Chronic pelvic pain

Abstract In this chapter Drs Glover and Pearce begin by describing the prevalence of pelvic pain and the associated cost to health services. An aetiological model of pelvic pain is outlined in which pathophysiological processes in the pelvis (which include abnormal venous congestion) interact with psychological factors to produce the sensation of pelvic pain. A preoccupation with disease explanations for the pain, increased attention to the somatic sensations, and the acquisition of ‘pain behaviours’, may all then act to perpetuate a syndrome of chronic pelvic pain.