Now top gynae says doctors should prescribe VIBRATORS for common childbirth injury
- Vibration has been shown to improve pelvic floor muscle weakness after childbirth
- Using a vibrator also helps with urinary continence by strengthening the pelvic muscles
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Before they became a billion-dollar industry, vibrators were invented as medical devices to treat female hysteria – a catch-all term for anxiety, irritability and sexual frustration.
But today’s sex toys are not just a tool for self-pleasure, they also offer medical benefits, according to some doctors.
Gynecologists have found that using a vibrator a few times a week can help relieve the “leaking” associated with incontinence – which affects one in three American women who have had a vaginal birth.
During childbirth, especially during a vaginal birth, the pelvic floor muscles stretch and contract to allow the baby’s passage through the birth canal. Vibration therapy can help re-strengthen these muscles and regenerate tissue
Before they became a multibillion-dollar industry, vibrators were used as medical devices to treat female “hysteria” – a catch-all term for a woman’s anxiety, irritability and/or sexual frustration.
Urinary incontinence is a common symptom in postpartum women, due to weakening of the pelvic floor muscles as the baby makes its way through the vaginal canal.
This affects the muscles that control the bladder, increasing the feeling of ‘urgency’ when you need to go to the toilet.
Labor can cause varying degrees of trauma and damage to the pelvic floor muscles and tissues.
And gynecologists now say that for women who suffer from weakness or pelvic floor prolapse – a condition in which the pelvic organs sag and can protrude into the vagina – a vibrator can help.
Research shows that up to a third of women who have given birth will experience prolapse at some point, and around one in ten women will need surgery to correct the problem.
Dr. Alexandra Dubinskaya, a gynecologist at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital, argued an in-depth analysis of studies on the benefits of vibrators for women’s sexual health.
She told Yahoo: ‘Vibrator use has a positive effect on multiple domains in the female sexual response cycle, such as decreasing time to orgasm, facilitating multiple orgasms, and improving sex-related distress.
‘In addition, the use of vibrators leads to an improvement in urinary incontinence, pelvic floor muscle strength and vulvar pain.’
Vibration stimulates and activates the pelvic floor muscles, improving tone and strength.
Vibration also increases blood flow to the pelvic floor muscles, which promotes postpartum recovery and helps tissue repair.
The improvement in muscle tone can also strengthen the support of the pelvic organs and improve bladder and bowel control.
Dr Dubinskaya said: ‘We know we need to train all parts of our body, and we all hear not to skip ‘leg day’, but we regularly skip ‘pelvic floor day’.’
‘Exercising the pelvic floor muscles can be challenging, which is why vibrators can be a really good way to actually massage the muscles and increase blood flow to the area.’