Is There a Relationship Between Sexual Assault & Pelvic Floor Disorders?

Many psychological and physiological changes can develop in individuals who have experienced sexual assault. 

Side effects like depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, have been acknowledged as legitimate in the healthcare community and our society. 

But there is one set of conditions reported by survivors that hasn’t received much attention: Pelvic floor disorders. 

Pelvic floor disorders can greatly impact people’s quality of life, especially if they’re healing from a trauma such as sexual assault. Read this article to find out how sexual assault and pelvic floor disorders, like incontinence, are related. Plus, get advice from our expert Medical Advisor on how to take care of your health after sexual assault.

Pelvic floor disorders (PFDs) occur when your pelvic floor muscles or tissues are weakened or damaged. PFDs can happen to any person of any age, but they’re most common in older women.

Incontinence occurs when you lose control of your bladder or bowels. This condition can also happen to any person of any age; from children to adults to seniors, to males and females. The different types of incontinence you may experience fall under urinary incontinence (UI) or bowel / fecal incontinence.

Types of Incontinence

Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI): Leaking urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh, have intercourse, exercise, bend over, or lift heavy objects.

Urge Incontinence / Overactive Bladder (OAB): Feeling the sudden and intense urge to pee or urinating more than 8 times in 24 hours, resulting in leaks.

Overflow Incontinence: Dribbling urine throughout the day due to urinary retention (leftover pee) in the bladder.

Functional Incontinence: Having continence (control over your bladder) but leaking urine because of the inability to make it to the toilet due to medical conditions or other neurological conditions.

Bowel / Fecal Incontinence: Leaking fecal matter.

Mixed Incontinence: Experiencing one or more sets of incontinence symptoms at once (for example, leaking urine when you sneeze and peeing more than usual).

Causes of Incontinence

The causes of UI and bowel incontinence vary widely from person to person, but some include:

• Prostate problems (prostate cancer, benign prostate hyperplasia, etc.).
• Certain medications. 
• Special needs (autism, Down syndrome, etc.).
• Medical conditions (spina bifida, spinal cord injury, etc.).

A healthcare provider or urologist may be able to diagnose which type of PFD or incontinence you have based on your symptoms. In some cases, both may be treatable and reversible with proper care. In other cases, a person may manage these issues throughout their lifetime due to their unique condition.

Yes, there is a connection between sexual assault, PFDs, and incontinence. These conditions are also referred to as “gynecological” or “urogynecological” symptoms.

Research has shown an association between sexual assault and the following symptoms of PFDs:

Other research has shown that women who have been sexually assaulted perceive the following symptoms when compared to women who have not survived sexual assault:

• More severe fecal incontinence.
• More severe constipation.
• Impaired quality of life.

A recent 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis, which studied females of all ages with a history of sexual assault, explored whether assault increased the risk of gynecological morbidity (any issue with the reproductive system) compared to women without history of assault. 

The study, which took 25 years to complete, found that women who were sexually assaulted had a 42% higher risk of experiencing gynecological symptoms compared to women who had no history of sexual assault. 

These urogynecological symptoms from the study included: 

• Pelvic pain.
• UI
• Dyspareunia (genital pain that occurs before, during, or after intercourse).
• Dysmenorrhea (cramping and pelvic pain during menstruation).
• Abnormal menstrual bleeding.
• Vaginismus (tightening of vaginal muscles as a reaction to fear of vaginal penetration).
• POP
• Vulvodynia (chronic pain around the vulva with unidentifiable cause).

Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the probability of a woman with a history of sexual assault having urogynecological symptoms is 36% compared to 27% in women without a history of sexual assault. 

This means that women who have been sexually assaulted are 34% (or 1.34x) more likely to have symptoms that were found present in women included in the study.

While there is no validated or conclusive theory to why urogynecological symptoms may occur in some survivors of sexual assault and not others, there are several theories around the physiological impacts of psychological and physical trauma brought on by:

• Early adverse childhood experiences.
• Life stressors. 
• Life events.

