In reply: We are pleased to see our article about chronic pelvic pain in Australian women has provoked interest.1 Black’s suggestion that virtually every normal physiological event that occurs within a woman’s pelvis is associated with pain is surprising, and not supported by our evidence. Of the women in our sample, 23% were totally pain free, and most of the chronic pelvic pain reported was mild. A parallel study showed that men also suffered chronic pelvic pain — a smaller proportion than women, but still significant.2 We are not medicalising normal events; rather, we are alerting general practitioners to the normal range of pelvic pain experience to help them assess its clinical significance. A GP who says to a female patient “it’s normal, love, just grin and bear it” denies the psychosocial complexity of her experience.
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- 1 Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC.
- 2 School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.
- 1. Pitts MK, Ferris JA, Smith AMA, et al. Prevalence and correlates of three types of pelvic pain in a nationally representative sample of Australian women. Med J Aust 2008; 189: 138-143. <MJA full text>
- 2. Pitts MK, Ferris JA, Smith AMA, et al. Prevalence and correlates of three types of pelvic pain in a nationally representative sample of Australian men. J Sex Med 2008; 5: 1223-1229.
- 3. Bennett MI, Attal N, Backonja MM, et al. Using screening tools to identify neuropathic pain. Pain 2007; 127: 199-203.