Ask Dr. Peirson: What is Emsella?

So ArtMed has an Emsella. 

Emsella? What is that? Why is it called that? What’s it for? 

Emsella stands for “EM” (electromagnetic) and “sella” means chair in Latin. It’s an electromagnetic chair. And the electromagnetics in the chair induce contractions of the pelvic floor muscles when you sit on it. Put your arm across the chair and your wrist and fingers will flex rhythmically. Put your fanny on the seat and you’ll do 11,800 Kegels in 28 minutes flat. 

This is a very high tech piece of equipment that has much of the same kind of technology found in a magnetic resonance imager (MRI). It’s manufactured by BTL Industries a leading European manufacturer of medical devices and equipment. 

Why would you want to do 11,800 Kegels in 28 minutes? 

Because your pelvic floor muscles are extremely important to your urogenital health. Urogenital? The urogenital area of your body comprises your bladder and reproductive organs. And like any other part of our bodies, the urogenital zone ages. The pelvic floor supports the urogenital organs almost like a sling. But over time the muscles become weak, or they can be stretched and weakened by life events such as childbirth, menopause, andropause or urogenital surgery (eg. prostate). When the pelvic floor muscles weaken the sling is no longer tight and the urogenital organs fall backward, almost like your bladder is lying down on the job. 

So what you say? 

A reclining bladder leads to an incredibly irritating problem that can have an outsized impact on your enjoyment of life – urinary incontinence. Do you worry about a bladder leak when you laugh, jump, sneeze or cough? Does your bladder wake you up multiple times a night demanding to be emptied? Do you get no warning that you need to urinate and can’t quite make it to the washroom in time? Do you always keep an eye out for the nearest washroom? Do you have to wear incontinence pads, panty liners etc? Are you concerned about odor? These are all signs of stress or urge incontinence and are a sign that your pelvic floor muscles are letting you down (and your bladder down too). 

Like many other areas of our body, exercise is key. You want to work out those pelvic floor muscles and tighten them up– you want to be UroFit! 

So just do Kegels, right? Well yes, but it can be hard to do 11,000 Kegels in half an hour. Or ever. And even if you are pretty good at doing Kegels (and many people struggle to do them correctly) you can only recruit about 40% of your muscle strength and it would take you 70 straight hours of regular Kegels to reach the 11,000 count. 

Cue Emsella. Emsella’s electromagnetic stimulation enables you to do supramaximal pelvic floor contractions – more like 95-100% of your muscle strength. And the programme of contractions provided by the Emsella includes periods of facilitated rest so that your muscles don’t become over-fatigued. 

As you can imagine, when you get UroFit your pelvic floor muscles become toned and they tighten up that sling thereby supporting your bladder which leads to a huge improvement in continence. Works for women and men! 

But there is one side effect, there had to be right? Most people who do Emsella treatments report an improvement in their sexual health. Not all side effects are bad! Men report improvement in erectile dysfunction, women report a feeling of firming and tightening of the lower vagina and stronger orgasms. 

And Emsella treatment is easy! Sit on the chair, find your pelvic floor centre (perineum), relax and Emsella does the work! Wear your street clothes, and get up and go to return to your normal activities immediately. A treatment series involves 6 sessions of 28 minutes each on the chair. For most people the sessions will be twice weekly for 3 weeks and optimal results are usually observed about 2 weeks after completing your series. 

Do I have to keep it up? Yes, but not that often. Maybe only one 28 minute session on the Emsella chair every 6 months. Easy, fast, no downtime. 

How much? A series of 6 treatments is $2000 and maintenance appointments are $300 each. Some people may have coverage through their private health plans. If not, you may be able to claim it as a medical expense on your taxes if you suffer from incontinence. 

Do I have to be suffering from incontinence to benefit from Emsella? No you do not. Like any area of our body, a workout is always good. You can’t really do too many sit ups no matter how old you are. This is much the same. So if you’d just like to tighten up your pelvic floor you absolutely can – maybe you’re just interested in the positive side effects. 

Contraindications? Anyone with metal implants in their body – whether that is artificial joints, pacemakers, copper IUD etc. Just like an MRI, you cannot have metal in your body and especially in the area of the pelvic area. People with an overly tight pelvic floor shouldn’t do Emsella. Because we are a medical clinic we’ll make sure we assess you and determine if Emsella is appropriate for you. 

With Emsella you can get your confidence and continence back on track. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us. There are extensive FAQs on the website as well. It’s a high tech world out there! Is it time for you to Get Urofit at ArtMed x BTL Emsella?