1-In-3 Women In America Can Now Proudly Declare “I Just Free’d Myself With INNOVO®” Thanks To Revolutionary New Device To Treat Root Cause Of Bladder Weakness

“OMG. I just free’d myself!” Today, 20 million women in America will rewrite that whispered, uncomfortable admission of bladder weakness¹into a declarative, celebratory shout thanks to INNOVO^®. As the first-in-class wearable, non-invasive solution for Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI), INNOVO has the potential to positively impact the lives of one in three women.²These women will now be able to laugh louder, exercise harder and even sneeze with ease. The INNOVO thigh-length, elasticized therapeutic shorts are outfitted with eight electrodes sewn in a crisscross formation across the pelvic region. When activated via its attached hand-held controller, INNOVO delivers a series of pelvic stimulations equivalent to Kegel exercises for strengthening the pelvic floor. Read more.

Source: PRNewswire, June 5, 2019

InControl Medical Wins FDA Clearance for Attain: The First Over-the-Counter, At-Home Device for the Treatment of Urinary and/or Fecal Incontinence in Women

InControl Medical wins FDA clearance for new Attain, the first over-the-counter (OTC) non-implantable muscle stimulator designed for at-home use to help treat the approximately 60 million women in the U.S. suffering with stress, urge, mixed urinary incontinence and/or bowel incontinence. This is good news for all those affected by urinary and/or involuntary bowel leakage that can increase with age: 20% -30% of young women, 30%-40% of middle-aged women, and up to 50% of older women suffer from incontinence. It’s time to talk about this taboo topic before diapers become the newest accessory in the Nike store. So, strengthen your calves and abs, but don’t forget to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles too, says Lauren Streicher, M.D., Medical Director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Health and Menopause and Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University. All kidding aside, many of my patients who suffer with urinary incontinence, can also have leaky bowel, and truly suffer in silence and embarrassment. Post-partum, anal or rectal cancer, and the natural aging process can cause incontinence. Thankfully, many patients respond well to pelvic-floor electrical stimulation and biofeedback as a first-line treatment, before considering surgery or medication. Attain is a small, painless, easy to use medical device for women to self-treat in the privacy of their own home, reducing or eliminating the need for pads or diapers. Read more.

Source: Global Banking & Finance Review, March 26, 2019

Nonpharmacologic Therapy Ups Sleep Quality in Women With Nocturia

Both tibial nerve stimulation (TNS) and pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) can improve sleep quality in women with nocturia, according to new study findings. In a randomized trial, 40 women with self-reported nocturia were blindly assigned to transcutaneous electrical TNS or PFMT with behavioral therapy for 30 minutes each week for 3 months. PFMT inhibits detrusor contraction, and TNS eases lower urinary tract symptoms. Women with neurogenic bladder or on antimuscarinic or antidiuretic therapy were among the excluded patients. Read more.

Source: Renal and Urology News, April 11, 2018

BewellConnect’s MyPeriTens Multi-Action Pelvic Floor Trainer

BewellConnect recently unveiled their new pelvic floor muscle trainer to help women with related issues, including post-partum complications and incontinence. The MyPeriTens device is both an electrical nerve stimulator and electrical muscle stimulator that is controlled through a smartphone app, allowing women to have precise control over the intensity and nature of the electrical signals delivered. The smartphone app has a number of routines built in that the woman can perform on her own, or with assistance of a physical therapist. Each routine can be selected to run at the patient’s preferred intensity level, maximizing benefits while keeping any pain and discomfort at a minimum. Read more.

Source: Medgadget, February 15, 2018

Majority of Incontinence Treatments Deliver Poor Results

Surgery is the most reliable method of treatment for incontinence – curing the condition in just over eight in ten cases; other types of treatment, meanwhile, do not deliver the same kind of success. These are the findings of a comprehensive systematic overview of cure rates for the treatment of incontinence around the world during the last ten years. “Unfortunately we are not actually curing the condition in that many cases. Surgery aside, the results delivered are poor. And the problems are only going to get worse in the future because the population, as we know, is aging,” says Ian Milsom, Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Head of the Gothenburg Continence Research Center (GCRC). Read more.

