What’s That Chair Dr Chloë?

filed under Ageing | 2 Min Read

EMSELLA®: IT’S THE ‘KEGEL THRONE’ THAT MAKES PRESENTER LISA SNOWDON SMILE. IT CAN HELP FIX THE BLADDER ISSUE THAT AFFECTS 1 IN 4 WOMEN.

Since we’ve launched EMSELLA® at Eighth & Eden we’ve interviewed a very willing client on what can be a very taboo subject. (We couldn’t believe the amount of willing volunteers and all ages). Urinary incontinence, which affects one in four UK women, makes you, freeze and hold you hold your breath – and with luck your bladder too – just long enough to make it to the bathroom.

Client story:

Our client described how she was frequently not so lucky. “As I approached the front door, key in hand, I would think ‘I need a pee’ and that was that. On my doorstep, keys poised nice clothes… and a gush.”

I’m a yoga teacher, I squeeze my pelvic floor multiple times a day in my practice. I was never one of those women who simply couldn’t get on the trampoline with their kids without a leak and I could sneeze my way through hay fever season without a trickle. But being fit didn’t make me immune, not that this was any surprise to Dr Chloë, body specialist at Eighth & Eden. She said I wasn’t the first yoga teacher she’d treated for pelvic floor dysfunction, especially in recent months.

OUR PELVIC FLOOR STRENGTH HAS GOT WORSE SINCE LOCKDOWN

“The fact is, that during the past year of lockdowns, we’ve been moving less and it’s impacted our pelvic floors noticeably”, says Dr Chloë. “Demand for BODY treatment has increased since lockdown due to our lower levels of activity.” The pelvic floor is closely linked to our core and is toned when we move – even walking helps. We’re simply not using it enough. Dr Chloë mentions one of her patients, a former lawyer in her 40s who lost her job in the pandemic and came out of lockdown with urinary incontinence, through simply not being as active in her everyday life as she once was. Her story is not unusual.
There are two types of incontinence stress incontinence – when urine leaks out at times when your bladder is under pressure, for example when you cough or laugh. Then there’s urge incontinence when you feel a sudden, intense urge to pee. It is also possible to have a mixture of both.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF PELVIC FLOOR DYSFUNCTION?

“Signs that your pelvic floor is weak are not just leaks”, says Dr Chloë.

“They include constantly needing the loo, including in the night, planning your day around your toilet trips, letting out fanny farts (or any kind of wind) during sex or while bending over or lifting, reduced sensation or sensation of heaviness or bulging in the vagina and tampons not staying put.”

WHAT CAUSES A WEAK PELVIC FLOOR?

It can occur when the tissues become stretched after giving birth or simply the weight of the uterus, but you don’t have it have had children to get it. Heavy weight lifting at the gym, and anything that puts chronic pressure on it such as straining to poo when you’re constipated, constant coughing if you often get chest infections, and obesity are factors too.
Perimenopause and menopause are a time when women experience it more as tissues stars to become less elastic.
However, it can also be genetic. Dr Chloë had a 21-year-old patient, who thought that living with leaks was normal because her mother and sister did. “She thought it was OK to have urinary incontinence at the age of 21,” says Dr Chloë . “But six sessions – gone!”

WHAT IS THE EMSELLA® CHAIR AND HOW DOES IT TONE YOUR PELVIC FLOOR?

The magic sessions Dr Chloë is referring to is the brilliant Emsella® Chair, a pelvic floor toning device that you sit on fully clothed while you read a magazine. It delivers the equivalent of 11,000 Kegels or pelvic floor contractions in one half-hour session. Typically, you need six sessions on the ‘kegel throne’ a few days apart. In some more severe cases more sessions are needed and occasional maintenance sessions are recommended but the effects can last for more than a year.

Emsella’s own studies:

EMSELLA®: A breakthrough treatment for incontinence and confidence…
SAY NO TO INCONTINENCE. 95 per cent of women reported improved quality of life and a 75 per cent reduction in pads usage.

What does it feel like?

The Emsella® chair uses High Intensity Focused Electromagnetic technology (HIFEM) to deliver the equivalent of 11k kegels in one 28 minute session. I have it turned up to the max of course but you can vary the intensity. It sounds like roadworks, feels not unpleasant in a non sexual way and you have to adopt the manspreading posture for the session so it hits the pelvic floor muscle.

Surprise comedy expressions are pretty much guaranteed when you’re sitting on it. There’s even a hashtag #emsellachairface.

“It’s the best-post-partum treatment,” Dr Chloe says. You’re advised by the NHS to do pelvic floor exercises after birth, but with a new baby, it’s hard to find the time or motivation on your own.

What’s That Chair Dr Chloë?