These theories suggest that the following factors may contribute to PFDs and incontinence in sexual assault survivors:

• Organ changes: Adaptive and protective changes that may occur in survivors’ bodies can lead to changes in the organs, such as the bladder, bowel, uterus, and other associated structures and tissues.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): PTSD may develop in survivors which can put the body in a permanent “fight-or-flight” response, leading to physiological changes that can cause UI symptoms. 
• Issues with immune and nervous systems: The immune and nervous system in the body of a survivor may get “amped up” due to accumulated psychological and physical stress on their biological state. 
• Neuroendocrine maladaptation: Changes in survivors’ bodies, caused by chronic stress, can lead to the dysregulation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. 
• Psychosocial factors: Conditions experienced by some survivors, like depression and anxiety, may lead to chronically increased stress responses, involuntary muscle tension, and the previously mentioned amped up neuroimmune response. 
• Neuroimmune pathological changes: Changes in survivors’ sympathetic nervous system may lead to “overprotection” and hyperinflammatory states in the body.
• Neuroimmune “bioplastic” changes: Changes in survivors’ bodies which can result in peripheral and central nervous system (CNS) sensitization, as well as changes within the cortical body matrix which subserves the protection and regulation of the physical and psychological body.

If you’re experiencing symptoms of PFDs or incontinence based on a history of sexual assault, there are treatments available. We recommend you take the following steps to address your symptoms.

1. Find trauma-informed care. It’s recommended by our experts that if you are a survivor of sexual assault– whether you’re experiencing urogynecological symptoms or not– you obtain care from trauma-informed providers. These types of providers care for you as a whole and acknowledge the impact trauma can have. They are trained to identify signs of trauma and follow 5 principals: Safety, Choice, Collaboration, Trustworthiness, Empowerment. 

Finding these types of doctors can also help avoid re-traumatization during care. Your clinicians should be people you can trust and feel safe with, as well as people who respect your boundaries and understand your unique needs.

• Psychotherapist: Psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, or counselor who specializes in different types of therapy. 

2. Make a plan with your provider(s). Once you’ve found trauma-informed healthcare professionals, you can make a plan to begin addressing any psychological or physiological issues that may be attributed to sexual assault. You may also create a plan to treat or reverse your PDF / incontinence symptoms with a specialist like a pelvic floor physical therapist or urologist. 

3. Remember that help is available. Surviving sexual assault and managing the multitude of symptoms and effects that may develop afterward can be challenging. Remember that help is available and that you are not alone.

Sexual assault is a sensitive topic for many survivors, and for some, it’s not only the experience itself that carries weight. 

The immediate and long-term side effects that can present themselves after assault are also delicate subjects, but they are acknowledged by our society, which may make speaking up about such effects and getting help easier for survivors.

Psychological and physiological changes, such as PTSD, substance use disorder, anxiety, and more, have been correlated to sexual assault in healthcare and research spaces. PFDs and incontinence have been linked to sexual assault, but, as these types of urinary issues go, there is a stigma around discussing them openly. They’re seen as “embarrassing” or “shameful”-- to the point where some women report hiding their symptoms from healthcare providers and family members. 

By educating ourselves about PFDs and incontinence and acknowledging that these conditions can happen to anyone at any time in their lives, we will not only destigmatize the topics for the general public, but also create awareness for sexual assault survivors, making their path to healing clearer. 

If you have been sexually assaulted and wish to get help, you can text the Crisis Hotline or call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.

Hassam, T., Kelso, E., Chowdary, P., Yisma, E., Mol, B. W., & Han, A. (2020). Sexual assault as a risk factor for gynaecological morbidity: An exploratory systematic review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 255, 222–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejogrb.2020.10.038

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Paras, M. L., Murad, M. H., Chen, L. P., Goranson, E. N., Sattler, A. L., Colbenson, K. M., Elamin, M. B., Seime, R. J., Prokop, L. J., & Zirakzadeh, A. (2009). Sexual Abuse and Lifetime Diagnosis of Somatic Disorders. JAMA, 302(5), 550. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2009.1091

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Information provided on the Aeroflow Urology website is not intended as a substitute to medical advice or care from a healthcare professional. Aeroflow recommends consulting your healthcare provider if you are experiencing medical issues relating to incontinence.