Endometriosis

Endometriosis is defined as the occurrence of tissue that normally lines the uterus starts to grow outside of the uterus. This can lead to some abdominal and pelvic discomfort and pain. Similar to IC/bladder pain and chronic pelvic pain, there can be a central nervous system disruption leading to a centralization of pain. Centralization of pain is from inflammation in the nervous system tissues, creating muddled signals from the body to the brain which results in a complex, often indescribable, perception of pain. As a result, the pelvic floor muscles (PFM) can become ‘overactive’ where the muscles may become rather tense because these wonderful muscles are just trying to protect your pelvis from this painful sensation. Pelvic Floor Therapy (PFT) can help by assessing the PFMs and help retrain these muscles to react appropriately. PFT will also help with desensitizing the central nervous system, addressing the inflamed nervous system tissues, and clear up those muddled signals causing this pain. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can also be an integral approach to helping with rewiring our mind and body connection to further clear those muddled signals. Your OBGYN will usually diagnose someone with endometriosis and they can determine if surgery is necessary or not. I always try to encourage patients to trial cognitive therapy and physical therapy before surgery to see if it can help reduce or even possibly eliminate pain before undergoing a more invasive procedure.