Posture, movement patterns, and body awareness in women with chronic pelvic pain.
OBJECTIVE
Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a common cause of infirmity but is still poorly understood. We studied the clinical characteristics, including body awareness, of 60 women with this diagnosis compared to those of healthy controls in an effort to understand its pathophysiology and to develop a more efficient treatment protocol.


METHODS
After prior gynecologic and psychometric evaluation, the women were examined with the Standardized Mensendieck Test to evaluate posture and movement patterns. Pain history and pain score were obtained, and patterns of muscular density, elasticity, and tenderness were determined by palpation. The body awareness of patients was assessed through clinical evaluation.


RESULTS
Seventy percent of the patients had a history of trauma or infection of the genitourinary region. The average pain score (+/-S.D.) on a scale from 0 to 10 was 6.01+/-1.60. Nearly all patients had a dissociative pattern, with a lack of contact and control of large body regions. All scores for posture and movement patterns were significantly worse in patients than in healthy women.


CONCLUSIONS
A specific pattern of pain, posture, movement, muscle pathology, and reduced awareness of one's own body was found in women with CPP. These findings may increase our understanding of, and may point toward new treatment strategies for, this disease.
Haugstad
Gro Killi
GK
Department of Psychosomatic and Behavioral Medicine, Rikshospitalet, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. grokilli.haugstad@hf.hio.no
Haugstad
Tor S
TS
Kirste
Unni M
UM
Leganger
Siv
S
Wojniusz
Slawomir
S
Klemmetsen
Inger
I
Malt
Ulrik F
UF
D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D001828:Body Image; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D009129:Muscle Tonus; D017699:Pelvic Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D010808:Physical Examination; D011187:Posture; D012016:Reference Values; D012119:Respiration