Kristina Kozak is lucky to have her son Alexander. After she experienced some painful symptoms related to a bladder condition, she wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to have a child.

"I was to the point where I couldn't cook, I couldn't stand for more than 10 minutes and I couldn't sit for more than two minutes. It was painful me for me to even drive in the car. That's why I couldn't even work," said Kristina Kozak.

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Kozak's symptoms were due to something called Vulvodynia.

"Basically what happens is the body gets used to expecting pain and the pelvic muscles tighten up. They get very, very tight, and they don't relax," said Jacques Moritz, with St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.

The pain can be excruciating, making sexual intercourse, and, in Kristina's case, even sitting down, impossible.

"This is a very isolating experience. It's a very embarrassing experience, and it's difficult to talk about," said Amy Stein of Beyond Basics Physical Therapy.

For those who do choose to tell their doctors, it can take years to get diagnosed properly. And even then medications don't always work.

Another treatment that is having great success is physical therapy.

"We are extremely dedicated to giving them as much education as they can, and also having them participate as much as they can in the healing process," said Stein.

The therapy includes internal and external massage, trigger point release, realigning back ligaments and joints, as well as therapies to do at home.

"I did about 10 different exercises for about a half hour three times per week to strengthen my lower back, my abdominal region, and the pelvic floor muscles," said Kozak.

And after several months, the therapy made a huge difference.

"Through Amy's physical therapy, I could sit for much longer periods of time without the pain even starting. I'd say I went from being in pain 90 percent of the day to being in pain 15 percent of the day," said Kozak.

"Amy, instead of numbing the pain, taught me how to fix the pain," said Vulvodynia patient Jaime McCarty.

Kozak was able to have her son Alexander, and is ready to have her second son soon.

"If I didn't go there, I would not have my son today," said Kozak.