Prevalence and correlates of three types of pelvic pain in a nationally representative sample of Australian women

To the Editor: So a large proportion of women experience pelvic pain, often over years. What’s new? Of course they do. Pitts and colleagues1 fail to mention that virtually every normal, physiological event that occurs within a woman’s pelvis is associated with pain. Clearly, such pains vary in duration and intensity and are associated with events such as ovulation, menstruation, pregnancy, labour and childbirth. We men have it easy by comparison. But to conclude by saying that “only about a third of women who experience chronic pelvic pain seek advice from a health professional” gives the impression the authors are trying to medicalise yet another essentially normal event.

One can get into long, philosophical discussions as to why such normal events should be so painful, but it remains a fact. I have spent my career urging general practitioners and fellow specialists to avoid surgery and “silver bullets” in most cases of pelvic pain and follow a conservative approach.2 It would have been more helpful if the authors had gone on to discuss what type of pain is suffered by what type of woman and who is treated by what type of doctor. This truly would have assisted in determining who would benefit from the attention of a health professional and who would not.