During a hospital stay for rehabilitation, a patient with bladder weakness and complex back problems became familiar with the pelvic floor training device PelvicTool by Alonea. In her testimonial, she describes how the combination of visual feedback and individual calibration helped her control her pelvic floor muscles more precisely.
Bladder weakness, pelvic instability, and back pain often occur together—especially when the body has been weakened by illness, prolonged immobilization, or therapies that were not well tolerated. In such situations, it is often difficult to train the pelvic floor in a targeted way without overloading other structures.
A customer—Ms. Susanne S.—shares her personal experience here and describes how, with the pelvic floor trainer PelvicTool from the Swiss medtech company Alonea, she felt for the first time that she could deliberately activate her pelvic floor.
First encounter with the Alonea PelvicTool during rehabilitation
During her rehabilitation at the Kurparkklinik Bad Kissingen, the customer took part in a pelvic floor seminar. In addition to classic group pelvic floor exercises, the Alonea PelvicTool Home & Sport was also presented. It is a non-invasive training device with biofeedback that measures pelvic floor muscle activity and makes it visible via an app. This allows users to see directly on their phone whether—and how strongly—they are contracting or relaxing their pelvic floor muscles.
After an introduction by the physiotherapy team, patients were able to train independently with the device, without fixed appointments.
Ms. S. says: “I took advantage of the offer right away and tried the device. The training was surprisingly engaging—and immediately sparked my competitive spirit.”
She initially found the coordination exercises to be extremely challenging. Instead of a controlled movement, the display initially zigzagged up and down. However, this direct feedback made it clear to her how difficult it was for her to deliberately activate and control the pelvic floor.
“I got to know the PelvicTool during rehabilitation and had good experiences with it. That’s why I continue to use it at home today.”
Susanne S.
Regular training and noticeable progress
Ms. S. then began training regularly two to three times per week with the Alonea PelvicTool.
Over time, she learned to control her pelvic floor muscles more precisely. The exercises could be gradually intensified without causing overload.
These points made the difference for the customer:
The PelvicTool App clearly shows which exercises have been done and how the training is progressing. You can see directly when the pelvic floor is contracted or relaxed again.
At the beginning of each training session, the current state is taken into account. The exercises adjust accordingly, so the training is neither too easy nor too strenuous.
Training with the pelvic floor trainer is non-invasive, performed fully clothed, and can be easily integrated into everyday life.
Initial situation before rehabilitation
Before rehabilitation, Ms. S. experienced significant muscle loss due to weeks of bed rest and poorly tolerated therapies. A previously latent pelvic floor weakness became noticeably worse. At night, at least one trip to the toilet was necessary, sometimes triggered by an alarm after four hours of sleep. Sleep quality was severely affected.
In addition, there were severe back problems and pronounced pelvic instability. Even small incorrect movements led to visible misalignments.
Situation at the end of the rehabilitation clinic stay
By the end of rehabilitation, Ms. S. showed clear improvements:
She was able to sleep through the night again
The extreme pelvic instability was no longer an issue
Back pain had improved
Return to everyday life
After her stay at the rehabilitation clinic, Ms. S. consistently continued the recommended measures, including equipment-based training twice a week, weekly swimming, physiotherapy with home exercises, Tai Chi Eight Brocades, as well as pelvic floor exercises. However, since the Alonea PelvicTool was not available in her area, pelvic floor training was done exclusively without the device.
Although Ms. S. trained very consistently, there was initially a slow, then drastic deterioration in the stability of her pelvic floor, pelvis, and back over time.
“My physiotherapist explained to me that in many cases the pelvic floor can be well stabilized even without a device. That’s why I performed the demonstrated exercises very diligently. However, for me, this caused my back problems to be triggered again and significantly worsened.
My personal problem is that several areas of discomfort in my body are in a very sensitive balance: Osteoarthritis in the lower lumbar region improves with upright posture, while at the same time, disc problems at L5/S1 are triggered again precisely by this upright posture and excessive pelvic floor tension.”
Pelvic floor training at home – why Ms. S. chose the PelvicTool
Based on her positive experiences during rehabilitation, Ms. S. decided to purchase the PelvicTool Home & Sport privately. This allows her to continue training at home in a way that she had already found well-tolerated and effective during rehab.
Looking back, she says: “The price is not low for an individual, and in my region the device was not available in physiotherapy practices. For me, however, it was a conscious decision—a personal investment in training that I expect to bring significant benefits.”
