Investigation of Acute Effects of Myofascial Trigger Point Release in Women With Chronic Pelvic Pain

Turkey has been affected country from a busy and stressful lifestyle in our changing world and that leads to pelvic floor dysfunction has increased rapidly in Turkey. Pelvic pain that has in 1 out of every 7 women causes overactivity of pelvic floor muscles with increasing stress factors. In addition, it becomes chronic due to both the diagnosis process and the time-out of the right treatment and deteriorates the quality of life of women. There is no special pelvic floor physiotherapy for the management of pelvic pain in our country, which also causes psychosocial problems. On the other hand, myofascial trigger point release technique, which is proposed in addition to medical treatment alone or in pelvic floor physiotherapy, has been one of the current research areas in the world. However, there is no study in the national and international literature comparing internal and external myofascial trigger point relaxation techniques and also evaluating transperineal ultrasound. This study is unique in terms of comparing two different applications (internal and external trigger point relaxation technique) with ultrasound measurements in the literature.

33 women diagnosed with pelvic pain between the ages of 18-55 will be included in this study. Orthopedic tests for pelvic pain will be performed after routine gynecological examinations. After perineometer measurement, pelvic floor muscle sensitivity grading, ultrasound and pain score evaluation, participants will be randomized and divided into 3 groups. The first group will receive internal myofascial trigger point release technique, the second group will receive external myofascial trigger point release technique, and the third group will be shown a video of relaxation exercises related to pelvic pain. After the application, measurement of perineometer and pelvic floor muscle sensitivity grading, ultrasound and pain evaluations will be repeated.

The inclusion criteria:

• to have chronic pelvic pain for more than six months,
• to have 5 pelvic pain orthopedic tests (active straight leg raise (ASLR), flexion abduction external rotation (FABER), pelvic pain provocation (P4), long dorsal ligament palpation (LDL), The Gaenslen Test) and at least three of the tests are positive,
• to have good communication skills and accept to attend the study.

The exclusion criteria:

• pregnant women who have had a pregnancy in the last year or who are breastfeeding;
• other causes of pain (eg pain unrelated to pelvic region relations, dermatological conditions, herpes, vulvovaginal atrophy);
• menopause;
• urogynecological conditions (i.e. pelvic prolapse grade >3 according to the Pelvic Organ Prolapse - Quantification method (POP-Q) or a urinary or vaginal infection active or present in the last 3 months);
• history of pelvic floor surgery (e.g. corrective surgery for organ descent, urinary incontinence, hysterectomy, mesh surgery,TVT,TOT);
• previous pelvic floor rehabilitation treatments; 7) expected changes in medication that may affect the perception of pain (eg pain relievers, antidepressants);
• any other medical conditions that may interfere with the study procedures (eg hormonal, psychological, cardiovascular, hematological, neurological, pulmonary or renal);
• refusal to abstain from other treatments until the end of their participation in the study.