Stress incontinence is the most common type of incontinence and can affect both men as well as women. It is also the most common type of incontinence that affects younger women. Stress incontinence occurs when pelvic floor muscles, which support the bladder and urethra, weaken and put pressure on the bladder and urethra to work harder. With stress incontinence, everyday actions that use the pelvic floor muscles, such as coughing, sneezing, or laughing, can cause you to leak urine. Sudden movements and physical activity can also cause you to leak urine.

Pelvic floor weakening can be caused by a variety of reasons, such as pregnancy, childbirth, surgery, menopause, obesity, persistent coughing and asthma.

Most people would actually describe the treatment as unusual but pleasant, and it is certainly not described as painful. You will not have control of the muscle contractions as they will be involuntarily stimulated by the HI-EMT pulse, which is why it can feel unusual. The intensity of the treatment is gradually built throughout the treatment, and each treatment programme integrates a stretching, warm up and cool-down exercise so as to reduce any muscle fatigue or discomfort. You will not experience the feeling of exertion during the treatment, and your muscles will most likely feel used, but not abused, the following day or two.

Like any medical intervention, there are potential side effects following a CMSlim™ HIPEX treatment; however, these are very mild in nature, such as a tight internal sensation. As part of your consultation with us, you will be advised on these in more detail before you decide to proceed with any treatment. Our practitioners’ training, expertise and experience mean that they will be able to assist you with side effects should you experience them. 

In order to hyper-stimulate a biological response to change, you will require an initial course of 4-6 treatments over a 2 week period. It is advised that you maintain the muscle tone of your pelvic floor with a single treatment every 6 months to a year, with packages available to maintain your result, depending upon your requirements.

Many patients will feel an improvement in pelvic muscle strength and bladder control after just one treatment; however, you will notice the best results around a month after a course of 4-6 treatments delivered over a 2-week period.

The effect of duration can vary from person to person and depends upon your medical history and continued pelvic floor exercise following the initial effects. Results could be permanent with at-home efforts to continue exercising the pelvic floor muscles. Alternatively, the treatment can have a continuous benefit with regular maintenance treatments.

Yes, although very simple:

-Avoid exercise for 24 hours following a CMSlim™ HIPEX treatment.

CMSlim™ HIPEX treatments are “permanent”; however, they can only be considered “permanent” if you are committed to at-home pelvic floor exercises to maintain the pelvic floor muscle tone, or you continue with maintenance CMSlim™ HIPEX treatments. If you do not use the muscle, you will lose its newfound strength and tone. It is similar to working out at the gym to achieve muscle strength (albeit quicker) and then stopping exercise; your muscles will become weaker. It is therefore advised that you maintain at-home pelvic floor exercises and/or book maintenance CMSlim™ HIPEX treatments at least 6 months.