A phenomenological study of women who presented to a physiotherapy-led continence service with dyspareunia and were treated with trigger point massage

Author(s): N. Mackenzie - Pages: 24–39

Abstract

This study explores the experiences of female subjects with dyspareunia who underwent trigger point massage (TPM) as part of their physiotherapy treatment for this condition. The author used a phenomenological approach to investigate the perceptions of women with dyspareunia to TPM of their pelvic floor muscles (PFMs). All patients who received TPM during the study period were invited for interview. The data were collected by in-depth, face-to-face interviews, which were tape-recorded. The interviews were then transcribed and subjected to Colaizzi’s data analysis framework in order to determine themes and meanings from the interview data. Three themes emerged: the women’s agony; their feeling of breaking through a wall; and finally, their impression of getting better and better after their treatment. Dyspareunia had a much wider impact on the subjects’ quality of life than painful sexual intercourse alone: it impacted on their ability to sit, and affected their work and leisure. All of the women in this study felt that their symptoms improved after they received physiotherapy that included TPM for their PFMs.

Keywords: dyspareunia, pelvic floor muscles, phenomenology, physiotherapy, trigger point massage.