Pelvic Floor Toning

 

If you’re like most women you probably didn’t give your pelvic floor a second thought until you were pregnant. Even then, you may have remained blissfully unaware until after the birth – perhaps even well after the birth of your first, second or third child. Then one day you noticed that sex wasn’t quite what it used to be, and sometimes you pass urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh or do exercise! 

 

The pelvic floor is the muscle, stretching like a hammock, from the pubic bone in the front to the tailbone at the back and this, forms the floor of the pelvis. It is the main support structure for the pelvic organs (bladder, uterus and bowel). A toned pelvic floor  is vitally important for helping keep closed the bladder and the bowel, preventing leakage. The pelvic floor muscles are also directly involved in sexual fulfilment - the amount of sensation a woman feels during intercourse, ability to reach orgasm and, for the amount of grip felt by her partner. 

 

Stress Incontinence and Sexual Health Issues

Bladder control and sexual health issues are extremely common.  Approximately 60,000 NZ women do not have full bladder control.  2 out of 3 women don’t seek help and see it as a normal female problem and nothing can be done.  However, 70% of women with bladder control problems can experience significant improvement.  Sexual sensation can be revitalised too.  Pelvic floor muscles need regular training just like any other muscle to remain fit and healthy. 

Stress Incontinence is the most common type of bladder control problem.  It involves a small involuntary loss of urine without the urge to go.  Often, when we laugh, cough, lift, sneeze or do exercise. 1 in 3 women will suffer from stress incontinence at some stage during their life brought about through weakened pelvic floor muscles.  Weakened muscles most commonly, are brought on by pregnancy, childbirth or simply getting older. 

Stress Incontinence is one of those embarrassing, personal problems that women rarely talk about. Many women manage their symptoms on their own, spending thousands of dollars on disposable absorbent products.  Many women, come to this site to choose alternatives to disposable products for stress incontinence and this has been the prompt to offer pelvic floor toning products that might be of help.  Not only to help rectify stress incontinence but, as a preventative measure  for women who want to keep their pelvic floor muscles in good shape too in anticipation of pregnancy, to enhance their sexual experience etc..

 

Pelvic Floor Exercise

For all people experiencing incontinence, it is extremely important of course to seek professional medical advice or a physiotherapist specialising in this field to rule out any underlying condition and to assist you in deciding on the best course of treatment. However, pelvic floor exercise remains the most common form of treatment and stress incontinence especially, can easily be treated resulting in significant improvement and often, a complete cure.

Regular exercise of the pelvic floor is important for women of all ages of course.  Prevention is better than cure.  Pelvic floor exercises are often called Kegel exercises (squeeze, hold and release exercises) after their originator Dr Arnold Kegel.  Kegel exercises are widely promoted as the starting point for building pelvic floor strength.  The success of Kegel exercises however, depend on proper technique and adherence to a regular program.  It would seem, that there are many of us who have tried and not succeeded,  perhaps finding it difficult to identify the correct muscles to squeeze and lift,  to adhere to a regular program or  too embarassed to ask. further questions.  Thus, do not achieve maximum benefits.  We stock a number of pelvic floor exercise products and these have been chosen with care and with good recommendation for their effectiveness.

Pelvic Floor Exercise Products

 We offer Smartballs (Uno and the more traditional 2 balls) and have just introduced as new products - Luna Beads, The Aquaflex Pelvic Floor Toning System and The Pelvic Floor Educator.  Apologies if you are looking for the Vielle System - we stocked this until recently but our supplier no longer supplies it and we are unable to source any more.

All of our Pelvic Floor Toning Systems can be found within our online shop

Poppy Pads for stress incontinence

We have developed a range of pads that are specifically suited for use by women for stress incontinence/urinary leakage.  We had been aware for a while that a large number of women use Poppy Pads successfully to manage stress incontinence.  However,  we were also aware that we are often asked to make Panty Liners  longer than our current ones but shorter than the Regular Pads for use for stress incontinence..  We were also frequently asked to quantify our pads for absorbency for urinary loss to assist women to decide which would be best for them.  We knew that we weren't always as helpful as we could be!  So, we decided to do a trial to standardise the pads for urinary loss and to quantify absorbency levels.

We've had a group of women who volunteered to trial pads and to then provide feedback (Enormous thanks to them all!).  This has now successfully been completed and Panty Liners for urinary leakage/stress incontinence have been added to our list of products within the online shop.   You can also look at the Stress Incontinence section for further information.