Pain during sexual intercourse - Causes and Symptoms

Related articles: Pain during sexual intercourse

Definition

In the woman

Dyspareunia is a painful disorder felt in the vagina or pelvis area during or immediately after sexual intercourse. The pain may arise at the time of vaginal penetration or during deep penetration of the penis and its subsequent movements. Furthermore, it can occur after the ejaculation of man, sometimes associated with burning of the post-coital vulva and dysuria (pain during the emission of urine).

Dyspareunia may occur in episodic or chronic form. The causes can include both psychological (eg fear and anxiety of penetration) and physical factors. Pain during sexual activity can result from an involuntary tension of some pelvic or uterine muscles (muscular hypertonus) or from an altered sensitization of the nervous system (chronic pain syndrome). Most commonly, dyspareunia can occur in vaginal infections or vaginitis. In post-menopausal women, it can instead occur due to atrophy of the vulvo-vaginal tissues (due to the lack of estrogen).

Dyspareunia can result from urinary tract infections, anatomical anomalies (congenital, uterine prolapse, scars resulting from traumas or outcomes of surgical operations) and diseases of the uterus and ovaries (eg fibroids, pelvic inflammatory disease and endometriosis). Furthermore, it can occur in the presence of Sjögren's syndrome and chronic bowel diseases.

Vaginismus causes, during sexual activity, pain similar to that of dyspareunia. In this case, however, the disorder continues even after the arrest of the movement of the penis and tends progressively to decrease during sexual intercourse (in dyspareunia, however, the pain stops when the movement of the penis stops and starts again when the act begins again sexual).

In humans

In humans, pain during sexual intercourse is often linked to inflammation of the mucosa of the glans, especially of microbial origin (venereal diseases). There may also be anatomical factors, such as the short frenulum, phimosis and Peyronie's disease (penile curvature); other times, the pain during the sexual act is due to factors dependent on the partner, for example due to vaginismus problems or poor lubrication.