Embracing Innovation as Part of your Pelvic Health Journey
So you’re suddenly (or have been for awhile) leaking pee and are a sneeze away from disaster or the trampoline is now your worst enemy or waking up at night or having strong urges to go to the bathroom all the time or maybe you found something poking out of your vaginal opening* – NOW WHAT!?
There are so many amazing tools and providers out there that can help. But there’s also a lot of noise and conflicting information that just adds to the overwhelm. And doing nothing is definitely not gonna solve the problem. Pelvic floor issues don’t just go away with a hope or a wish or a prayer.
First things first, go straight to…
Pelvic floor physiotherapy – do not pass GO, do not collect $200 – visit the treatment page on the Pelvic Health Support website HERE and find someone in your area. And to learn more about what happens at a physio appointment and benefits read this!
This should ALWAYS be your first line of defense.
There’s NO SILVER bullet for treating your pelvic floor dysfunction.
Once you’ve done your assessment, you know what’s happening on the inside, and you have an idea of what to do – strengthen, release, coordinate, breathe, align… You can find complimentary health allies to bring all those pieces together.
Think of this like getting a high blood pressure or prediabetes diagnosis – your doctor says here are the things you need to do to get this under control and you find a personal trainer, a dietitian or nutritionist, you find a therapist and a coach to help you get yourself together and tackle the problem with the tools you need to reach your goals.
Treating your pelvic floor dysfunction is kinda the same. ALL hands-on deck with an integrative approach that ties all the pieces together.
By connecting these dots – lifestyle, digestive, nervous system, physical and sexual health, support systems, mental health – and looking at the whole picture, you can reach those goals and learn how to sustain them for longer. I mean you are going to have your pelvic floor for the rest of your life.
As someone who had a stage 3 uterine prolapse, urge incontinence, frequency and nocturia (the fancier word for I was waking up all night to pee) I can tell you there isn’t just 1 thing I did to solve the problem (read about my journey HERE!). Anyone who tells you just physio a couple times, just doing exercises, just losing weight is going to make it magically get better is not being honest.
There’s NO silver bullet or cure – just a willingness to care for yourself.
But people are people, and they get discouraged, feel defeated, don’t have access and sometimes don’t/can’t/won’t follow through.
Adhering to a health or medical regimen can be difficult for lots of different reasons. And some people just want the quick fix. They want the silver bullet.
I don’t believe in judgement as a general rule, so I say this with deep understanding that life, money, kids, circumstance, experience, bias, trauma, ALL the things happen. We’re just doing our best every day to manage.
So why not use technology to get ahead of your symptoms that offers results in as little as 3 weeks?
Have you met Emsella yet?
You may know it as the Kegel Throne! It is a Health Canada and FDA-cleared medical device for treating urinary incontinence in a completely non-invasive way!
It uses something called HIFEM - High Intensity Focused ElectroMagnetic – energy to deeply stimulate the layers of pelvic floor muscles and produce a perfect contraction (aka Supramaximal Contraction). Achieving almost 11,000 of them to be exact, successfully engaging almost 100% of the pelvic floor muscle fibers.
Clinical studies have shown a 95% improvement in the quality of life for its users with just 6 sessions spread out over 3 weeks. A total game changer for all the reasons I listed above.
Is it magic? No, it’s science!
Now I’m gonna say something that a lot of (maybe fewer now) pelvic floor physiotherapists won’t agree with-Emsella actually works.
But the caveat to this is, is that it must be used appropriately. And this is where the mark is getting missed.
Now I’m going to say something the manufacturer of this device may not like – unless you have been trained or educated in pelvic floor health you should not be offering this service. That’s right, I mean all those med spas and aesthetic clinics are giving Emsella a bad reputation because they are not administering it properly.
Unless you’ve been trained in pelvic floor health, you can’t really help anyone with their leaking or prolapse symptoms, pain or sexual dysfunction in a way that actually supports their goals and growth. These all require intimate knowledge of not just how that very intricate system works, but also the person you’re treating.
I love this piece of innovative, intuitive technology – but I also know that in untrained hands, it can do more harm than good.
How can you tell a location offering Emsella has the right training? By asking the right questions and knowing who is administering the treatment. What are their qualifications? Did they do any certification courses, aside from with the manufacturer. Are they medical professionals; registered nurses, doctors. Are they trying to sell Emsella as the silver bullet? Do they offer any other educational information about pelvic health, bladder control or pelvic floor fitness?
If the answer you get isn’t satisfactory or you’re receiving pushback for asking, then you may want to explore other options or locations.
What Makes V Lounge Different
I built V Lounge with the sole purpose of helping women get ahead of their symptoms so they can get back to the things that matter to them.
We combine Emsella, this innovative technology, with an integrated approach and tailored treatment plan that is inclusive, supportive and transparent. How? By looking at you as a whole and not just your symptoms.
Our unique Body + Mind + Thrive coaching program delivers the tools and resources you need to be successful including;
Breath work
Mobility and release work
Lifestyle: mindset, nutrition, habits
Hormone health
Progressive exercise series, weekly classes
We’re focused on incontinence, so YOU don’t have to be – anymore!
**A special note for any physiotherapists who have gotten this far: Emsella isn’t going anywhere, I implore you have an open mind. If there is a provider in your area who could benefit from your expertise, reach out to them. Collaborate with them, so women who maybe need the extra push to get past their symptoms can do it supportively. If you want to ask me how click here!
*other signs and symptoms that may prompt you to seek a pelvic floor physio; pregnant or recently had a baby, pain with intercourse or peeing, unable to empty the bladder, pelvic pain, lower back pain, pelvic tightness, recurrent UTI’s or bladder/prostate infections, trouble with bowel movements, fecal incontinence and incomplete voiding of the bowels, recent GYN or prostate surgery.
