What causes tension in vaginal muscles and how can it provoke vaginismus

Tightening of your vaginal muscles might lead you to encounter situations that can cause excruciating pain. For some women, the cause of a tight vagina is a loss of arousal or lacking lubrication. In others, pain during sexual intercourse causes the vagina to become tight, generally referred to as vaginismus.

Vaginismus is a condition defined by the uncontrolled contraction of the vagina during penetration. It leads to critical issues with relationships, female sexuality, and mental well-being. Women having vaginismus might continue suffering in silence for years before seeking treatment. One of the most fitting ways to manage vaginismus is learning to loosen the tight vaginal or pelvic floor muscles.

Pelvic Floor Muscles or Vaginal Muscles:

Pelvic floor muscles are a set of muscles that circle a woman's pelvis, the area between the abdomen and thighs. The pelvic floor holds the pelvic organs, including the uterus, vagina, bladder, and bowel.
Pelvic muscles assist in preventing unintended peeing or holding urination in times of need. They also let you control flatulence (passing of gas) and bowel action (pooping) on purpose. Additionally, to bodily function maintenance, pelvic muscles contract when a female has an orgasm or is sexually aroused.
In a physically matured woman, the vagina is about 4-5 inches long. It's a tube-shaped, flexible organ that joins the external female genitalia with the uterus. As the central opening for penetration, tight vaginal muscles during vaginal penetration cause severe pelvic pain.

How to Identify These Muscles?

There are some techniques you can apply to determine your vaginal or pelvic floor muscles:
● Stretch in your pelvic floor by envisioning having to control a urine stream. It would be suitable if you did not attempt doing this when your bladder is already full to avoid the risk of getting a urinary tract infection (UTI). Also, your muscles can feel weak from the effort. While you think of the streaming urine, contract the muscles to stop the urine from flowing out.
● Insert a dilator into the vagina and meanwhile squeeze the muscles encompassing the dilator. During this procedure, you would experience your vagina becoming tightened and the upward-lifting of your pelvic floor muscles.
● Narrow or squeeze the muscle tissues that support you to block a bowel movement or releasing gas. Do not tighten your buttocks, abdomen, or inner thighs during this process. If you lift your body even slightly, your butt muscles might become contracted. When this happens, that means you are not squeezing your vaginal muscles but instead the region surrounding the pelvic organ.

By specifying your vaginal muscle tissues, you'll be capable of relaxing them during pelvic floor exercises. If you require additional help identifying or understanding your pelvic floor muscles, consult your doctor or medical expert for a piece of skilled advice.

Causes of Tension in Pelvic Floor Muscles?

Tightening of vaginal muscles is a more common condition than people consider, and the cause can be psychological or physiological, such as:

Vaginismus

Women who are undergoing vaginismus experience uncontrollable contracting of the muscles encompassing the lower part of the vagina.

Vaginismus is mainly of two types:

● Primary vaginismus
● Secondary vaginismus

Primary vaginismus is a female sexual health condition that exists throughout a female's life. It might not exhibit itself until encountering sexual pain or during pelvic exams, but this health state might not arise from a direct cause.

Secondary vaginismus is classified as a condition that occurs in a woman who experienced no severe pain during vaginal penetration in the past but encounters extreme pain now during sex. Tension and fear linked with sexual intercourse become aggravated and persistent, making penetration remarkably painful or even impossible. The main reasons for sexual dysfunction comprise:
● Menopausal symptoms
● Relationship issues
● Injury in pelvis
● Cancer (pelvic floor radiation therapy)
● Medical surgery
● Side effects of certain medications

Pain During Sex

Dyspareunia is chronic or recurrent pain in the vagina during sexual activity. Pain during sex can happen at any time during or after the sexual activity. The causes of dyspareunia include:
● Vaginismus
● Menopause
● Hormonal imbalance or fluctuating levels
● Lesser lubrication during sex
● Trauma, delivery of a baby, accident, pelvic operation
● Certain medicines inhibit desire and decrease lubrication
● Radiotherapy or chemotherapy

The fortunate thing is that you can treat vaginismus by relaxing vaginal muscles and help women enjoy their sex life.

Relaxing the Vaginal Muscles:

Understanding how to loosen your vaginal muscles improves the ability to ease the distress and tearing linked with vaginismus. The treatment of vaginismus usually entails a combination of pelvic floor therapies and medicines for topical application before having sex.

Long term treatment usually concentrates on:

● exercising to slowly get your body used to penetration
● controlling your anxieties and focusing on good feelings related to sex