025 - Carolyn Vandyken - Pelvic Pain - What Are We Missing?

The Women’s Health Podcast

In Episode #25 we have the great pleasure in interviewing Carolyn Vandyken - an extremely knowledgeable and experienced pelvic health and musculoskeletal physiotherapist (and educator!) based in Canada. This is a must-listen for anyone who works with clients who have musculoskeletal pain or pelvic floor dysfunction - ie EVERYONE!

Carolyn is a physiotherapist, educator, researcher and advocate in the areas of low back pain, pelvic health and pain science. She has been practicing for 33 years and is passionate about helping therapists get out of their silos and integrate a biopsychosocial perspective. Her research is in the area of connecting pelvic health to low back pain.

In this interview, we discuss
- what pelvic pain is and what it might look like
- the link between the lumbar spine and pelvic pain
- how pelvic floor dysfunction might masquerade as other types of musculoskeletal pain such as low back or groin pain
- why pelvic floor screening is so important for all musculoskeletal /sports physiotherapists and fitness professionals to consider and how they might go about it
- why consideration of the whole person is so important when helping clients with symptoms
of pelvic pain or pelvic floor dysfunction

If you would like to get in touch with Carolyn Vandyken you can find her at: https://www.physioworksmuskoka.com

Here are some of the articles that Carolyn wanted to share with everyone:

Hilton S, Vandyken C. 2011. The puzzle of pelvic pain. A rehabilitation framework for balancing tissue dysfunction and central sensitization, I: Pain physiology and evaluation for the physical therapist. JWHPT 35:103-113.

Vandyken C, Hilton S. 2012. The puzzle of pelvic pain. A rehabilitation framework for balancing tissue dysfunction and central sensitization, II: A review of treatment considerations. JWHPT 36:44-54.

Louw A., Hilton, S. Vandyken C. 2014. Why Pelvic Pain Hurts: Neuroscience education for patients with pelvic pain. Minneapolis: OPTP.

Vandyken C., Chapter contribution to the IASP proceedings of the 1st International Congress on Abdomino-pelvic pain, 2014.

Vandyken C., Hilton S.: An Integrative Approach to Physiotherapy; Chapter contribution in Padoa, A., & Rosenbaum, T. The Overactive Pelvic Floor (2016).

Vandyken C., Hilton S. 2017. Physical Therapy in the Treatment of Central Pain Mechanisms in Female Sexual Dysfunction. Sex Med Rev 5: 20-30

Dufour, S., Vandyken, B., Forget, M., & Vandyken, C. (2018). Association between lumbopelvic pain and pelvic floor dysfunction in women: A cross sectional study. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 34, 47-53.

Keizer, A., Vandyken, B., Vandyken, C., Yardley, D., Macedo, L., Kuspinar, A., Faghani, N., Forget, MJ., & Dufour, S. 2019. Predictors of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Among Women with Lumbopelvic Pain. Physical Therapy