Ms. S. sees the key advantage of training with the PelvicTool in the individual calibration at the beginning of each session. Regardless of her condition on a given day, this ensures she always trains within the appropriate intensity range—without overexertion and without irritating her spinal discs.
Conclusion
This Alonea PelvicTool experience demonstrates that pelvic floor training does not work the same for everyone. Especially in cases of complex complaints, objective feedback on muscle activity can help make the training safer and more targeted without overexertion.
Pelvic floor training is only for women? Far from it. Men also benefit from this. Both sexes it helps with urinary and fecal incontinence. Women need strong pelvic floor muscles because of childbirth, and for men, a Pelvic floor training device relieves symptoms of prostate enlargement and erectile dysfunction. And can often even be used preventively.
Men also benefit from pelvic floor training
Pelvic floor training used to be reserved for women. Her vagina, along with the urinary tract and intestines, creates a weak spot in the Pelvic floor muscles . A strong pelvic floor improves resilience during pregnancy and helps normal anatomy return after birth.
For men, the topic of pelvic floor training is a taboo subject. Yet many of their typical ailments can be improved with a modern pelvic floor training device.
In men, overweight, prolonged sitting and poor posture cause weakened pelvic floor muscles. In old age, prostate problems are added, which are accompanied by urinary incontinence. The latter, just like fecal incontinence, also affects women, in this case due to pregnancy.
In sexuality, the pelvic floor muscles play an important role. Strengthened, it provides high sensitivity in men and women, and in men it is essential for potency.
Why is a stable pelvic floor important for men and women?
Anatomically, walking upright is a problem. Whereas the abdominal cavity of our four-legged ancestors hung resiliently on the horizontally running spinal column, our fat reserves and unborn offspring strain the pelvic floor. The lumbar vertebrae are also exposed to particular stresses due to the upright position: widespread back pain.
The abdominal cavity is bounded on all sides: Above by the diaphragm, in front by the abdominal muscles, behind the spine and below the pelvis provides bony support. In the back, the back muscles are critical; in the pelvis, the pelvic floor muscles are critical: both must absorb the load that was previously held by the abdominal muscles. Just like the back muscles, the muscles in the pelvic floor are important for the stability of the trunk and thus for posture, physical performance, breathing, digestion, continence and, last but not least, sexuality.
Positive effects: What are the benefits of pelvic floor training for men?
Pelvic floor training is the order of the day for men who have problems with their continence and/or potency. Men suffer from urinary and faecal incontinence much less often in their younger years than women with their pregnancies, but they catch up strongly in old age. Then erectile dysfunction also becomes more frequent. Causes of such complaints are
neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis (MS), which disrupt the retention of stool and urine;
benign enlargement of the prostate, which mainly affects urinary continence and potency. Operations on the prostate, especially in the case of prostate cancer, further impair the functional capacity of the pelvic floor muscles.
The cross of men with the prostate
Male disease ben ignprostatic hyperplasia: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) affects urinary incontinence and sex life and, to make matters worse, can develop into prostate cancer. The numbers are staggering:
Prostate hyperplasia occurs in men over 60 with an incidence of 50-60 percent, beyond 70 with 80-90 percent.
Erectile dysfunction occurs in 52 percent of all men between the ages of 40 and 70, according to the U.S. MassachusettsMale Ageing Study (MMAS).
Potency problems in old age are confirmed by the European Male Ageing Study (EMAS), which found that 6-64 percent of men aged 40-79 struggle with it.
Why are prostate and pelvic floor muscles important for urinary control and potency?
Healthy pelvic floor muscles are essential forblood flow to the penis, which is the only way to build and maintain an erection. In addition, all the nerves to control erection and ejaculation run here. A trained pelvic floor therefore also means improved sensitivity, better control over the ejaculatory reflex and therefore more intensive, better and longer sex.
Again, the prostate is the weak point: the gland that produces the bulk of the sperm and brings the sperm to life surrounds the urethra. Prostate enlargement and prostate surgery ultimately lead to urinary incontinence. Surgery often exacerbates potency problems as well: The nerves supplying the penis run through the capsule of the prostate and are affected by the surgery.
How can the PelvicTool help men with incontinence and impotence?
The PelvicTool is also suitable for prevention and prophylaxis. Pelvic floor training provides improved blood circulation and control of the nerves running in the pelvic floor muscles – important for urine control and potency.
