It’s normal to have questions and hesitations when new innovation arrives. As women, we’ve been trained to believe that bladder leaks are a normal part of being a woman. Something we just have to live with. Innovation like the Kegel Throne at UROSPOT can seem too good to be true. A chair you sit on that strengthens your pelvic floor and ends bladder leaks…while you leave your clothes on. I get it. Skepticism is a natural human response. Innovation has faced skepticism throughout our history. Kodak ignored the innovation of digital cameras and it cost them everything. Blockbuster failed to reinvent themselves when Netflix first appeared on the scene. Lasik eye surgery had optometrists fearing they would be out of work. Twenty years ago laser hair removal seemed like a crazy idea…now it’s table stakes for any aesthetic spa offering. As the saying goes “the Stone Age did not end because they ran out of stones”. Humanity decided to take a different direction, to innovate and adopt new ways of doing things.
Innovation is not adopted by all of us at the same time. There are early adopters (see blog post from an early adopter at UROSPOT) and there are laggards. Those who have the most to lose (think Optometrists when Lasik launched) will do their best to plant seeds of doubt and make desperate attempts to justify sticking with the “old” way of doing things. It’s a common pattern that’s repeated over time.
I love the quote “I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones”. As a woman who struggled severely with bladder leaks caused by a weak pelvic floor I was eager for “new ideas” and frustrated by the “old ones”. As women, judging another woman for how she seeks her own self care is the last thing we need. We should be celebrating any woman who makes time for self care…no matter the approach she chooses. How sad this world would be if there was only ONE way to solve a problem. For myself, invasive approaches (hands or objects inside my vagina) was not the approach I wanted to take. Wearing a pad everyday was not a “solution” I would accept for the rest of my life. Ending up in a nursing home someday because I’ve become fully incontinent was an “old idea” I was frightened by.
Lucky for us a new idea is here. Innovation in women’s healthcare is on this rise, and it’s about time! UROSPOT exists because I wanted other women to have access to revolutionary innovation that will change their life and restore freedom and confidence (see Ashley’s story here). At UROSPOT we empower women to say “enough” to the idea that leaking is normal.
The Kegel Throne is new innovation. As an Executive in the Canadian Healthcare market for the majority of my 22-year career – including President of Graceway Pharmaceuticals – I have successfully brought new products into the Canadian market through Health Canada. This is no small feat. It takes years of work, and rigorous thresholds of safety and efficacy must be proven to be granted approval. The technology at UROSPOT which we lovingly call The Kegel Throne has both FDA and Health Canada approval. I have worked with in both the Canadian and US Healthcare systems. The US market is typically earlier to adopt new technology compared to Canada, and women in the US have had much greater access to the Kegel Throne compared to women in Canada.
In order to change that…and give more access to women in Canada, UROSPOT has built our company with the guidance and direction of Medical Advisors from the OBGYN and URO-GYN community who clearly see the potential for this technology to help women (see our story here).
From day one, UROSPOT – and our medical advisors – have positioned our service as complementary to pelvic floor physio. Pelvic floor physio can provide excellent information from a bio-feedback standpoint and UROSPOT can help accelerate results in as little as 3 weeks. For me, I was never compliant with my “homework”. Finding time to do 30 minutes of kegels a day was impossible. I felt like it was one more thing I was failing at as a woman and mother. Outsourcing my kegels works better for me and my full lifestyle.
One important piece of information for women to know is that your pelvic floor can be in different states. A state of weakness (this was my situation from babies and age) or a state of tension (when the muscles are too tight and can’t relax). At UROSPOT we only treat women with a weak pelvic floor (see FAQs here). A thorough assessment (with your clothes on) is done during your consultation in order to rule out tension. If we suspect tension (aka hypertonic pelvic floor) we work with you to refer you to a different provider to seek relief.
At UROSPOT we embrace innovation. We don’t fear it. We believe women deserve better than a future wasting thousands of dollars on pads and diapers that end up in landfills (side note: in 2019, adult diapers will outsell baby diapers for the first time in history and it ALL goes to a landfill). We celebrate all women who seek selfcare, we don’t judge how you go about it (it’s hard enough to just put ourselves first). At UROSPOT we believe complementary solutions to solving a problem that impacts 2/3 women over 40 is a great thing. Our clients agree. If you are curious about UROSPOT and the Kegel Throne, come check us out. Consults are complimentary, informative, empowering and most of all…enjoyable!
