I am writing this text suffering from pain, maybe that’s why I decided to finally end it … In other words, painful menstruation. At the very thought we feel anxiety. A few more days and they will get you again, it will exclude you from everyday life. Or not necessarily?
In our women’s team it has been one of the most common reasons for a day off so far. Until we discovered something special. Necessity is the mother of invention, especially in the medtech startup 😉 It turned out that our blue miracle (vaginal probe for pelvic floor muscle exercises) can relieve this pain. Is it even possible? Of course
Stubborn users or innovators
Wonderful users of our system led us to the first clues of this thinking. 2 years ago, a frequent question that was asked: can I exercise pelvic floor muscles with PelviFly during menstruation, I don’t want to stop training during this time, can I? After all, before menstruation, the strength of muscle contraction decreases, so you can take a break for a few days. Some women were not convinced and still excercised. Later on they were writing to us how much it helped them through those days. Workouts on a delicate contraction (in our case it is a warm-up or endurance) relieved menstrual pain, and the activated sensory vibration was soothing and relaxing. We always learn a lot from our users, who are happy to share knowledge and their relevant insights with us.
Inspired at night I searched for information about vibration therapy and pain relief. I was looking for the results of scientific research related to vibration training with a positive effect on the course of menstruation. I found a lot of books about this topic and phd thesis. And what? There is evidence that vibration cause analgesia, but there is no studies contains menstrual pain. I thought that we have to try and check this idea.
Already during the January work on the new PelviFly & Kegel Ninja Trainer app, we were able to make a small breakthrough for women, namely to program in the device a vibration with a low, constant vibration amplitude that can be activated during training.
Are there any effects?
We tested the effects of our latest work on ourselves. I remember once in the office Joanna (a physiotherapist from the PelviFly team) was sitting at the desk writing another lesson to the challenge of Kegel Ninja while having our equipment with vibration attached to the belly. “You know, my stomach hurts today and I’m testing our novelty. And I’ll tell you it works!” I burst out laughing. After that, second urogynecological physiotherapist said a few weeks ago that she was taking the device for delivery… precisely because of these new vibrations.
what about the research?
Researchers from the Canadian facility investigated the effect of local vibration on reducing pain in the lower spine. Their research has shown that stimulation of deep sensation receptors under the influence of vibration can lead to an increase in pain-suppressing mechanisms and can therefore be used for therapeutic purposes. In addition, there has been some research in the aspect of vibration training and treatment of urinary incontinence. Vibration increases the bioelectrical activity of the muscle. As the frequency of vibrations increases, muscle tone increases, and perineal sensation and motor control improve.
In conclusion, the subject is definitely worth researching and observing. After all, everything in the spirit of slow life and positive stimuli that relieve pain by restoring the joy of life is worth sleepless scientific nights. For us to live better!
dr Urszula Herman