A practical side effect is that it also optimises posture. If the corresponding nerves remain intact after prostate surgery, in many cases their functionality can be at least partially restored with pelvic floor training. Improvement of erectile dysfunction and control over ejaculation improve sexual life, not least through increased self-confidence.
Yafi FA, Jenkins L, Albersen M, Corona G, Isidori AM, Goldfarb S, Maggi M, Nelson CJ, Parish S, Salonia A, Tan R, Mulhall JP, Hellstrom WJ. Erectile dysfunction . Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016 Feb 4;2:16003. doi: 10.1038/nrdp.2016.3. PMID: 27188339; PMCID: PMC5027992.
Ng M, Baradhi KM. Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia . 2021 Aug 11. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan-. PMID: 32644346.
Did you discover the PelvicTool at a gym, with your physiotherapist, urologist, or in a postnatal course and would like to test it at home first? No problem! You can easily rent the PelvicTool from one of our Alonea distributors and try it out before deciding to purchase.
Important: Exercise your pelvic floor muscles regularly
«In order to achieve and maintain long-term improvement, pelvic floor training must be integrated into everyday life forever.’ Susanne Egli, physiotherapist, Medbase Winterthur, Brunngasse
If you are considering renting a pelvic floor training device or thinking about purchasing one, you should know that the pelvic floor muscles – like any other muscle – need to be trained continuously and regularly to ensure long-term results. The PelvicTool supports you optimally, as it enables effective and comfortable training. You can easily track your progress through the app. The padded seat and soft sensor tube ensure a pain-free workout. Equally important: thanks to its simple handling, the PelvicTool can be effortlessly integrated into your daily routine. No changing clothes, no insertion – the time commitment is minimal. With just 5 minutes of training, 3 times a week, you can effectively strengthen your pelvic floor muscles.
An investment in health and well-being that is worth it – for the whole family!
Pelvic floor exerciser rental in Switzerland: Parsenn Produkte AG
Parsenn Produkte AG offers its customers two options: they can either rent the PelvicTool for a low monthly fee of just CHF 55.00 (excluding VAT, plus postage), or they can purchase the PelvicTool directly from the company’s online shop. The rental offer is only available to customers based in Switzerland.
*Prices are subject to change. The current conditions can be found directly on the company’s website:
The company Beckenboden-Gesundheit.com specializes in supporting and spreading information on pelvic floor muscle health.Beckenboden-Gesundheit.com offers the Alonea PelvicTool for purchase and rental. Rental payments will be credited toward the purchase price if bought later. The rental offer is valid exclusively for recipients located in Germany.
You can find the conditions directly on the company’s website:
On the website beckenboden-pelvicfloor.at, the Vienna-based company Krainer Medtechnik also offers the Alonea PelvicTool for purchase and rental. Rental payments will be credited toward the purchase price if bought later. The rental offer is valid exclusively for recipients located in Austria.
You can find the conditions directly on the company’s website:
Pelvic floor training has proven to be extremely helpful for prostate problems. Behind the “man’s disease” is the proliferating prostate gland, which hinders urination and causes urinary incontinence. Surgery for prostatic hyperplasia or prostate cancer further aggravates the symptoms. A pelvic floor training device like the App-supported PelvicTool strengthens the pelvic floor muscles and often not only relieves incontinence, but also improves sex life and posture.
Men go through menopause too
As with women, men’s hormones ride a roller coaster as they age. The testicles are in the driver’s seat: Their intermediate cells produce fewer sex hormones from the age of 50. Decreasing testosterone levels are manifested by decreased sex drive and enlarged prostate gland.
The prostate represents the largest part of the ejaculate. For this purpose, the walnut-sized organ located in the pelvic floor encloses the urethra, into which it releases its secretion and brings the sperm to life.
What is benign prostatic hyperplasia?
This proximity can become a problem in old age, because the prostate tissue grows hormone-dependent. Less testosterone in the blood makes it proliferate in many men, causing benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The common “man’s disease” narrows the urethra and impairs urination. The first signs of BPH are a nocturnal urge to urinate with incomplete bladder emptying, and later urinary incontinence and urinary retention. Other typical complaints are erectile dysfunction and painful ejaculation with reduced ejaculate quantity.
What to do about benign prostate enlargement?