Source: Science Daily, April 4, 2017

New System Uses Remote Medical Monitoring, Mobile Games to Improve At-Home Pelvic Floor Muscle Training

Urinary incontinence is any involuntary urine leakage. It is a condition that can be more or less severe and it affects one in three women of all ages, which is more than 56 million people in Europe and more than 350 million people in the world. It is not a normal part of ageing and has a negative impact on the quality of life of the women who suffer from it. The main risk factors for urinary incontinence are pregnancy and childbirth, overweight and obesity, and high-impact sports. There are several treatments to improve or cure its symptoms, depending on the type of incontinence, and it can also be prevented by taking measures before it appears. One approach that has proven effective in preventing and treating stress urinary incontinence is pelvic floor muscle training. It consists of a programme of contraction and relaxation exercises for the muscles that form the base of the pelvis. If the treatment is followed and performed correctly with the supervision of a therapist, the rate of cure/improvement may reach 70% .Read more.

Source: News-Medical.net, March 9, 2017

What You Need to Know to Put the Brakes on USI

Urinary stress incontinence (USI) affects 25 per cent of women over 40 with the incidence increasing with age. It’s defined as a loss of urine often with cough, sneeze, laughing, running or lifting. Yet despite the prevalence of this condition, many women do not seek help until symptoms become severe and have been ongoing for at least two years. Factors contributing to USI are childbirth, pregnancy, menopause, low back pain, weight gain and smoking. USI responds well to conservative non-surgical treatment with the first line of treatment often being pelvic floor strengthening exercises under the supervision of a physiotherapist. Physiotherapists often use biofeedback and electrical stimulation to help reeducate these muscles. Read more.

Source: The Chronicle Herald, February 8, 2017

Exercises Targeting Trunk Muscles May Improve CF Urinary Incontinence

In a recent symposium, scientists discussed the increased importance of physical therapy in addressing cystic fibrosis-associated muscle impairments and urinary incontinence. The presentation, titled “Posture, Pelvic Floor & Pistons: A Look Beyond ‘Kegels’ to Treat Urinary Incontinence,” was given today at the Symposium “Growing Older With CF” at the 30^thAnnual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference (NACFC) Oct. 27-29 in Orlando, Florida. Read more.

Source: Cystic Fibrosis News Today, October 27, 2016

FDA Approves OTC Availability of PeriCoach, an At-home Pelvic Floor Trainer Device

DENVER – Analytica on Wednesday announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the PeriCoach at-home pelvic floor trainer device and smartphone app as an over-the-counter treatment for mild, moderate and stress urinary incontinence and urge incontinence. Pelvic floor muscle exercise is recommended as first line non-pharmacologic treatment for the millions of women – estimated at one in three – who suffer from urinary incontinence. Read more.

Source: Drug Store News, July 13, 2016

Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises

This is a diagram of the male pelvic floor. Men and women can both do pelvic floor muscle exercises to help strengthening the muscles located in their pelvic floors to help control urine leakage.

Pelvic floor muscle exercises make the pelvic floor muscles stronger. Strengthening these muscles may help you have more control over leaking urine during times of physical stress, such as laughing, coughing, or sneezing. These exercises are often referred to as Kegel exercises.

Everyone has a pelvic floor. The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that form a hammock shape in your pelvis. Pelvic floor muscles hold up the pelvic organs and keep them in the right place. In women these organs are the uterus, bowel and bladder. In men the same muscles hold the bowel and bladder. The muscles of the pelvic floor can become weak and can start to sag. This can happen because of injuries, pregnancy, childbirth, or surgery (including prostate surgery and hysterectomies). The muscles can also become weaker from carrying extra weight, or from chronic coughing. Continue reading→