Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy Combined With Sexual Therapy in Vaginismus Treatment

Medipol University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Women Health; Physiotherapy; Exercise

Treatments: Behavioral: sexual therapy; Behavioral: Pelvic floor physiotherapy combined with sexual therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06760767

E-10840098-202.3.02-222

Details and patient eligibility

About

Studies on pelvic floor physiotherapy in individuals diagnosed with vaginismus are quite limited in the literature. While current studies have focused on certain physiotherapy modalities, the literature is quite limited in terms of combined rehabilitation programs. There is a need for non-invasive therapy methods that can be an alternative for the patient and client population whose vaginismus problem continues after behavioral therapies. No studies on pelvic floor physiotherapy combined with sexual therapy have been found in the literature. In this context, our study aimed to examine the effectiveness of pelvic floor physiotherapy combined with sexual therapy in individuals diagnosed with vaginismus.

Full description

Vaginismus is a sexual dysfunction defined as recurrent or persistent difficulty or impossibility of sexual intercourse due to involuntary contractions of the muscles in the vaginal area in women. This condition is usually associated with excessive tension and spasm of the pelvic floor muscles and adductor muscles when evaluated in terms of these muscle groups.

Sexuual therapy includes the placement of dilators of graduated sizes by the therapist at home or in a clinical setting, guided by both the patient and the partner, for systematic desensitization to vaginal penetration, and sexual education to alleviate the psychological impact of the condition. This method is most frequently used in studies and the reported success rates are quite high.

Various techniques such as breathing and relaxation exercises, local tissue desensitization, vaginal dilators, biofeedback and manual therapy are used within the scope of pelvic floor physiotherapy in the treatment of vaginismus. There are studies in the literature investigating the effectiveness of biofeedback exercises in the treatment of vaginismus with a 100% success rate. It has also been reported that the combined application of pelvic floor exercises with behavioral sexual therapy provides significant improvement. In this study aimed to examine the effectiveness of pelvic floor physiotherapy combined with sexual therapy in individuals diagnosed with vaginismus.

Enrollment: 44 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 20 to 45 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Diagnosed with vaginismus,
• Being between the ages of 20-45,
• Having an active sexual partner in the last 6 months,
• Not being in the accompanying physiotherapy or psychotherapy process.

Exclusion criteria

• Diagnosed with or treated for vulvodynia and/or vulvar vestibulitis,
• Having a pacemaker,
• Not being able to give personal consent,
• Having a physical problem that would prevent treatment.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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44 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the intervention group received pelvic floor physiotherapy combined with sexual therapy twice a week for 6 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Pelvic floor physiotherapy combined with sexual therapy

Behavioral: sexual therapy

Control Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the control group received sexual therapy twice a week for 6 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: sexual therapy