Can Dry Needling Help With Pelvic Floor Pain?
How Dry Needling Can Help You Move and Feel Better
Pelvic floor pain can be one of the most frustrating, isolating, and misunderstood experiences. It feels scary when something doesn’t seem to have a clear cause or easy fix. Whether it’s discomfort during certain movements, pain with sitting, or tension that won’t go away, you are not alone and most importantly, you’re not stuck with it.
At Empower Movement Physical Therapy, we treat pelvic floor conditions with a whole-body approach. One of the tools we often use to relieve pelvic tension, improve mobility, and reduce pain is dry needling. It’s safe, effective, and not as scary as it sounds.
Let’s talk about what pelvic floor pain really is and how dry needling can help.
What Is Pelvic Floor Pain?
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles, ligaments, and connective tissue that support your pelvic organs, stabilize your spine, and help with bladder, bowel, and sexual function.
When those muscles become tight, overactive, or irritated, it can lead to:
Aching or sharp pelvic pain
Pain with sitting or movement
Discomfort during sex
Lower back, hip, or groin tension
Urinary urgency or leakage
A feeling of heaviness or pressure
Pelvic floor pain can happen to anyone, but it’s especially common after pregnancy, injury, surgery, or high-stress periods (hello, clenched muscles!).
How Dry Needling Can Help
Dry needling uses thin, sterile needles to target trigger points and tight muscles in and around the pelvic region think: glutes, hip rotators, adductors (inner thighs), low back, and abdominal muscles. These muscles all impact the function of your pelvic floor.
Here’s what dry needling can do:
1. Release Deep Muscle Tension
Many of the muscles that impact pelvic floor function are deep and hard to reach with stretching or massage alone. Dry needling gets directly into those deep fibers to release tension and restore normal tone.
2. Calm Nerve Irritation
Pelvic pain often involves irritated nerves especially the pudendal nerve, which runs through the pelvis and can get compressed or inflamed. Dry needling can help calm the nervous system, reduce sensitivity, and retrain pain signals.
3. Improve Blood Flow and Healing
Tight muscles restrict blood flow, which slows healing. Dry needling stimulates circulation in areas that may have been “stuck,” helping your body do what it’s designed to do heal itself.
4. Support Better Movement and Function
When your pelvic floor and surrounding muscles are too tight or imbalanced, movement patterns get disrupted. Dry needling helps reset the system, making it easier to strengthen and retrain your muscles with targeted PT exercises.
Is It Safe Around the Pelvic Floor?
When performed by a licensed and trained physical therapist, dry needling around the pelvic region is safe and effective. We don’t insert needles directly into the pelvic floor muscles vaginally or rectally. Balanced, appropriate treatment of the surrounding areas that have a direct impact on pelvic floor function is safe and effective.
And just like everything at Empower Movement, you are in control. We talk you through the process, check in often, and only proceed with your full consent and comfort.
Real Talk: It’s Not a Magic Fix (But It’s a Powerful Tool)
Dry needling is just one part of a holistic plan. When combined with pelvic floor retraining, breathwork, mobility, and strength-based therapy, it can lead to significant, lasting relief while helping you feel more connected, strong, and pain-free in your body.
The Bottom Line
Pelvic floor pain is common but it’s not normal, and you don’t have to live with it. Dry needling is one of the many ways we help patients move better, feel better, and finally get relief.
→ If you’re struggling with pelvic pain, let’s talk.
We’ll work together to create a plan that feels safe, supportive, and tailored to your body.
Because healing happens when you feel empowered.