Vaginal Dilators vs. Pelvic Floor Wands: Which Is Right for You?
At Foundations Pelvic Health in our Boston clinic, we often recommend various tools to help with your pelvic floor concerns. While there is a wide range of tools, two of the most common ones that we recommend include vaginal dilators and pelvic floor wands to help those with pelvic pain. Each serves its own unique purpose, so how do you know which one is right for you?
It is recommended to be first seen by a pelvic therapist to help you decide, however, let's break down what each of them do:
Our pelvic floor PT showing a patient a variety of vaginal dilators and pelvic floor wands. These tools may be part of your pelvic floor PT treatment plan.
Vaginal Dilators:
Vaginal dilators are tube-like medical devices that gradually increase in size, meant to help with increasing stretch to the vaginal opening/canal. They can be made from silicone, plastic, or other material. Dilators are often used in a progressive way. Usually, patients usually start with the smaller sizes, and work their way up through the sizes as tolerance improves.
They can be helpful to:
improve tissue elasticity
relax pelvic floor muscles
desensitize the vaginal opening or canal
reduce pain with penetration (dyspareunia)
improve tolerance to deeper penetration
increase or maintain tissue mobility after gender-affirming surgery
support recovery from post-radiation therapy, surgery, and for diagnoses such as vulvodynia or vaginismus
Our favorite dilators to recommend:
VWell Dilator Set (confusingly called a wand set, but they’re dilators!)
Additionally, using vaginal dilators can help desensitize the nervous system by introducing gentle, predictable, and non-threatening input to the vaginal tissues and pelvic floor muscles. When starting off with dilators, it is important to know that one size does not fit all. If you are feeling hesitant about which dilator size to start with, seeing a pelvic floor therapist can be beneficial for you!
Pelvic Floor Wand:
Pelvic floor wands are tools designed to help release pelvic floor muscles. These are meant to relieve pain and discomfort by targeting specific trigger points or tender spots within the pelvic floor. Usually, they are shaped as an “S” to make it easier to target specific muscles and make it easier to reach the deeper layers of the pelvic floor muscles.
They can be helpful for:
reducing pelvic pain, pressure, or tension
myofascial release of tight pelvic floor muscles
helping pregnant mamas more easily reach their perineum for perineal massage to prepare for delivery
improving pelvic floor mobility
Pelvic floor wands can also be used as postpartum tools for pelvic floor relaxation, and/or scar mobilization after perineal, or labial tearing during delivery.
Our favorite pelvic wands to recommend:
So, which pelvic floor tool is right for you?
Vaginal dilators may be helpful for you if:
your goal is to gradually tolerate vaginal insertion or reduce fear and pain with penetration.
you want to work on tissue lengthening and stretching
you need slow exposure to stretch or touch
A pelvic floor wand might be for you if:
you need to address deeper layers of the pelvic floor
you have been diagnosed with hypertonic pelvic floor muscles
you want to self release muscle tightness
you want to work on scar tissue around the pelvic floor
Vaginal dilators and pelvic floor wands can also be used together, or at separate times during your healing journey. Our pelvic floor PTs at Foundations Pelvic Health in Boston can assess your specific needs and guide you on when and how to use each one safely and effectively, as well as help you know when to progress!