Muscle tension/old injury a trigger?

Hiya folks,

I'm completely new here. To start off, here's just a bit of my backstory: I've been suffering from vulvodynia for something like 6 or 7 years now and was only diagnosed just last year. After so long of going from doctor to doctor with no real answers, this diagnosis (even though I know it's a generalized kind of diagnosis) took some major worry off of my chest, but brought up a whole bunch of other questions as to WHY this started happening.

My pain is consistently left side oriented and varies from a gnawing, annoying sort of pain to a searing, almost acidic burn that feels like half of my pelvic region is melting. Good times!

Anyway, I was going to physio for it for a while. It didn't really help much and we were concentrating more on pelvic floor tightness. During one session I had mentioned some growing lower back pain associated with the vulvodynia, mostly around my tailbone. The therapist decided to have a feel around the area and noted that my tailbone just didn't "feel right", like it was fused funny and didn't move properly. I had mentioned that around the age of 17 (I'm 32 now) I had fallen down a set of stairs on my behind and injured the area quite badly. I had most likely cracked my tailbone, but never went to the Dr. about it because, well, what the hell are they gonna do about that sort of injury anyway? Since then, sitting has been a little uncomfortable, especially for long periods of time.

Fast forward to now: I'm having a flare up right now that tends to get worse just after my period. I've noticed that the area from my tailbone, and down along the left side of my butt, especially around that bit of bone you sit on, triggers the pain on the left side of my vulva when pressed. And I get this odd itch like a nerve or a muscle or something is being irritated. The pain can also trigger me to feel like I've coming down with a bladder infection. Totally not a great feeling.

I'm jut wondering if anyone's heard of an old tailbone injury or something being the cause of vulvodynia. Maybe some damaged nerves somewhere or poorly healed muscles? Not sure what to think. I've sort of resigned myself to having this chronic pain issue because nothing really helps.

Hi

I have provoked vulvodynia, different to you. I had an I injury to my tailbone area as a child. Fell off play equipment onto a steel pole between my legs. My physio said that it makes sense that it had played a role. Coupled with being very flexible in my lower limb joints possibly stopped everything healing well or quick enough so the muscles in my pelvis started to grip to maintain stability.... Who knows. I had an mri and everything was okay apart from bulky muscles in the pelvic floor and lots of vascularity which was no surprise. Might be worth getting an xray at least to check for an old fracture

Hiya - mine is generalised too and my symptoms spread to include really bad pain in starting in the tailbone which would then spread upwards into my lower back and buttocks. Mine can also feel like a bladder infection too (that's what I thought when it first started). Anyhow I've recently started seeing a new physio & she checked by tailbone Monday and found that is was misaligned (being pulled to right) and instead of gently curving down was at an angle of 90 degrees! The mis-alignment can be caused by a fall or simply by sitting for long periods of time & it can cause vulvodynia & a whole host of unpleasant symptoms. I googled misaligned coccyx.

Definitely worth you getting it checked out - my physio started correcting it on Monday & since then I've been able to sit without any pain! She also found that my pelvis was misaligned too (right hip higher than left) which could have caused the tailbone to pull to the right or it could be the other way around. Chicken and egg. Either way it's worth finding a physio who knows about this sort of thing & hopefully you'll get some relief. The first physio I tried wasn't much help it either. Don't give up there is help out there it's just really difficult to find.

Check this article out for an answer to the tailbone question:

http://healthyfocuspt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Vulvar-Pain-Article.pdf

With regards to your sit bone the obturator internus attaches there and is frequently involved in V

I'm really happy to read that I'm not the only one noticing a connection to my tailbone and hip problems and my vulvodynia pain! Thanks for the replies, everyone. Unfortunately I don't have health coverage, so going back to physio will have to wait until my financial situation is a bit more stable. Anyway, I'm almost 100% certain my pain is due to something structurally out of whack. I actually had my tailbone x-rayed not too long ago. The results didn't show anything that strange, so I gave up looking into it any further.

Also, that article provided is interesting. I wish doctors were more in tuned to this sort of thing. It took me so long just to finally be referred to a specialist who knows ANYTHING about vulvodynia and specializes in this sort of pain, it's disheartening.

Hi again I'm only just seeing this, I would get yourself a copy of Heal Pelvic Pain by Amy Stein which is all about musculoskeletal causes of V and has a program you can do alone at home so you could get started right away. She also covers internal massage and the various muscles which will cover the ones attached to the tailbone. The book is very inexpensive and available on Amazon so there's no reason not to get started while you have to wait to see someone.

What is a physio?