Pelvic Floor Muscles

Smart Balls – weighted vaginal balls – are good for training pelvic floor muscles, and reducing stress urinary incontinence.  A Swedish university clinical study was completed which confirms weighted vaginal balls are a good alternative for training pelvic floor muscles in women with stress urinary incontinence.

More information is available here:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nau.1011/abstract

Abstract

Stress incontinence is the most prevalent form of female urinary incontinence. Women have traditionally been treated with pelvic floor muscle exercises alone or with the use of vaginal cones. A new treatment mode, vaginal balls, has been developed. The aim of this study was to compare pelvic floor muscle training with and without vaginal balls and to collect information on women’s subjective feelings about the two training modes.

The study was carried out as a prospective randomized clinical trial. Thirty-seven women aged 25-65 were assigned either to a pelvic floor muscle training program or to a training program using weighted vaginal balls for 4 months. Treatment outcomes were assessed by a pad-test with a standardized bladder volume, vaginal palpation, and by women’s self-reported perceptions. The sense of coherence score was compared with the score for a normal population.

Ninety-three percent of the women completed the study. Both training modes were effective in reducing urinary leakage: with vaginal balls (P < 0.0001) and without (P < 0.019); and increasing pelvic floor muscle strength: with vaginal balls (P < 0.0039) and without (P < 0.0002).

The reduction of urinary leakage after four months of exercise in the training group with vaginal balls was significantly better (P < 0.03) than the results in the group training with pelvic floor muscle exercises alone. The study found the weighted vaginal balls to be a good alternative for training pelvic floor muscles in women with stress urinary incontinence.

Source:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nau.1011/abstract
Neurourol. Urodynam. 20:591-599, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Tiina Arvonen, Aino Fianu-Jonasson, Raija Tyni-Lenné
Department of Physical Therapy, Karolinska Institute and Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Department of Gynecology, Karolinska Institute and Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden