What if the clitoris also helped relieve pain?

Fanny
Jun 19
5 min read

Updated: Aug 14

When science rediscovers the intelligence of the female body…

Let's be honest: female anatomy has long been a great mystery to medicine.

Anatomical descriptions of the clitoris existed long before 1998 — most notably the remarkable work of anatomist Georg Ludwig Kobelt in 1844. Australian urologist Helen O'Connell had to restore this knowledge in 1998 using modern imaging techniques. Decades of medical silence had erased what science already knew.

Yes. 1998.

The year of the World Cup, Titanic, and the birth of Google.

While the entire planet was watching DiCaprio drown, Australian urologist Helen O'Connell was publishing the most comprehensive anatomical work to date on an organ that half of humanity has always possessed… from the very beginning.

(yes, you read that right.)

The clitoris is the only organ in the human body entirely dedicated to pleasure.

No other known function.

Until now.

Because a study published in December 2025 in the scientific journal PLOS One suggests it may have another — and not a small one: relieving pain.

An organ still largely unknown

For centuries, medicine studied the female body in a partial way, often through the lens of the male body.

The clitoris was long reduced to its visible part alone.

Yet we know today that this organ has more than 8,000 nerve endings and extends far beyond what can be seen.

It is a true network — connected to muscles, fascias, ligaments and nerves of the pelvis.

It is a major neurological and hormonal organ of the female body.

Not just a pleasure point.

Illustrations from The Little Illustrated Guide to Intimacy: The Vulva, Vagina, Uterus, Clitoris, Menstruation, and More

by Mathilde Baudy and Tiphaine Dieumegard, illustrated by Mathilde Baudy, published by L'Atelier de la Belle Étoile.

The study that changes the perspective

From 2020 to 2023, the team led by Dr Manon Bestaux-Brethez, a sexologist in the Gynaecology-Obstetrics department of Rouen University Hospital, conducted a pilot study with 32 pregnant women.

The final objective is to explore a hypothesis that had received little attention — the analgesic function of the clitoris.

Participants could use an external vibrating device, positioned on the suspensory ligament of the clitoris, during painful episodes.

The results are striking.

81.25% of the women used the method.

Of 304 painful episodes managed, relief was reported in 86.2% of cases.

The pain score dropped from 5.35 to 2.63 out of 10 — nearly half.

The study was published in December 2025 in PLOS One (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0333112).

Dr Bestaux-Brethez is clear on this point: "it is a medical act, not a sexual one".

An important nuance, in a field still surrounded by taboos.

Why it works: what happens in the body

Clitoral stimulation activates specific neurological pathways. Since orgasm — which triggers oxytocin release — was not the objective in Dr Bestaux-Brethez's study (2 orgasms reported for 304 painful episodes), the relief observed is likely linked to the release of beta-endorphins — molecules often called the body's natural painkillers.

It also leads to an increase in oxytocin — the hormone of relaxation and connection — and a decrease in cortisol, the stress hormone.

A point worth highlighting: synthetic oxytocin, sometimes used to induce labour, increases contractions without this calming effect of beta-endorphins.

The body, for its part, produces both together.

At the heart of this mechanism: the pudendal nerve.

Its name says it all: pudendal comes from the Latin pudendum — shame. This is how medicine long referred to the female genitalia. The nerve of pleasure and pain, named the nerve of shame.

This nerve innervates the entire pelvic floor — and branches into the dorsal nerve of the clitoris in particular.

It is this nerve that connects clitoral stimulation to the neuro-pelvic reflexes of the uterus and pelvic floor.

Everything is connected.

What I hear in consultations

What moves me about this research is that it echoes feedback I hear regularly.

Women I accompany have spontaneously shared that clitoral stimulation — manual or with an external stimulator — helped ease very different kinds of pain.

Some mention relief from period pain.

Others talk about migraines or headaches that fade.

There are those for whom it is a way to cut through anxiety and anguish — the "mental hamster wheel" that keeps turning, the mental load that takes up all the space.

Women have also spoken to me about their experience during labour — a territory that some are beginning to call "orgasmic birth" (Elizabeth Davis, doula Debra Pascali-Bonaro).

These are not anecdotes.

The womens are speaking.

And naturopathy in all this?

What touches me in this approach is that it echoes a conviction I have held for a long time:

The female body possesses powerful physiological resources.

Naturopathy is built on precisely this natural capacity for self-regulation.

Among the approaches I explore in consultations, depending on each person's vital terrain, are sitz baths (bains dérivatifs) — this cold perineal hydrotherapy technique that acts directly on the pudendal nerve, reduces pelvic inflammation and improves circulation throughout the genital sphere.

An ancestral, simple, often little-known tool — working exactly the same zone explored by Rouen University Hospital.

Nutrition also plays an essential role.

Many female pain conditions — dysmenorrhoea, endometriosis, pelvic tension — are linked to chronic inflammatory processes.

A living diet, rich in natural anti-inflammatory foods — sprouted seeds, spirulina, sea algae — can support the terrain in depth and reduce pain intensity over time.

Other tools exist.

Every vital terrain is different.

That's what we explore together.

The female body already knows

In many ancient traditions — from Tantra to Chinese medicine, from female rites of passage to indigenous traditions — the female body has always been seen as a living intelligence, capable of self-regulating and self-healing.

What science is beginning to name and measure today, the female body may have always known.

Women have often known intuitively what science takes years to demonstrate.

If I speak about this subject — despite its still taboo nature — it is because women's health deserves complete, curious and unembarrassed attention.

Understanding your body — truly understanding it — may be one of the most powerful acts a woman can take.

Frequently asked questions

Can the clitoris really relieve pain?

That's what a study published in December 2025 in PLOS One suggests, led by Dr Manon Bestaux-Brethez at Rouen University Hospital. Of 304 painful episodes, relief was reported in 86% of cases and the pain score was halved.

How does the clitoris act on pain?

Clitoral stimulation activates specific neurological pathways and leads to the release of beta-endorphins — the body's natural painkillers — along with a rise in oxytocin and a drop in cortisol.

When was the clitoris fully described by medicine?

In 1998, Australian urologist Helen O'Connell published the most comprehensive anatomical work to date on this organ, present in half of humanity since always. Other descriptions already existed, but were less complete and less precise — Helen O'Connell had the benefit of modern imaging techniques such as MRI.

What is the pudendal nerve?

The pudendal nerve innervates the entire pelvic floor and branches into the dorsal nerve of the clitoris. It connects clitoral stimulation to the neuro-pelvic reflexes of the uterus and pelvic floor.

What does naturopathy offer for female pain?

Different natural care and advice adapted to the type of pain and each person's vital terrain, in order to personalise the health plan. This is what we explore together in consultations, in a holistic and global way.

In this series:

→ What if the clitoris also helped relieve pain?

→ The clitoris: the whole organ — what your body already knows