Man is reluctant to go to the doctor, because the subject is embarrassing to him? He should. The contact person is the urologist who also performs the prostate screening. Early detection is important because minimally invasive surgery is possible with early diagnosis. In transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), the surgeon inserts an endoscope through the urethra and removes the excess tissue with a wire loop or laser.
How to treat prostate cancer?
Waiting can be fatal, because sometimes BPH becomes malignant and develops into prostate cancer. In the case of complete removal of the prostate (radical prostatectomy, RPE), the surgeon removes the prostate and local metastases from the pelvic floor. The operation is performed classically with an abdominal incision or minimally invasive via a laparoscope inserted through the abdominal wall.
What are the consequences of prostate surgery?
Problematic are interventions on the pelvic floor muscles, sphincter and urethra as well as the peeling or removal of the prostate capsule. The muscles in the pelvic floor hold the bladder and the urinary tract in place, the sphincter is necessary for urine control, and the nerves for erection and ejaculation run in the capsule. Therefore, urinary incontinence and impotence are the most common consequences of prostate surgery.
With urinary incontinence, there are not only problems with urination, but urine is passed involuntarily and/or it “dribbles” after going to the toilet up to continuous urine loss. Such symptoms significantly impair the quality of life, and many sufferers withdraw and avoid social contacts. This can be easily helped for most: A pelvic floor training device alleviates many complaints.
How does a pelvic floor exerciser help after prostate surgery?
The emptying of the bladder is controlled by the ring muscle at the bladder outlet and the Pelvic floor muscles . The sphincter muscle opens the bladder, the muscles in the pelvic floor, together with the bladder muscles, push the urine out, and finally the muscle ring closes again. Unlike our skeletal muscles, the smooth muscles involved in this process are not normally subject to voluntary control. But it is possible: everyone does their first pelvic floor training as a baby – at some point, urinary incontinence is a thing of the past, and we go to the potty on our own without diapers. The pelvic floor muscles can also be trained in a similar way by tensing and relaxing them. A great help here is a pelvic floor training device, with which such exercises can be done easily.
Recommended by physiotherapists: PelvicTool for pelvic floor training
Pelvic floor training used to be reserved for rehab and physical therapy, but today anyone can do it at home. The PelvicTool by Alonea is intimate-free and very easy to use via app: Sit on the comfortable seat with normal sports clothes and complete your exercises according to the instructions.
The corresponding app visualizes contraction and relaxation of the pelvic floor muscles directly on your smartphone, so you can follow your training live.
The Physio Rehab has a team of eight physical therapists offering a wide range of therapies, including pelvic floor rehabilitation.
«Bladder conditions such as urinary incontinence and irritable bladder symptoms are among the most common women’s complaints,» says Physio-Rehab Managing Director Fiona Grunder. The complaints can be triggered even in younger women, for example by the birth of a child, but also by sporting activities. Often, the complaints only appear after menopause. According to statistics, around 40% of women, but also many men, are affected in the course of their lives.
Indications for pelvic floor rehabilitation
Pelvic floor therapy is indicated in the absence of awareness of the pelvic floor, stress or stress incontinence, lowering of the uterus or as preventive training after pregnancy. The pelvic floor muscles are weakened and their function is impaired. With targeted pelvic floor rehabilitation, complaints can often be treated successfully.
Medical aids in therapy
«We offer our patients a wide range of treatment options,” says Fiona Grunder. The therapy aids are specifically adapted to the needs of the patients. For some time now, pelvic floor rehabilitation at Physio Rehab has also included exercises with the PelvicTool Home & Sport. The PelvicTool is a digital pelvic floor trainer that can be used as a perception-enhancing tool and to strengthen the pelvic floor. Likewise, therapists can optimally use the device to monitor progress and thus objectify the progress of patients. The PelvicTool Home & Sport includes an anatomically shaped seat cushion with soft sensor tube for pain-free training as well as the PelvicTool app for monitoring training performance.
Patients respond very well to the device. It shows them immediately and directly whether and how well they can target the pelvic floor.»
«The display of the pelvic floor contractions on the tablet makes it easier for us therapists to control the training» mentions the managing director. Patients also find it pleasant that they can train clothed, in contrast to other incontinence therapy devices. Pelvic floor training with the PelvicTool is therefore a method of first choice for pelvic floor therapy.
The physiotherapist emphasizes: «Crucial for the success of the therapy is regular practice at home and behavioral changes in everyday life, for example relieving positions or a change in drinking behavior».
