Healing Your Pudendal Neuralgia at Home

When your pudendal nerve or pelvic fascia becomes damaged, compressed, seized, or otherwise inflamed, it can cause a host of issues that affect your quality of life. Pain, numbness and tingling in the buttocks and genitals might not even be the worst of it, as pudendal neuralgia and pelvic myofascial pain can also cause issues with your bladder, ED in men, and painful sex coupled with low arousal in women. Sex is important in a healthy adult lifestyle, so this then creates a vicious cycle, because anxiety and nervousness associated with sexual performance can also exacerbate the issues with your pudendal nerve and pelvic fascia.

The good news is, when treated carefully and diligently, therapies for healing pudendal neuropathy are simple, and don’t need to involve a lick of medication or any invasive procedures. In fact, there are tons of things you can do yourself to relieve your pudendal nerve pain and get back to having a healthy, pain-free sex life.

Let’s get into what you can do to heal pudendal neuralgia at home, what things to avoid to manage your pudendal pain in the meantime:

Holistic Methods to Relax Muscles & Release the Pudendal Nerve

Every body is different, which is why a doctor will often confirm the diagnosis of your pelvic pain as pudendal nerve-related via an MRI. This shows the doctor the structure and path of the nerve, which can vary somewhat from person to person. Unfortunately, the MRI cannot see or distinguish myofascial pelvic pain.

Often, problems with the surrounding muscles, particularly the piriformis, as well as the sacrospinal ligaments are culprits of pudendal nerve pain, as they can compress, injure or disrupt the nerve. Sometimes, congenital issues are what leads to neuralgia. Other causes include sitting too much, excessive hip use from exercise, and trauma. Unfortunately, these activities also cause myofascial pelvic pain.

So, how do we release the pudendal nerve? There are several methods.

• Simply making an effort to stand more throughout the day reduces the time you’re compressing the nerve by sitting.
• Herbs consumed orally or as vaginal or anal suppositories can be used at home to relax and calm your irritated pudendal nerve. These include:
  • Alpha-lipoic Acid
  • Motherwort
  • John’s Wort
  • Valerian Root
• Physical therapy, including musculoskeletal manipulation and deep-tissue massage can realign structures and reduce pressure on the pudendal nerve and surrounding soft tissue structures, and also relieve myofascial pelvic pain.
• Pelvic floor exercises will strengthen the pelvic muscles around the pudendal nerve, helping to improve support for the nerve’s pathway and reduce myofascial pelvic pain.
• Using a donut or U-shaped pillow when you’re sitting for long periods of time greatly reduces pressure on the pudendal nerve and pelvic floor fascia, allowing both to relax and heal.
• Some doctors have seen great results in patients who take up yoga to relax their pudendal nerve and pelvic floor fascia. Certain poses and movements are known to release the muscles and ligaments in the lower pelvic and genital region:
  • Side-lying hip abduction (Commonly referred to as Clams)
  • Standing backwards leg lifts
  • Modified bridges with your legs spread wider than standard bridges
  • Cat-Cow pose (On your hands and knees, arching and then hunching your back)
  • Side leg lifts while on all-fours
  • Cobra pose

Avoid These Activities that Irritate the Pudendal Nerve and Pelvic Fascia

While gentle and low-impact exercises like those yoga and Pilates-related ones we discussed above, there are also things you should avoid while waiting for your pudendal neuropathy to resolve:

• Weight lifting
• Squats and leg presses
• Biking
• Running
• Excessive masturbation
• Rollerblading
• Straining when defecating
• Off-road driving and ATV recreation

Can Pudendal Neuralgia Actually Heal without Medical Procedures?

The short answer is, yes! It’s completely realistic to heal pudendal neuralgia without pharmaceuticals or surgery. In fact, surgery should be far and away your last resort; it can do additional damage, and healing time can take up to a year. Whereas, with an at-home treatment regimen and regular deep-tissue massage at a health and wellness clinic, most cases of mild-to-moderate pudendal neuropathy and the associated pain can be healed by your own hands in just a few weeks. You can basically become your own physical therapist about it.

But first, contact a physician focused in holistic and regenerative healing to confirm your pelvic pain is, in fact, pudendal neuralgia, and let them create a plan for correcting the issues with your pudendal nerve and pelvic fascia naturally yourself.