ProLove

Somatocognitive therapy in treatment of provoked localized vestibulodynia (ProLove study)

Leader: Associate Professor Slawomir Wojniusz

Other collaborators:

  • Gro Killi Haugestad
  • Anne Lise Helgesen
  • karen Synne Groven

PhD students:

  • Mette Bøymo Kaarbø
  • Kristine Danielsen

Vestibulodynia is a common condition affecting 8-12% of women in reproductive age. The main symptom is a sharp pain occurring during intercourse or pressure against vaginal opening. Vestibulodynia is a complex, not fully understood condition. Physiotherapy is commonly recommended but its effectiveness has not been thoroughly investigated in high quality clinical studies.

In this project we wish to investigate the effectiveness of somatocognitive physiotherapy against the best current practice in a high quality randomized controlled trial.

We plan to include 130 patients between the ages of 18 to 35 to participate in the study. Half of the patients will follow the treatment as recommended by the Vulva clinic at Oslo University Hospital, while the other half will be treated with somatocognitive physiotherapy.