Patient Populations Who Respond Well To Pelvic Floor Weights

In this video, IntimateRose.com's Dr. Amanda Olson, certified pelvic floor rehabilitation therapist, discusses the patient populations that she sees that she recommends for pelvic weight therapy from a clinician's perspective. Vaginal weights, which were originally developed to treat low proprioception in the 1980s, are excellent for improving the brain's awareness of the pelvic floor, and Dr. Olson finds that her patients that have had prior nerve trauma that has healed, either through pregnancy, delivery, or for any other reason, find using Kegel weights tremendously helpful. This is often because many of these patients may be doing Kegels wrong, and the tactile and visual cueing provided with a vaginal weight during therapy sessions can help correct this.

Another patient population that Dr. Olson recommends the use of pelvic floor weights is anyone with low tone. After being trained how to do a proper Kegel and developing a pelvic floor strength of about 3 out of 5, patients do very well when introduced to these weights, though it's important to understand that using vaginal weights is contraindicated for patients with excessive dryness or vaginal atrophy.

Athletes are another patient population that Dr. Olson uses vaginal weights, even female athletes that haven't had children but are still experiencing incontinence or prolapse. This often occurs due to participation in sports that require large amounts of heavy exertion like lifters, throwers, and gymnasts. Dr. Olson finds athletes tend to be motivated and that they respond effectively to strengthening the pelvic floor using weights. Women athletes who have given birth similarly benefit well from this pelvic floor therapy as well, especially when related to issues like postpartum bladder incontinence.

Postpartum patients that are a little further out than conventional thought are also excellent candidates for vaginal weights. New mothers that are 6 to 12 months out from childbirth are often very busy with new babies at home, and being able to use a vaginal weight for 10 to 15 minutes a day is much less time-consuming than doing dozens of Kegels as recommended to recondition their pelvic floor.

The final population that benefit the most from vaginal weights are the ones that can't attend physical therapy regularly. Whether it's a time and distance constraint, a financial one due to poor or nonexistent insurance coverage, or any other impediment to in-person therapy visits, these patients can use self-directed Kegel weight therapy at home to continue to progress.



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