The Emsella chair is a pelvic floor treatment you sit on, fully clothed. Inside the seat is a coil that produces HIFEM, high intensity focused electromagnetic energy, which passes through clothing and skin and makes the muscles of the pelvic floor contract and release in rapid pulses for 28 minutes. BTL, the manufacturer, describes a session as thousands of Kegel-like contractions, with its 2019 figure at 11,000. Nothing is inserted, you do not undress, and you go straight back to your day. The chair is FDA-cleared in the US for the treatment of urinary incontinence in women and men, by stimulating the pelvic floor to rehabilitate weak pelvic muscles and restore neuromuscular control (the nerves' control of the muscles).
Why the pelvic floor matters
The pelvic floor is the sling of muscle that holds the bladder, the bowel and, in women, the womb, and closes the bladder outlet when you cough, laugh, run or lift. Childbirth, the menopause, age and prostate surgery weaken it, and a weak pelvic floor leaks. Pelvic floor exercises strengthen it when they are done correctly, often and for months. The chair does the contracting for you, at an intensity and a rate you cannot reach on your own, and reaches the whole muscle rather than the part you can feel.
The field, the muscle, the session
The coil produces a magnetic field of 0.7 to 2.5 tesla pulsing at 1 to 150 times a second, in the US clearance's description, for up to 30 minutes. The field induces a current in the motor nerves of the pelvic floor, and the muscle contracts in response. During the session you feel the contractions as a pulling and a tingling deep in the pelvis, strong, at a level you can hold, and the clinician brings it down if you ask. You can read or talk during the session; ask us about your phone. After 28 minutes it stops and you stand up and leave.
The course
Six sessions, twice a week, over three weeks. Muscle strengthens with repetition, so the sessions are a few days apart. In the main study of 75 women, symptom scores were about 50% lower after the sixth session and about 64% lower three months later, and 81% reported a significant reduction after the sixth session. The sessions page sets out the course, and the does it work page the studies.
Who it is for
Women with stress incontinence (leaking on a cough, a sneeze, a run) after childbirth or with age, with mixed incontinence, or with urge symptoms that have a pelvic floor component. Men with incontinence after prostate surgery; anyone whose pelvic floor exercises have not done enough. It is not for overflow incontinence, a neurological bladder problem or a prolapse. The clinician checks at your free consultation for the things that rule the chair out, including a pacemaker or other implanted electronics, metal implants in the pelvis such as a hip replacement, a copper coil, pregnancy or planning one, the first three months after a birth, and pelvic or abdominal surgery that is still healing. The FAQ has the full list. The US regulator's summary lists muscular pain, temporary muscle spasm, temporary joint or tendon pain, a temporary increase in local circulation, increased sensitivity during intercourse and skin redness. The main study reported no treatment-related adverse events, only minor side effects such as muscle fatigue.
See it for yourself
Book a free consultation at Emsella Clinic on 0207 099 9659 or through the form below. The clinician shows you the chair, you can sit on it, and the course and its price are set out in writing. The full Emsella guide covers the rest.
