What most pelvic floor advice never gets around to saying
Most pelvic floor advice begins and ends with ‘do your Kegels.’ Useful, but not always enough on its own. Here is what twenty years in this work, plus my own experience after my children, taught me about what actually changes things.
What pelvic floor exercises are, and what they can actually do
When most women search ‘pelvic floor exercises,’ they are looking for one of two things: how to address leakage during sneezing, coughing, exercise or laughing, or how to feel more stable in their core after pregnancy or with age. Both are reasonable goals, and both can improve with the right approach. The pelvic floor is a hammock of muscle that runs from the front of your pelvis to your tailbone. Like any muscle, it weakens without use and strengthens with proper, consistent training.
The conventional answer is Kegels, clenching and releasing the pelvic floor in repeated sets. They work, when they are done correctly. But there is a quieter truth most pelvic floor exercises advice does not mention: a lot of people are doing them wrong, and a lot of people need more than Kegels alone.
Why my own pelvic floor needed more than Kegels
After my children were born, I was one of those women. Sneeze, cough, run for the bus, and you know what happens. It is not something most of us talk about. So many women carry the same question and never speak it. I see it on my treatment couch every week.
I tried the obvious things. Kegels. Pelvic floor physio worksheets. Online videos. Some helped, but the change felt slow and inconsistent. So when I saw the HIEMT chair at an industry beauty exhibition, it stopped me. The technology answered a question I had been carrying for years. I bought the chair to improve my own life first, and to offer it to clients second. I have used it on myself, I know exactly what the experience feels like, and I see why the women who try it tend to come back.
What good Kegels actually look like
Most Kegel mistakes I see are the same: holding the breath, squeezing the glutes or the inner thighs instead of the pelvic floor itself, going too hard for too long without a real release, or doing them irregularly with no progression. None of those mean you are failing, they mean no one ever showed you properly what to feel for.
A working Kegel feels like a gentle lift, not a clench. Imagine drawing the muscle up and inward rather than squeezing it down. Hold for a few seconds, release fully, breathe normally throughout. Three short sets a day, slowly building duration over weeks. The release matters as much as the squeeze. A chronically clenched pelvic floor is its own problem, not a stronger one.
If you have been doing pelvic floor exercises for months without noticing improvement, the most useful next step is rarely to do more of them. It is either to ask a women’s health physiotherapist to confirm your technique, or to consider an approach that engages the muscle in a way voluntary effort cannot.
Where Kegels stop and HIEMT begins
HIEMT, high-intensity electromagnetic muscle stimulation, is the technology I work with at my Kirkham studio. The idea is straightforward: an electromagnetic field induces deep contractions in the pelvic floor that you simply cannot generate yourself with voluntary effort. A 30-minute session triggers thousands of supramaximal contractions, the equivalent of many weeks of consistent pelvic floor exercises, delivered while you sit on a chair fully clothed.
I am careful with how I describe what HIEMT does because I refuse to overpromise. HIEMT supports pelvic floor strengthening. It addresses the everyday quality-of-life issues that affect so many women silently, leakage during sneezing, coughing, exercise, and the sense of not feeling fully supported in your own body. It is not a medical treatment. It is not a substitute for physiotherapy when physiotherapy is what is needed. It is a strengthening tool that fits in alongside good Kegel technique, breath work, and general fitness.
What a HIEMT session feels like
You arrive, change behind a curtain into something comfortable, leggings or trousers are fine, and sit on the chair. The chair feels firm but not unusual. The session begins with gentle contractions so your muscle wakes up, and the intensity increases gradually as we agree on what is comfortable. You stay fully clothed throughout. Nothing is invasive. There is no recovery time.
The contractions feel strange in the first session, your pelvic floor is suddenly working harder than it ever has done voluntarily. Most clients describe it as ‘odd at first, then fine.’ We chat through the session, you can pause any time, and we adjust intensity together. Half an hour later, you stand up, walk out, and carry on with your day. Many women feel a slight muscle awareness for a day or two, the same way any honestly worked muscle feels.
Who this is for, and who should not start here
HIEMT is well suited to: post-childbirth pelvic floor recovery (after the standard 6-week postnatal clearance from your GP or midwife), early menopausal changes, general age-related weakening, and women who have done their pelvic floor exercises consistently for months without the result they hoped for.
It is not for: pregnancy, the immediate postnatal period before GP clearance, anyone with metallic implants in the pelvic region, anyone with a pacemaker, or anyone with active pelvic infection. If any of these apply to you, please speak to your GP first. If you have any new pelvic symptoms that concern you, pressure, urgency, discomfort, anything unusual, please see your GP and a women’s health physiotherapist before any electromagnetic strengthening work. HIEMT is a supportive tool, not a substitute for medical care.
How to start
If pelvic floor exercises have not given you the result you hoped for, or you are simply curious how a different approach feels, the first step is a short conversation. We talk through your situation, what you have already tried, what your goals are, and whether HIEMT fits. Some women decide it is right for them; others decide a physiotherapy referral makes more sense first. Either answer is fine.
If you would like to combine pelvic floor work with a wider wellness conversation, body sculpting, energy levels, anything else that has been on your mind, I am happy to make space for that too. The course of HIEMT sessions is the structured route, and a conversation about body sculpting and wellness at my studio is the broader entry point. Either way, the first conversation has no pressure attached, just an honest look at what might help.
Questions & Answers
Ready to think about what your pelvic floor actually needs?
Book a HIEMT session or a short conversation at my Kirkham studio and we will talk it through honestly. If your situation calls for physiotherapy first, I will tell you. If HIEMT is the right fit, we can start gently and build from there.
All treatments carried out by Maria at Skincare & Waxing, 10A Freckleton Street, Kirkham, Preston, PR4 2SP
