When it comes to relaxing the vaginal muscles, it's important to first identify what the pelvic floor muscles are and what causes them to become tight.
Your pelvic floor is a group of muscles and their attachments that sit like a hammock in between your two pelvic (innominate) bones.
These muscles have three primary functions which include supporting your pelvic and abdominal organs such as your bladder, rectum/anus, and sexual/reproductive organs from falling out of your body, assisting in sexual arousal and orgasm, and controlling bowel and bladder movements. (Grimes)
Tightness of the pelvic floor muscle can be due to over-activity or increased tone of these muscles also. Overactivity of your pelvic floor can be caused by:
Your pelvic floor muscles are considered postural muscles that have to work throughout the day to support your pelvic organs and prevent leaking of urine or feces.
Similar to other postural muscles like the trapezius at the top of the shoulders, your pelvic floor muscles are prone to hold tension causing increased tone and tenderness unless these muscles are periodically relaxed or stretched.
Furthermore, medical conditions or experiences that cause pain in the pelvic region may induce increased tone in the pelvic floor as your body tries to tighten up to protect itself.
Unfortunately, this can create a pain cycle where your body feels pain or fears pain, so it tightens up to avoid pain, where this tightness worsens pain and fear, leading to more tightness, and so on.
Preventing and reducing unwanted tension in your pelvic floor muscles through consistent practice of pelvic floor muscle relaxation techniques can help break the pain cycle, reduce pelvic floor dysfunction caused by hypertonicity, and restore the health of your vaginal muscles.
Techniques for PFM relaxation include:
Pelvic floor physical therapy (PT) is a specialized form of physical therapy. Common disorders that can benefit from pelvic floor physical therapy include pelvic pain, urinary or fecal incontinence, constipation, male pelvic health, pregnancy and postpartum pelvic health, and pediatric pelvic health according to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).
Pelvic floor physical therapists (PFPT) undergo extra training in assessing and treating disorders of the pelvic floor.
These physical therapists can help determine if you have vaginal muscle tightness and can assist you in learning to relax these muscles using therapy as well as make recommendations for medical devices such as Intimate Rose Vaginal Dilators.
Pelvic floor physical therapy has been proven to be very successful with most disorders of the pelvic floor and is recommended as an initial treatment for these disorders due to the high success rates and limited risk associated with PT treatments. (Wallace)
Learning to relax the pelvic floor takes practice, but with time it allows you to overcome issues of overactive pelvic floor including pelvic pain.
Additional Resources:
References
Grimes WR, Stratton M. Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. [Updated 2020 Jun 28]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2020 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559246/
Butrick CW. Pelvic floor hypertonic disorders: identification and management. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 2009 Sep;36(3):707-22. doi: 10.1016/j.ogc.2009.08.011. PMID: 19932423.
Wallace SL, Miller LD, Mishra K. Pelvic floor physical therapy in the treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction in women. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2019 Dec;31(6):485-493. doi: 10.1097/GCO.0000000000000584. PMID: 31609735.
https://aptapelvichealth.org/patienteducation/
Medically Reviewed & Published: October 7, 2020