Age and high pelvic floor muscle tone seem to be correlated with sexual dysfunction for women undergoing pelvic floor physical therapy, scientists report.
Among their 85 study subjects, sexual dysfunction was more common in women younger than 30 and older than 50.
Pelvic floor physical therapy is prescribed for a number of reasons, such as urinary incontinence, uro-genital prolapse, and sexual dysfunction. Patients may have biofeedback, manual therapy, or electrotherapy. Therapists often teach patients to use vaginal dilators or cones and how to make healthy lifestyle changes.
The goal of this study was to examine any associations among pelvic floor function, sexual problems, pain, and age in women receiving this type of therapy.
The women’s average age was 38 years. All of them were attending physical therapy and rehabilitation sessions for pelvic floor issues. About a third of them had given birth in the past. Fifty-four percent of them were being treated for vulvodynia, 20% for vaginismus, and 20% for dyspareunia (painful intercourse).
Pelvic floor muscle tone was described as “high” if muscles were tense or contracted, “low” if the muscles could not contract voluntarily, and “nonfunctioning” if there was no muscle activity. Approximately 82% of the women in this study were classified as having high-tone pelvic floor muscles.
After evaluating the women’s scores on the Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire, the researchers found that 85% of the women could be diagnosed with sexual dysfunction. Only 6% of the women said they had no sexual difficulties.
The authors commented that clinicians treating younger women should take into consideration that women under age 30 were just as likely to experience increased rates of sexual dysfunction as women over age 50. Also, as
high pelvic floor tone correlated with sexual dysfunction, the use of physical therapy as a treatment strategy may help, the authors noted.
They pointed out that pelvic floor physical therapy patients might not mention sexual complaints to their physical therapist. Clinicians should keep this in mind during treatment. Similarly, healthcare providers who do not treat pelvic floor issues but do treat sexual dysfunction (psychotherapists and counselors, for example), should know that pelvic floor problems could be causing their patients’ distress.
The researchers also acknowledged that other factors, like anxiety, could contribute to the women’s sexual dysfunction.
The study was first published online in April in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Resources
The Journal of Sexual Medicine
Bortolami, Arianna, MSc, PT, et al.
“Relationship Between Female Pelvic Floor Dysfunction and Sexual Dysfunction: An Observational Study”
(Full-text. First published online: April 8, 2015)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsm.12882/abstract