vulvodynia

[sundial]

Thanks Knot for the post and for being an ambassador of good saddles.

[sundial]

Knot, I would be curious to know what percentage of cyclists suffer from vulvodynia and is it more prevalent in cities with commuters?

[cylegoddess]

I had that. The saddle was too small and a mans saddle. I bought a sella italia, ladys one, and also Skins womens cycling shorts( heaven) . No pain now, none! It was awful too.

[KnottedYet]

Knot, I would be curious to know what percentage of cyclists suffer from vulvodynia and is it more prevalent in cities with commuters?

That I don't know. I'll have to look it up.

Cycling tends to get blamed for starting it off, as one of several possible contributing factors. I've had a couple women who gave up cycling because of vulvodynia and they desperately missed their bikes. One was the classic "tiny butt, wide pelvic outlet" who had always been given narrow saddles just because her butt was small, and had never actually been MEASURED at the sit bones. She had her pain and incontinence under control by the time she left our program, but was still afraid to return to cycling. Vulvodynia is baaaad stuff. (incontinence isn't any fun either, and it is really a separate issue; it interferes with life but at least you can sit down...)

Being a total bike nerd that I am, I always push the many many options available to get folks back on bikes. There are always options!

[malkin]

... the classic "tiny butt, wide pelvic outlet" ...

Wow! I've never been called a classic before!

Although one wierd, kinda rude guy on a group ride gazed disparagingly at my saddle, and when I told him it was comfortable, he said, "You must have a really unusual pelvis."

[KathiCville]

Wow, this thread is timely for me, I think! I've been riding now for a couple of years, but more intensely in the past six months. I noticed beginning about three months ago that being intimate with my BF was getting to be at first uncomfortable, and then actually painful. I've been attributing the discomfort to simply having officially entered menopause this past year, but now I'm wondering if there might be more to the story!

Thanks for posting this, especially the links to more info. My saddle is pretty comfortable---I'm not feeling undue pressure when I'm riding---at least not according to what I *think* is within bounds---but perhaps the cumulative effect of having a subtly-not-quite-right saddle is having a bigger effect than I was aware of.....I'll definitely schedule an appointment with my gyno to explore the issue more. The problem might not be vulvodynia, but whatever it is, I'd love to get to the bottom, so to speak, of the cause of the unusual (and worsening) pain I've been experiencing. At any rate, at least I'm now better educated about what could be the problem.....Thanks for the info!