Understanding the Female Physical Examination in Patients with Chronic Pelvic and Perineal Pain

Augusto Pereira, Lucia Fuentes, Belén Almoguera Pérez-Cejuela, Pilar Chaves, Gema Vaquero, Tirso Pérez‐Medina
In: Journal of Clinical Medicine · 2022 · vol. 11(24) , pp. 7490 · doi:10.3390/jcm11247490 · PMID:36556104 · PMC9783077 · W4312195347
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 2 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study analyzed 107 female patients with chronic pelvic pain, finding physical examinations were similar across pain types and confirming high rates of central sensitization and pelvic floor/neuropathic pain.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

(1) Background: The objective was to compare the exploration of chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) patients in different locations and establish the role of physical examination in CPPS patients. (2) Methods: We reviewed clinical data from 107 female patients with CPPS unresponsive to conventional therapies at Puerta de Hierro University Hospital Madrid, Spain, from May 2018 to June 2022. Patients were classified into three groups: (a) pelvic pain; (b) anorectal pain; or (c) vulvar/perineal pain. (3) Results: Although the demographics of patients with CPPS were different, their physical examinations were strikingly similar. Our study observed a comorbidity rate of 36% and 79% of central sensitization of pain. Seventy-one percent of patients had vulvar allodynia/hyperalgesia. Pain on examination was identified in any pelvic floor muscle, in any pelvic girdle structure, and neuropathic pain in 98%, 96%, and 89%, respectively. Patients with vulvar and perineal pain were more different from the other groups; these patients were younger and had fewer comorbidities and less central sensitization, less anorectal pain, more pain during intercourse, and greater nulliparity (p = 0.022; p = 0.040; p = 0.048; p = 0.000; p = 0.006; p = 0.005). (4) Conclusions: The findings of this study are related to the understanding of the pathophysiology of CPPS. The physical examination confirms the central sensitization of female patients with CPPS, helps us to determine the therapeutic management of the patient, and can be considered as a prognostic factor of the disease.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

chronic_pelvic_pain

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (36)

Cited by (2)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-12T06:13:51.797165+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK