Home / Services / Emsella & Pelvic Wellness
Emsella & Pelvic Wellness · Non-invasive
Stop planning your life around the nearest bathroom.
Emsella treats bladder leakage by strengthening the pelvic floor — thousands of contractions per session while you sit, fully clothed. No surgery, no downtime, no exam to get started — and nothing to keep up at home.
Leakage is common — it is not something you just have to live with. Prefer to talk? Call (225) 647-2294.
1 · Who it helps
If this is you
- Leaks when you laugh, cough, or sneeze
- Sudden, urgent trips to the bathroom
- Avoiding exercise because of leakage
- Post-childbirth or menopause changes
Bladder leakage is common and it is treatable. It is also, for a lot of people, the symptom they never quite get around to mentioning — so it goes on quietly shaping which clothes get worn, which classes get skipped, and how far from a bathroom feels safe.
Bladder symptoms and the menopause transition also travel together. Declining estrogen affects the pelvic floor and the surrounding tissue, which is why we look at both rather than treating one in isolation.
2 · What it is
A chair that does the exercises for you
The Emsella chair uses high-intensity focused electromagnetic energy to contract the pelvic floor far harder than you can voluntarily. One 28-minute session produces thousands of these supramaximal contractions.
That is the whole mechanism, and it is worth being plain about it: the pelvic floor is muscle, and muscle responds to repeated contraction. The hard part has always been doing it correctly and often enough to matter. The chair solves the volume problem.
You stay fully clothed. Nothing is inserted, nothing is numbed, and there is no recovery. You sit down, read or scroll, and drive yourself home.
3 · The evidence
Does it actually work?
Plenty of places will tell you this is proven. We would rather show you what the research actually says and let you decide — it is your money and your body.
Published studies report improvement in bladder control and quality-of-life scores for many of the patients studied. The evidence base is small. The most-cited study followed 75 women and had no control group. Several other published trials were funded by the company that makes the device. The strongest independent trial we know of randomised 44 women, was funded by a national research council rather than the manufacturer, and found both better bladder scores and measurably stronger pelvic floor contraction when this technology was added to pelvic floor exercise.
None of that makes the findings wrong. It does mean the honest summary is promising, and worth evaluating — not proven. Study populations are not individual patients, and results vary.
Dr. Adams has written the evidence up in full, with the studies cited, in our Education Center. Read “Does Emsella Work?” →
4 · Kegels and the chair
Even done perfectly, kegels are hard to keep up
Kegels work. Doing them well takes two things, though: getting the technique right, and then doing them often enough, for long enough, to actually change something.
The first part is teachable, and we will happily show you — in the research, proper hands-on teaching got 97% of women to a correct contraction. The second part is where almost everyone comes unstuck, and no amount of instruction fixes that. Life gets in the way.
That is the honest appeal of the chair, and it has nothing to do with doing it wrong. The chair does the contracting for you — thousands of contractions in one 28-minute session, at an intensity voluntary effort cannot reach. It does not depend on your technique, and there is nothing to remember in between.
When Emsella is not the answer
We look before we recommend, and sometimes the answer is that there is a simpler fix. We would rather tell you that than sell you a course of sessions.
Something else is driving it. Some bladder symptoms have causes that need addressing separately, and treating the pelvic floor would not touch them.
Simple things first. Occasionally a bit of coaching, or treating something else that is going on, gets you where you wanted to be without a course of sessions.
You are better served another way. Some patients are, and we will say so.
None of that costs you anything to find out.
5 · What to expect
Simple, seated, done
- Get in touchBook a free consultation if you’d like to talk it through first, or simply ring the office and we’ll get you on the schedule.
- A form, not an examYou fill in a short bladder questionnaire at home. One of our providers goes over it with you — a quick conversation, right before your first session.
- Your first sessionAbout 28 minutes, sitting down, fully clothed. Bring something to read and drive yourself home afterwards.
- A short seriesA handful of sessions over a few weeks. Many people notice change partway through, and we only suggest touch-ups if they’d actually help.
Where it fits
If your symptoms arrived alongside the other changes of menopause, the pelvic floor is one piece of a larger picture and we would rather look at all of it. Hormone therapy →
Find out if it would work for you.
Start with a free consultation. We evaluate before recommending anything — and we will tell you if something else is driving your symptoms.
6 · Common questions
Questions about Emsella
Do I need an exam before I can start?
Usually not. You fill in a short bladder questionnaire at home, and one of our providers goes over it with you — a quick conversation right before your first session, not a separate appointment and not an examination. The sessions themselves are done fully clothed. There may be instances when a physical exam is needed to decide whether Emsella is the right therapy. If so, it is done by one of our experienced women's health providers.
How do I get started?
Either book a free consultation if you would like to talk it through first, or just ring the office at (225) 647-2294 and we will get you on the schedule. There is no obligation either way.
Does it hurt?
No. You feel strong tingling and contractions — unusual, not painful. You sit fully clothed and return to your day immediately.
What does a session actually feel like?
You sit on the chair fully clothed and feel your pelvic floor contracting rhythmically — a deep pulling sensation that most people describe as strange for the first minute and unremarkable after that. You can read or use your phone. A session runs about 28 minutes.
How many sessions will I need?
Treatment is a short series over a few weeks; your provider maps it out with you based on your symptoms.
Does Emsella actually work?
Published research reports improvement in bladder control and quality-of-life scores for many of the patients studied. The trials are small — the most-cited followed 75 women with no control group — and several were funded by the device manufacturer. The strongest independent trial randomised 44 women and found better bladder scores and measurably stronger pelvic floor contraction when this technology was added to pelvic floor exercise. The honest summary is promising and worth evaluating, not proven.
Is it better than doing kegels?
They are not really in competition — they work the same muscle from different directions. Kegels are free and effective when they are done correctly and kept up, and we will happily teach you the technique. Keeping them up is the part almost everyone finds hard. The chair does the contracting for you: thousands of contractions in a 28-minute session, at an intensity voluntary effort cannot reach, with nothing to remember in between.
I already do my kegels properly — is there any point?
Yes. The chair is not a correction for poor technique — it does the contracting for you, at a volume and intensity voluntary exercise cannot reach, so it works the same whether your technique was already good or not. For a lot of people the real appeal is simply not having to keep the exercises up.
Is there any downtime?
None. You stay clothed, nothing is inserted, there is no numbing and no recovery. People come in over a lunch break and drive themselves back to work.
Is Emsella covered by insurance?
No. Emsella is a cash-pay service, so it is not billed through insurance.
How much does Emsella cost?
Emsella is a cash-pay service, so what you pay is not set by an insurance plan. The total depends on how many sessions your provider maps out for you, which is why there is no single figure that would be true for everyone. Call the office at (225) 647-2294, or book a free consultation, and we will give you the current cost plainly before you commit to anything.
Related: Well-Woman & GYN · Hormone Therapy
7 · Further reading
From our Education Center.
Written by our clinicians, reviewed by Dr. Adams, sources cited.