Chronic Pelvic Pain and the Chronic Overlapping Pain Conditions in Women

Purpose of Review: This paper aims to review chronic pelvic pain (CPP) in the context of the chronic overlapping pain conditions (COPC) in women. Recent findings: Early literature on CPP focused on individual etiologies of pelvic pain independently and from the limited perspectives of separate medical subspecialties. Recently, there has been increasing recognition of the multifactorial nature of CPP, highlighting numerous overlapping etiologies with common central mechanisms. A link has been established between pelvic and extra-pelvic chronic pain conditions under the emerging construct of COPCs, with the degree of overlap correlating with increased severity and worse outcomes. Summary: Effective assessment and management of CPP requires a shift in focus towards a biopsychosocial model targeting not only individual sources of peripheral pathology, but also the common underlying central mechanisms of CPP and COPCs. Future research should further explore these central mechanisms and how best to target them using a multimodal, holistic approach.