Pudendal Neuralgia

Pudendal Neuralgia is a condition in which there is pain along the distribution of the pudendal nerve.  The pudendal nerve gives sensation, motor control to the muscles around the perineum.  There can be many reasons why someone can experience pudendal neuralgia.  The common ones are prolonged sitting activities (bike riding, horseback riding), prolonged constipation, childbirth, squatting exercises, post operative procedures (hysterctomies, pelvic reconstruction), chronic infections (yeast infections, bacterial prostatitis, bladder infections). 

Symptoms can include:

• Burning, Sharp, shooting, stabbing type pain 
• Pain with sitting (which eases when sitting on a toilet)
• Pain with prolonged standing
• Vagina, Labial, Scrotal, Penile, Anal itching, burning numbness 
• Clothing Intolerance 
• Rectal/ Vaginal Pressure (feeling of an object in the rectum/vagina)
• Urinary Frequency/Urgency
• Urinary Hesitation 
• Pain during and after a bowel movement
• Constipation
• Decreased sexual function

Pudendal Nerve Entrapment is when the pudendal nerve is constricted or distorted within a fibrous band or tunnel.  The most common areas of entrapment is around the ligaments of the pelvis or sacroiliac joint (sacrospinous or sacrotuberous ligaments),  alcock's canal (tunnel in the pelvis) or around the base of the penis.