Propel Physiotherapy

Dos and Don’ts for managing vulvodynia

by | Dec 1, 2025 | Blogs

Exercise Rehabilitation at Propel Physiotherapy

Dos and Don’ts for managing vulvodynia

The diagnosis of Vulvodynia can be confusing, scary, and overwhelming. Studies show that vulvar pain affects as many as 1 in 3 women at some point during their lives and the medical community is finally getting better at diagnosing and treating it!
‘Vulvodynia’ simply means pain in the vulva. We consider ‘Vulvodynia’ to be an anatomic descriptor more than a diagnosis, there are a number of treatable causes of vulvar pain and effective care needs to be individualized. For the sake of this blog we are sharing general Do’s and Don’ts that can help the majority of people with vulvar pain regardless of the reason they have it.

Do’s:

Always get tested if you suspect infection

  • The infection could be chronic thrush, or bacterial vaginosis. Thus, getting a swab from the general practitioner is important. Please ensure that the general practitioner swabs the affected area, eg: if the vulval area is itchy, that they swab the vulva, not just the vagina.
  • If the swab comes back negative, then it is important to get a referral to see a gynaecologist. Other types of inflammatory and possible infection causes might require further biopsies from the specialist to ensure a clear diagnosis.

Wash your vulva with just water

Soaps may contain irritating dyes and substances are not needed and will not improve vulvodynia.

See a vulvar gynaecologist

It is important to see the gynaecologist as they have more experience in this field, and further test might have to be conducted to determine the contributing factors to vulvodynia.

See a pelvic floor physiotherapist

Pelvic floor physiotherapist with advanced training in pelvic pain syndromes are crucial to success! Please see our article on physiotherapy treatment for vulvodynia to get more information.

Do activities that help you to relax

This can really help with enhancing your parasympathetic system (relaxing system). Activities like diaphragmatic breathing, or pelvic stretches can help to improve your pelvic floor relaxation and relaxing the muscles around your pelvis.

 Don’ts:

Don’t assume you have a yeast infection

Please get a swab from the general practitioner prior to using any yeast creams or tablets, to ensure that there is a yeast infection.

Don’t use Over The Counter (OTC) yeast creams

Certain OTC treatments for yeast can cause allergic reactions and persistent vulvar pain. As we stated multiple times, it may not even be a yeast infection so we advise skipping OTC remedies, particularly those that can have persistent and problematic side effects. Please see a medical practitioner to get further guidance.

Don’t scrub your vulva with soap or exfoliate your vulva

Our vulvar tissue does not need to be scrubbed or washed with soap or exfoliated to be healthy!

Don’t use a dilator until you get guidance from the pelvic floor physiotherapist

The vulvar tissues are fragile and hypersensitive and dilators may not be therapeutic until the tissue health is improved. It is important to learn to relax your pelvic floor muscles prior to using dilators, and will work closely with you to ensure the best possible outcome.

Don’t have penetrative intercourse or insert anything vaginally if it worsens your pain

We highly recommend you to stop doing anything that reminds you or aggravates your vulval pain. It enhances a vicious pain cycle. Thus, it is important to see a pelvic floor physiotherapist, so we could help you to return back to inserting tampons, or having penetrative intercourse.
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