HIGH-TECH HELPERS

While simple pelvic floor exercises work, some women find gadgets help them find the right way forward (note that some aren’t suitable for those with certain medical conditions, if you’re pregnant or if you have suffered from prolapse). Elvie (£169, elvie.com) is pretty nifty. It’s a small ‘wearable’ device that syncs with an app on your phone. Motion sensors give real-time feedback, checking, for instance, that you’re pulling up not pushing down – something many of us make the mistake of doing. You can also buy vaginal weights or cones, which automatically isolate and contract your pelvic floor muscles. Wear for, say, 20 minutes a day and add more weight as your strength increases. Try Aquaflex (£23.50, Boots). Devices that give out mild electrical stimulation to help retrain your pelvic floor muscles can also be useful if you have no awareness of your pelvic floor contracting. Try Kegel8 Tight & Tone (£99, kegel8.co.uk), or Tenscare Elise Pelvic Floor Exerciser (£54, tenscare.co.uk). There are also some studies to suggest that Pilates can help. This is because its moves engage all your deep core muscles, including your pelvic floor, ensuring everything is strong and co-ordinated. Roxburgh also sings the praises of ‘Movement Medicine’ for the pelvic floor, prescribing a myriad of moves in her book, including deep squats, among others. However, if you can’t feel your muscles working or they seem very weak, ask your GP to refer you to a women’s health physiotherapist. Likewise if you lack confidence to sneeze, run or jump. ‘Stress incontinence shouldn’t be thought of as normal; it’s not,’ says Simpson. ‘If you suffer from even a minor problem, address it sooner rather than later.’ Also, if something doesn’t feel ‘right’, such as a feeling of pressure on the pelvic area (as if something is ‘falling out’), see your GP to rule out pelvic organ prolapse. Sometimes, though, a prolapse doesn’t cause any symptoms and is picked up during a routine cervical screening; yet another reason to book your test. But, essentially, we all need to take a not-seen-but-not-forgotten approach to our pelvic floors and start doing our Kegels today.