Pelvic Floor Acupuncture

You have been told this is normal. It is not.

YOU HAVE PROBABLY BEEN HERE A WHILE.

Maybe your pelvic floor physical therapy helped, and then it stopped helping. Maybe you have seen five providers and none of them could name what is happening. Maybe someone told you the pain was in your head, or that this is just what happens after childbirth, or that you should try to relax.

You are not imagining this. Pain is real when you feel it, and it is real to me.

WHAT IS PELVIC FLOOR DYSFUNCTION?

Your pelvic floor is a group of muscles running from your pubic bone to your tailbone. They support your bladder, your bowel, and your reproductive organs. They govern urination, bowel function, sexual function, core stability, and how pressure moves through your abdomen when you breathe.

When those muscles are too tight, too weak, or not coordinating well, that is pelvic floor dysfunction. It affects women and men. It shows up in more ways than most people expect.

When the pelvic floor is too tight

Pelvic pain or a feeling of pressure. Painful intercourse, particularly with deeper penetration. Difficulty starting urination, or a sense that your bladder never fully empties. Constipation, or straining with bowel movements. Tailbone pain, especially when sitting. The sensation of sitting on something small and hard. Burning or stabbing pain in the pelvic region. Symptoms that worsen under stress.

When the pelvic floor is too weak

Leaking with coughing, sneezing, laughing, or exercise. A feeling of heaviness or bulging in the pelvis. Difficulty holding urine when the urge arrives.

CONDITIONS I TREAT

Hypertonic Pelvic Floor

Chronically tight muscles that have forgotten how to release. Treatment focuses on trigger points, breathing patterns, and calming a nervous system that has been braced for a long time. This is systemic, so we work the whole body, not only the pelvis.

Chronic Pelvic Pain and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

Pain that persists past the point where anyone expected it to. Often no single cause is ever named. That does not mean nothing is happening.

Painful Intercourse

Pain with penetration, pain with depth, pain that arrives after. Sometimes there is a clear structural reason. Sometimes the tissue looks normal and the pain is still real.

Vulvodynia and Vaginismus

Burning, stinging, or rawness with no visible cause. Involuntary tightening that makes penetration difficult or impossible. Both respond to work that addresses the nervous system alongside the muscles.

Pudendal Neuralgia

Pain along the pudendal nerve, often worse with sitting. Frequently misdiagnosed, frequently dismissed. The sacral nerve roots that form this nerve are directly reachable with needling.

Levator Ani Syndrome

Deep pelvic floor muscle spasm, often felt as rectal or tailbone pain, sometimes as a vague ache that resists description.

Tailbone Pain

Pain at the coccyx, usually worse when sitting and worse still when rising. Often related to the muscles that attach there rather than to the bone itself.

Overactive Bladder and Urge Incontinence

The sudden urge that arrives without warning. Difficulty holding. Frequency that organizes your day around bathrooms.

Stress Urinary Incontinence

Leaking with coughing, sneezing, laughing, lifting, or exercise.

Interstitial Cystitis

Bladder pain and urinary urgency without infection.

Pelvic Floor Related Constipation

Straining, incomplete evacuation, or difficulty coordinating the muscles that should release.

Endometriosis Related Pelvic Pain

Pain that persists alongside or after treatment for endometriosis, often driven by the pelvic floor's long response to it.

Pregnancy Related Pelvic Girdle Pain

Pain at the pubic symphysis, sacroiliac joints, or low back during pregnancy.

Postpartum Recovery

The pelvic floor after birth, whatever the birth looked like.

Lower Back and Sacroiliac Pain

Pain at the base of the spine, particularly where it connects to the pelvis.

HOW I APPROACH TREATMENT

Your pelvic floor does not work in isolation.

It sits at the bottom of what is sometimes called the core canister. The diaphragm above. The deep abdominal muscles in front. The back muscles behind. The pelvic floor below. These four work as one pressure system, and when any part of it is off, the pelvic floor compensates.

So I do not only treat the pelvic floor. I assess and treat the whole system. Hips. Core. Sacrum. Breathing.

Treatment may include acupuncture for nervous system regulation and pain modulation; external needling of the pelvic floor and surrounding musculature, including obturator internus, piriformis, and levator ani; electroacupuncture along the sacrum, for chronic tension and neuromodulation of the nerve roots that supply the pelvis; and breathing work, because diaphragm function and pelvic floor function are directly connected.

Sessions vary depending on what we are addressing. Early on, we may work with hips, glutes, sacrum, and abdomen. As we progress, we work closer to the pelvic floor itself.

Pelvic floor acupuncture is done side lying, with plenty of pillows and bolsters so that you are comfortable.

I needle the pelvic floor externally. I trained under Dr. Krystal Couture, DPT, LAc., a doctor of physical therapy and acupuncturist, who specializes in this approach. No internal needling. No needling of the genital area.

I tell you what I am about to do before I do it. Every time. We check in throughout.

WHAT YOUR FIRST VISIT LOOKS LIKE

We get to know each other. You tell me what has been happening, in as much detail as you want to share. Nothing is too much information here.

We talk about your treatment goals, and I tell you more about how pelvic acupuncture can help.

We do a physical exam to determine how best to treat your condition.

You are in the driver's seat throughout. Consent is not a form you sign once. You can revoke it at any moment, for any reason, or for no reason at all. We can remove a needle, move to another part of the body, or stop entirely. That is a hard stop, without judgment and without explanation.

WHAT TREATMENT ACTUALLY TAKES

Eight to twelve sessions.

In the first few visits we build a foundation. Once that foundation is strong, we go deeper into pelvic floor work.

Acupuncture builds over time. A commitment to your treatment cadence is what creates results that hold.

I want to be honest rather than promise you a fast fix. Pain that took years to develop rarely resolves in one appointment.

WORKING ALONGSIDE YOUR OTHER PROVIDERS

If you are seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist, I want to work with them, not instead of them. Internal work and external needling do different things, and many patients progress faster when both are happening.

If you are not seeing another pelvic health provider and I think you would benefit, I will tell you, and I will make the referral.

This is collaboration. You should not have to choose.

ONE PATIENT AT A TIME.

Your appointment time is yours. No overlapping schedules. No one waiting in the next room.

Care here is trauma informed and consent forward. Weight, identity, gender expression, and life stage are never barriers to high quality care. My philosophy of care is grounded in Health at Every Size principles and inclusive practice.

INSURANCE AND PAYMENT

Courageous Heart Acupuncture is in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois PPO plans. Self pay rates and session packages are available. See Insurance & Payment for more.