pudendal neuralgia: Or more common saddle pain
When we think about injuries, we need to think about muscles, ligaments, and nerves … even “down there”.
Sciatic nerve pain is a common term that we hear about. It’s a sharp pain that goes down the back of the leg when you’ve had a back injury. But what happens when that sharp pain is in between your legs?
If you’re experiencing that, you may have something called pudendal neuralgia
pudendal neuralgia; So what is it??
- is an irritation of the pudendal nerve that can happen for a couple of reasons.
- The most common reason for this type of pain is related to trauma or impact around the pelvis.
- For many women, this can be after they’ve had a baby though men can have this pain as well.
What are the symptoms?
- Pudendal neuralgia generally is diagnosed based on a sharp discomfort or feeling of burning in between the legs.
- We call this the “saddle region” so anywhere between the buttocks and the penis or vagina.
- Some women can think that the burning is related to a urinary tract infection (UTI) or a yeast infection.
Once you’ve figured out it is pain from the pudendal nerve whats next??
- First off seeing a pelvic floor physiotherapist is probably the biggest one
- But if you don’t have access to one
- Often times the pain is related to tight muscles in the pelvic floor.
- These muscles get tight and they start compressing the nerve and you start feeling that burning or sharp pelvic pain.
If your muscles are tight, you need something to do to relax them. That is where we have you covered. To try to relax the muscles you need to lay on your back and bring your knees up to your chest. From there you need to take big deep breaths. Think about relaxing the muscles down there. It may seem like a hard thing to think about but give it a try. When your pelvic floor muscles relax, it often feels like a spreading feeling down there or that your muscles are getting longer.
Hang out in this position for 10 big deep belly breaths. Think each time about relaxing your pelvic floor. For many of our clients, this is the best way to relieve some of the burning discomfort.
Kelsey has also done a video on returning to running! Check it out here
