optp.com/Self-Care-for-Pelvic-Pain-A-Sensory-Integration-Toolkit

CONNECT WITH DR. SANDY HILTON

Website: entropy.physio

Twitter: @SandyHiltonPT

Email: [e-mail]

CONNECT WITH ME (DR. SUSIE):

Website: https://drsusieg.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.susieg/

15-minute call: https://drsusieg.com/pelvic-pain-specialist-15-minute-call

VIDEO CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

4:10 Why pelvic pain is so challenging

9:20 What is graded exposure and how to use it

15:20 Finding the “right” treatment plan for you

16:30 How to stay hopeful that the pain can get better

20:20 We know that pain can change

22:10 Using graded exposure to manage pain after ejaculation

26:30 More repetitions isn’t better

28:40 How to talk about graded exposure with physical therapists

33:16 Dr. Sandy’s sensory integration toolkit

Disclaimer:

This information is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a healthcare professional with any questions you may have regarding treatment, medications/supplements, or any medical diagnoses. This information is intended for educational purposes only and is in no way to substitute the advice of a licensed healthcare professional.