Pelvipower For Incontinence
PelviPower uses electromagnetic stimulation to strengthen the pelvic floor.
It’s non painful, non invasive and offers an alternate if you are struggling to complete pelvic floor strengthening exercises on your own at home.
Engineered in Germany, this revolutionary chair was created by Dr. Remo who previously ran care homes and, after speaking with him, I was shocked by the sheer cost of incontinence pads, not to mention the burden on both staff and patients that incontinence presented.
Surely there was a way to strengthen the pelvic floor and restore dignity and freedom to his residents as well as protecting staff from additional manual handling?
After years of research and discovery Pontemed set about the challenge of building a medical team, looking at the research, creating a moveable Tesla coil and then putting together a package that could help give people long term results.
Understanding the Physiology of Urinary Incontinence
Let’s chat about what’s really going on when it comes to urinary incontinence. If you’ve been doing your pelvic floor exercises and still find yourself leaking, understanding the why behind it can be a total game changer.
There are a lot of myths around urinary incontinence – one being that muscles are always too weak. Actually sometimes the muscles are hypertonic ( Too tight).
Understanding is important.
Pelvipower isn’t just a chair. It’s supported by a team of professionals where programs are chosen based on research. Everything has been considered – frequency, relaxation period, intensity level ( here’s a secret – high intensity isn’t always better – think slow reps in the gym). Luckily, you don’t have to worry about that because you just sit back and relax as the chair does it for you.
First, How Should Bladders Work?
So, picture this: your bladder is like a stretchy balloon. It fills slowly as the kidneys send urine down, and ideally, it stays quiet and relaxed. Meanwhile, your urethral sphincter (the little muscle that acts like a tap) and your pelvic floor muscles (the supportive hammock) keep things shut tight (Yoshimura & Chancellor, 2004).
When it’s time to wee, the brain sends signals: the detrusor (bladder wall muscle) contracts, the sphincter relaxes, and your pelvic floor releases. If all systems are go, you void without leaks (de Groat et al., 2015). But if anything in this finely tuned system gets out of sync—hello leaks.
So it can be a strength problem but it can also be a co-ordination. Ever feel like you need to wee but only a small amount comes out, then 2 minutes later you need to wee again? The system needs a reboot!
What Can Go Wrong? Why Do So Many People Suffer With Incontinence?
1. Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI)
This is the classic one you might associate with coughing, sneezing, or jumping on a trampoline and suddenly… leak. It’s caused when intra-abdominal pressure (like when you laugh or lift) exceeds what the urethral sphincter and pelvic floor can hold back (Haylen et al., 2010).
Common causes?
-
Urethral hypermobility – often from childbirth, menopause, or connective tissue laxity, the urethra can shift out of position when it shouldn’t (Haylen et al., 2010).
-
Intrinsic sphincter deficiency – this is when the actual sphincter muscle doesn’t seal properly anymore, and it’s not just about movement—it’s about closure pressure (DeLancey, 1994).
So if you’re leaking when you sneeze, your urethra may not be supported well enough, or the sphincter itself is just not up to the job.
Other Causes Of Incontinence
2. Urge Urinary Incontinence (UUI)
Now this one’s all about bladder signals. You get a sudden, intense urge to go—and can’t always make it in time. This usually comes down to detrusor overactivity, where the bladder contracts too early, without your say-so (Yoshimura & Chancellor, 2004).
You might notice it’s worse when you hear running water, fumble for your keys, or as soon as you step through your front door. It’s not about weak muscles—it’s about an overexcited bladder muscle. Unfortunately there can be a psychological element to this too. Any intelligent human will naturally go into a flight/ fight response if they have had an accident or near miss. Sometimes we must work on conditioning and confidence here too.
3. Mixed Incontinence
Yep, some people have both stress and urge features. One minute it’s a surprise sneeze, the next it’s a race to the toilet. That’s called mixed urinary incontinence, and treatment needs to consider both sides of the coin (Haylen et al., 2010).
4. Overflow Incontinence
This one’s a bit sneakier. It happens when your bladder doesn’t empty well—so it overfills, and urine leaks out when you’re not expecting it. It’s more common in people with nerve conditions, diabetes, or in men with prostate issues (Andersson & Wein, 2004).
What Do Different Types Of Incontinence Feel Like?
5. Neurological Causes
Sometimes the issue isn’t with the muscles at all, but with the nerves controlling them. Conditions like spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson’s can affect the messages getting to and from the bladder (de Groat et al., 2015). This can result in poor control—either holding on too long or not holding on at all.
What Do The Different Types Feel Like? Let’s break down how it might show up:
-
Stress incontinence: a little leak with effort (coughing, lifting, laughing).
-
Urge incontinence: strong, sudden need to go—and sometimes not making it.
-
Overflow: frequent dribbling or always feeling full.
-
Mixed: both urgency and effort-related leakage.
What Types Of Incontinence Can PelviPower Treat?
Pelvipower has programs that target the different types of incontinence.
Different frequencies aim to relax, improve co-ordination or strengthen the pelvic floor. For all those that buy a package with us we also include exercises, progression and helpful tips to help you get results as quickly as possible.
How Does Pelvipower work?
Neuromodulation ( pain relief/ co-ordination)
- Pain gate theory
- Activation of descending inhibition (Periaqueductal grey)
- Neurotransmission and neuromodulation
- Endogenous opiod release
Strengthening
- Strengthening the muscles of the pelvic floor to reduce symptoms caused by pelvic organ prolapse.
- Resetting the ‘relaxation phase’ is also important if the muscle is too tight (hypertonicity)
Neuroplasticity
- The bodies ability to ‘rewire’ the co-ordination of signal and recruitment of relevant muscles
- Altered synaptic strength and network connectivity
References
- Andersson, K.E. & Wein, A.J., 2004. Pharmacology of the lower urinary tract: basis for current and future treatments of urinary incontinence. Pharmacological Reviews, 56(4), pp.581–631.
- de Groat, W.C., Griffiths, D. & Yoshimura, N., 2015. Neural control of the lower urinary tract. Comprehensive Physiology, 5(1), pp.327–396.
- DeLancey, J.O., 1994. Structural support of the urethra as it relates to stress urinary incontinence: the hammock hypothesis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 170(6), pp.1713–1723.
- Haylen, B.T. et al., 2010. An International Urogynecological Association (IUGA)/International Continence Society (ICS) joint report on the terminology for female pelvic floor dysfunction. Neurourology and Urodynamics, 29(1), pp.4–20.
- Wallace, S.A., Roe, B., Williams, K. & Palmer, M., 2004. Bladder training for urinary incontinence in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (1).
- Yoshimura, N. & Chancellor, M.B., 2004. Neurophysiology of lower urinary tract function and dysfunction. Reviews in Urology, 6(Suppl 1), pp.S3–S10.