Urge incontinence is the sudden, hard-to-hold need to go, often with leaking before you reach the toilet, and an overactive bladder is the frequency and urgency behind it. The Emsella chair helps where a weak pelvic floor is part of the problem, and many people have both, urge and stress together: in the main study 40% of the women had mixed incontinence. It does not fix an overactive bladder on its own, and we say so plainly. A course is six sessions of 28 minutes over three weeks at Emsella Clinic, 8 Devonshire Place, with the price in writing at a free consultation.
What the study measured for urge symptoms
In the main published study of 75 women, 40% had mixed incontinence and 11% urge incontinence only. The urge-only group's symptom scores fell by 27% after the sixth session and by 54% three months later, a real improvement but less than the stress group's 67%. Overall, scores across the study fell by about 64% at three months. The chair is FDA-cleared in the US for urinary incontinence in women and men by rehabilitating weak pelvic muscles and restoring neuromuscular control (the nerves' control of the muscles). The clearance does not name urge incontinence or an overactive bladder, and a sham-controlled trial of the chair for an overactive bladder is still recruiting.
Where the chair helps
- Mixed incontinence, leaking on a cough as well as with urgency, where the pelvic floor is weak: the chair treats the stress part and in the main study the mixed group's scores fell by 70% at three months.
- Urgency with a weak pelvic floor, after childbirth or with age: a stronger floor gives you more time to reach the toilet.
- Alongside bladder training and medicines, which treat the bladder muscle itself; the chair treats the floor beneath it.
When to see your GP first
A sudden onset, blood in the urine, pain, frequent infections, incomplete emptying or a neurological condition need a doctor's assessment before any private treatment, because an overactive bladder has causes the chair does not touch. Overflow incontinence and a neurological bladder are not treated with the chair. The clinician at the free consultation asks about these and will say if a referral comes first.
The course and the result
Six sessions, twice a week, over three weeks, with the symptom score measured before the course, at the end and at the six-month review. The does it work page sets out the studies, and the stress incontinence page the leaking-on-a-cough half of a mixed picture.
Book a free consultation
Call Emsella Clinic on 0207 099 9659 or use the form below. The clinician works out with you how much of your problem is the pelvic floor and tells you plainly what the chair can and cannot do for it. The full Emsella guide covers the rest.
