Implicit motor imagery (IMI), with an image laterality discrimination (LD) task, has been
proposed as a useful therapeutic tool to restore body schema in patients with chronic pelvic pain
(CPP). The aim of this study was to analyse the existence of differences between patients with CPP
and healthy individuals in order to justify the use of IMI. An observational, cross-sectional study with
non-probabilistic sampling was designed as a one-to-one matched case–control study. Through a web
link designed for this purpose, a total of 40 abdominoperineal images were shown to 130 participants
during the laterality task. Outcome measures were pain intensity (visual analogue scale, VAS), accuracy,
response time (RT), and CPPQ-Mohedo score (Chronic Pelvic Pain Questionnaire—Mohedo). This was
an observational, cross-sectional study with a total of 64 CPP patients and 66 healthy individuals. The
comparative analysis between groups revealed significant differences in accuracy, CPPQ-Mohedo
and VAS (p < 0.001), but not in RT; in patients with CPP, accuracy was correlated with a lower
CPPQ-Mohedo score and RT and, the greater the pain intensity, the higher the CPPQ-Mohedo score
and RT, and the lower the accuracy. In the LD task, the patients with CPP made more mistakes than
the healthy individuals. IMI could be a useful and complementary tool in the therapeutic approach
for patients with CPP.
