It’s that time of year again. The weather finally cooperates, the parks fill up, and half my patients start telling me they’ve signed up for a 5K, joined a tennis club, or decided, boldly, to try a bootcamp class with a colleague fifteen years their junior. Summer has a way of dragging us all back into movement, which is mostly wonderful.
But every summer, without fail, I also see an uptick in a very specific conversation. A patient perches on the edge of my consultation chair, looks slightly embarrassed, and tells me that she (and it is almost always a she) has started avoiding certain exercises, or wearing a pad “just in case”, or quietly skipping the trampoline session at her daughter’s birthday party. Stress urinary incontinence. The thing nobody talks about, despite the fact that it affects roughly one in three women at some point in their lives.
The good news? We now have a genuinely effective, non-surgical option that I’m seeing transform quality of life for exactly these patients. The Emsella chair. Let me tell you what it is, who it’s right for, and just as importantly, who it isn’t right for.
What Actually Happens with Stress Incontinence
Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is leakage triggered by physical pressure on the bladder: a cough, a sneeze, a jump, a sprint. The underlying issue, in the vast majority of cases, is weakness or dysfunction of the pelvic floor muscles. These are the muscles responsible for maintaining urethral closure under pressure, and they can be compromised by pregnancy and childbirth, hormonal changes around the menopause, chronic straining, and yes, sometimes just by time.
I want to be clear about something that frustrates me in how this condition is sometimes discussed: stress incontinence is not a normal consequence of ageing that women simply have to tolerate. It is a musculoskeletal problem with real, evidence-based solutions. The reason so many women do tolerate it is a combination of embarrassment, resignation, and, honestly, a lack of awareness that anything can be done short of surgery.
Enter Emsella
The Emsella chair uses high-intensity focused electromagnetic (HIFEM) technology to stimulate pelvic floor muscles. You sit on the chair, fully clothed, for approximately 28 minutes. During the session, the electromagnetic energy induces thousands of supramaximal pelvic floor contractions: the kind of deep, complete muscle recruitment you simply cannot achieve voluntarily, no matter how conscientiously you do your Kegels.
To put numbers on it: a single Emsella session delivers the equivalent of roughly 11,000 pelvic floor contractions. I often use this comparison with patients and watch their eyes widen. Even the most dedicated pelvic floor exercisers are not coming close to that.
A standard course is typically six sessions over three weeks, and most patients begin noticing improvement after the second or third session. Clinical studies have reported meaningful reductions in leakage episodes and pad usage, with many patients achieving complete continence.
Why Summer Specifically Brings This to a Head
Active summer sports are merciless at exposing pelvic floor weakness. Running creates repetitive impact loading with every stride. Racket sports involve sudden explosive lateral movements and direction changes. Swimming is actually one of the kinder activities, as the buoyancy reduces ground reaction forces significantly, but getting in and out of the pool involves more impact than people realise. Cycling tends to feel comfortable during the ride itself, yet many cyclists combine it with running as part of a triathlon or general fitness routine, and that transition can be particularly exposing.
The pattern I see in clinic is consistent: women who have been quietly managing mild leakage through the winter find that summer’s higher-intensity activities push them past the threshold their coping strategies could handle. What was manageable in January becomes impossible in July, and that’s usually the moment someone books a consultation.
Who Is Emsella Right For?
In my experience, the ideal Emsella candidate is a woman who:
- Has mild to moderate stress incontinence, or mixed incontinence where the stress component is dominant
- Has tried pelvic floor exercises with limited or inconsistent results
- Wants to avoid or is not yet ready for surgical intervention
- Is post-partum (at least three months, ideally six) and finding that things haven’t self-corrected
- Is peri- or post-menopausal and noticing increasing symptoms
It’s also a strong option for women who know they have poor pelvic floor awareness and genuinely cannot isolate those muscles when trying to do Kegels, which is far more common than you’d think. Emsella does the work for you while your neuromuscular connection relearns the pattern.
Men can also benefit, particularly post-prostatectomy. I do see male patients for this, and the results can be genuinely life-changing in terms of dignity and confidence.
When Emsella Is Not the Right First Step
I want to be straightforward here, because I think good medicine means being honest about limitations.
If you have significant pelvic organ prolapse, Emsella is unlikely to be sufficient on its own and may not be appropriate without prior assessment. Urge incontinence, where the dominant symptom is a sudden, compelling urge to urinate rather than leakage on exertion, has a different underlying mechanism and typically responds better to bladder retraining and, in some cases, medication. Anyone with a cardiac pacemaker, metallic implants in the hip or pelvis, or who is pregnant cannot use the device.
And I would gently push back on any clinic offering Emsella without taking a proper clinical history first. It is not a one-size-fits-all device. The starting point should always be a proper assessment of what type of incontinence you have and what’s driving it.
What to Expect at Our Clinic
At Health & Aesthetics, there is a thorough initial consultation before recommending Emsella. We talk through your symptoms, your history, any relevant medical background, and your goals. I want to know whether you’re trying to run a 10K, get back on the tennis court, or simply stop worrying every time you sneeze in a meeting.
Sessions are comfortable. Most patients describe a strong but not painful tingling sensation. You remain fully clothed. There is no downtime; patients go straight back to their normal activities, including exercise. I usually recommend a maintenance session every three to six months to sustain results.
The Bigger Picture
I’ll end with something I feel strongly about. Too many women in this country modify their lives around incontinence rather than treating it. They give up running. They avoid trampolining with their grandchildren. They stop booking weekend trips because they’re anxious about bathroom access. This is an enormous, unnecessary sacrifice.
The pelvic floor is a muscle group like any other. When it’s weak, we strengthen it. When there’s a technology that can do that more effectively than anything we could manage manually, we use it. Emsella is not a miracle. It is good evidence-based medicine applied to a problem that has for too long been dismissed or whispered about.
If any of the above resonates with you, I’d encourage you to book a consultation.
