Postnatal Pelvic Floor Strengthening: A Wellness Approach

My honest reason for offering this

Postnatal pelvic floor strengthening was personal before it was ever professional for me. After my children were born, I was one of those women who thought twice before laughing too hard, before running for a bus, before going to the gym without checking where the loo was. When I saw the HIEMT chair at an industry exhibition, the technology answered a question I had been carrying quietly for years.

So many women carry the same question and never speak it aloud. Half my friends will not bring this up at a dinner table. I bought the chair to improve my own life first. Offering it to clients came second. I have used it on myself, I know exactly what the experience feels like, and I see why women keep returning to the studio.

That is the trust frame I give every new client. I am not selling a procedure I have only read about. I am offering a tool I picked up for myself.

What postnatal pelvic floor weakness actually means

Pregnancy stretches and loads the muscles that sit between your hips, supporting bladder, bowel, and uterus. Birth itself, whether vaginal or by caesarean, adds load to the same group of muscles. By the time the body has finished healing, the postnatal pelvic floor often feels different. Less responsive. Slower to engage. Weaker under pressure. That is why so many women experience small leaks when they sneeze, cough, jump on a trampoline with their toddler, or do anything that pushes downward force through the abdomen.

This is not a personal failing. It is a muscle group adapting to a substantial physical event. The muscle is tired, and untrained, and waiting for someone to remind it how to switch on.

Is this a medical treatment?

Honest answer, no. My HIEMT chair is a wellness device for prophylactic strengthening of pelvic floor muscle tone. It is not the same as EMSElla, which is medical-grade equipment used in clinical settings for clients who need serious rehabilitation, often after surgery or severe postnatal injury. I have had clients come to me who tried EMSElla a few years ago, and their feedback is useful. The maximum power on EMSElla is stronger, but the effect of my chair feels similar, in a gentler way, possibly needing a few extra sessions to reach the same outcome.

I chose this route deliberately. EMSElla retail sits in the tens-of-thousands price bracket, which would push every session price out of reach for most women in Kirkham and the surrounding Fylde Coast. I wanted as many women as possible to be able to afford pelvic floor strengthening without going out of pocket. That decision shapes who this chair is for. Women looking for prophylactic, accessible, gentle support, rather than clinical rehabilitation.

If you genuinely need clinical pelvic floor therapy, please speak to your GP first. They may refer you to NHS women’s health physiotherapy, which is the right starting point for serious cases. I also offer body sculpting in Kirkham using related HIEMT-family technology if you are exploring non-invasive options for the wider postnatal recovery picture, and my canonical pelvic floor treatment service page lists pricing and bookable slots.

When can postnatal pelvic floor work begin?

After your six-week postnatal GP check. That is the first non-negotiable. I will not run a session before you have been cleared by your doctor or midwife. After that clearance, you can come whenever you feel ready. There is no expiry date on postnatal pelvic floor work. I have clients starting six months after birth and clients starting six years after birth, and both groups respond. The muscle reacts to the work whether the trigger event was recent or distant.

There are also conditions I cannot work around. The chair is not suitable for clients who are pregnant, or who have heart disease, cardiac pacemakers or defibrillators, thyroid disease, epilepsy, renal failure, malignant tumours in or near the treatment area, or metal or electronic implants such as stents, contraceptive rings, drug pumps, or nerve stimulators. I screen for these at booking. If anything on this list applies to you, the chair is not the right fit, and I will say so directly.

What a postnatal pelvic floor session looks like in the studio

You arrive fully clothed and stay fully clothed throughout. The chair looks like a normal armchair with a treatment pad you sit on. I start by going through the contraindications list with you. Then I walk you through finding the optimal sitting position, because the angle matters for where the electromagnetic stimulation reaches.

For the next thirty minutes, I gradually increase the power level and ask you regularly how it feels. The sensation is unusual at first. A strong, rhythmic contraction, like a rapid Kegel you did not have to think about. Some clients chat with me through the whole session. Others bring a book. A few prefer to scroll their phone in silence. There is no pressure to perform. The work is happening on its own.

You walk out of the studio at the end of thirty minutes and resume your day immediately. No downtime. No recovery window. No “rest of the afternoon off”.

The realistic timeline

This is the section I refuse to soften. Most women begin to feel a difference after the third or fourth session, sometimes a little earlier, sometimes a little later. I have a small group of clients who told me they noticed something after the first session, and I have clients who needed five before the change registered. Bodies vary.

I recommend a course of six to ten sessions, two sessions per week, thirty minutes each. The exact number depends on how long the weakening has been there and how the individual body responds. After a course, the muscle has been reactivated. But muscles, once strengthened, can also un-strengthen if you stop using them. That is why I suggest a top-up session every six weeks, or a daily Kegel routine at home, to hold the tone you worked for.

What I will not promise. A single dramatic session that fixes everything. That is not how muscle works.

Aftercare and ongoing maintenance

Aftercare is genuinely simple. You may notice mild muscle fatigue, similar to the day after a workout, and this is normal. Avoid eating or drinking for about an hour after the session, to give the muscle time to recover. Increase water intake across the course of treatment, and lean on a higher-protein diet to support recovery between sessions.

If you want the result to last beyond the course, the maintenance plan is the one I mentioned above. A top-up every six weeks, or daily Kegel exercises. Postnatal pelvic floor work is cumulative. The chair is the starting tool. The ongoing maintenance is yours.