Before deciding on any course of treatment for your pelvic pain, it’s important to be well informed to ensure you choose a practitioner who will support you in obtaining and maintaining optimum health. The following considerations may be helpful in finding a practitioner with whom you are comfortable: (some of the criteria may not apply to all situations.)

Does your Pelvic Pain Practitioner…

• Work with other health professionals to achieve the best outcomes for their clients? (e.g. physiotherapists, psychologists, pain specialists, urologists, dietitians, or gynecologists)
• Have a particular interest in pelvic pain? (e.g. do they have other clients with pelvic pain, do training to work with people who have pelvic pain, are they involved in pelvic pain research).
• Offer a range of options to manage pelvic pain? (This allows you to consider the treatment option that best suits your needs)
• Consider your wellbeing as a whole?
• Explain treatment options to you in ways that you can understand?
• Continue to work with you on managing your pain, even when no surgical procedures are required?

Questions you may wish to ask your Pelvic Pain Practitioner

• What experience do you have in working with people with pelvic pain? (this may include special training – or working within a pelvic pain health care team)
• What possible treatment options are there for my sort of pelvic pain? (this might include lifestyle changes, medications, diet, exercise, as well as operations, if required, what costs are involved, potential positive and negative outcomes)
• What life changes can I make myself to help with my pelvic pain?
• Which other health professionals/services do you recommend I see to help me learn how to manage my pelvic pain?
• What information and resources are available on the internet to help people with pain like mine.
• What is the next step?
• Can I access a Chronic Disease GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangement (previously called Enhanced Primary Care Plan)? This allows for subsidised visits to Allied Health Professionals including Physiotherapists.
• Can I access a Mental Health Care Plan to assist with subsidised visits to a psychologist to help manage my pain and help me cope with the stresses of life that may worsen my pain?