Pelvic floor therapy requires a doctor’s prescription from either the gynecologist or the family doctor. Fiona Grunder: «Patients often shy away from approaching their doctor about complaints and wait until the level of suffering is too high. That’s a shame, because with targeted pelvic floor therapy, the complaints can often be successfully alleviated or eliminated altogether.»
Social withdrawal and massive impairment of quality of life are often the sad consequences of urinary incontinence. Many patients with uncontrollable urine leakage no longer dare to talk to people, and the topic is also unpleasant for doctors. Yet in many cases the discomfort of urination can be alleviated with a pelvic floor training device, because the pelvic floor plays an important role in many forms of bladder weakness.
What is urinary incontinence?
Urinary incontinence is defined as the inability to control the time and place of urination. What we take for granted from childhood becomes increasingly difficult or impossible with age and various diseases. The forms of bladder weakness range from a slight dribble during physical exertion or sneezing to a complete loss of control over the sphincter muscle.
How common is bladder weakness?
Predominant causes of urinary incontinence are age-related changes in the pelvic floor muscles and urogenital tract. In women, the percentage increases with age and number of births; the average is 6-10 percent. Older men often suffer from prostate enlargement (benign prostatic hyperplasia, BPH): while urinary incontinence still occurs in 11 percent of those aged 45-65, the figure is already 32 percent in those over 80.
What forms of urinary incontinence are there?
Doctors distinguish between several types of urinary incontinence, depending on the symptoms and causes. The most important of these are explained below.
Stress incontinence occurs with even the slightest physical exertion: Walking, lifting, sneezing, coughing, laughing. Men and women suffer equally from this form of urinary incontinence. In the former, prostate enlargement and prostate surgery are the main causes, while women often suffer from weakened pelvic floor muscles after the strain of childbirth and hormonal changes after menopause. The outdated and inaccurate term stress incontinence is hardly ever used in professional circles.
Attention hold-up! If you suddenly feel an irrepressible urge to urinate from one moment to the next, this is called urge incontinence. Bladder infections are the most common reason in women, especially since they occur particularly frequently thanks to the short urethra. In both sexes, unstable bladder muscles, neurological diseases or bladder tumors can also be responsible for urge incontinence.
Mixed incontinence is when a combination of urge incontinence and stress incontinence is present. It is particularly common in men who have undergone prostate surgery, which affects the urethra and sphincter. As with pure urge incontinence, a diagnostic clarification of the cause is absolutely necessary.
In overflow continence urine automatically passes when the bladder is full, without the patient having any influence over it. The most common causes are weak bladder or pelvic floor muscles or a blockage of the urethra. In older men, this is mainly due to prostate enlargement. Otherwise, nerve damage due to diabetes affects the muscles, or tumors, strictures and bladder stones block the urinary tract.
Extraurethral means outside the urethra, extraurethral incontinence means that urine drains through unanticipated pathways. Causes include congenital defects of the urethra or ureter that manifest in childhood, or secondary damage, such as the formation of fistulas between the bladder or ureter and the bowel or vagina. Such detours can only be corrected by surgery; pelvic floor training can only support rehab.
In reflex incontinence, nerve impulses trigger reflex emptying of the urinary bladder. The patient cannot control this process, often the patient is not even aware of the urge to urinate. The injury to the nerve pathways involved is located in the spinal cord (spinal reflex incontinence; spina = spinal cord) or in the brain (supraspinal reflex incontinence; supraspinal = above the spinal cord). The most common causes of spinal reflex incontinence are spinal cord injuries, paraplegia and multiple sclerosis; for supraspinal reflex incontinence, dementia, Parkinson’s disease and stroke. Pelvic floor training reaches its limits here; an indwelling catheter or bladder pacemaker are used instead.
Pelvic floor training has proven effective for the most common forms of urinary incontinence: stress incontinence, stress incontinence and their mixed forms. These account for over 90 percent of cases of bladder weakness. A special pelvic floor training device makes daily exercises easier.
Modern pelvic floor trainers such as the PelvicTool from Alonea are considered particularly innovative. Sit on the device in normal sportswear and track your workout on your cell phone or tablet with the accompanying app. The highly sensitive sensors show which muscles you are currently tensing – there’s no better way to visualize your exercise success. Finally being able to exercise again when you really want to secures a greater deal of quality of life.
