Review: Perifit Pelvic Floor Trainer

[Gifted] Like many women, after giving birth my pelvic floor is not what it was. In fact a really bad cough a few weeks after Baby Boy was born resulted in a few embarrassing situations and a threatened prolapse. I knew that I needed to take urgent action to rectify it, but despite having a reminder on my phone to do my pelvic floor exercises 3 times a day they just weren’t happening. When I heard about Perifit I thought it might be the solution I was looking for so I was keen to give it a try.

A flat lay showing the Perifit pelvic floor training device, the packaging and the an iphone Xs with the app on


What is Perifit?


I was sent the Perifit pelvic floor trainer to review. It is a device with pressure sensors on that you insert internally and link to the app on a phone or tablet by bluetooth. You then do your pelvic floor exercises and receive real time feedback on how you are performing. What really appealed to me though was that there are games in the app that you play by doing your pelvic floor exercises so rather than trying to get your exercises done as quickly as possible you get distracted by playing the games. 

A flatlay showing Perifit device with the bluetooth transmitter next to an iPhone with the initial game screen

Review of Using Perifit To Strengthen my Pelvic Floor


Strong pelvic floor muscles prevent incontinence, prolapses and “enhance intimate wellbeing”. As women get older we all need to make a little time to exercise our pelvic floor, but after birth the muscles can be particularly weak due to supporting the weight of a baby for 9 months and being significantly stretched during labour. 

Just like with my pelvic floor exercises in the past I struggle to find the time and motivation to use Perifit as often as I probably should to recover from childbirth. Where as normal pelvic floor exercises you can get away with doing anywhere, even on public transport, using Perifit requires some planning and privacy. You need to insert the device and sit or lie with your legs open so that the transmitter isn’t covered. Not exactly something you can do in public and something I decided wasn’t wise to try around my older children as I knew it would lead to questions I didn’t want to answer (and worse still my toddler potentially copying). I discovered using it when my partner is around is a bad idea too because he found it hilarious which set me off too, it is very hard to keep your muscles relaxed when you are laughing.

The games on the Perifit app are pretty basic, but it’s often the basic games that are the most addictive. I kept wanting to play the games over and over again to improve my scores so I found I was exercising for much longer than I normally would. 

The Perifit Kegal Trainer App home screen

When you start a session you need to do an initial squeeze then 3 pelvic floor squeezes. This is to make sure that the Perifit is receiving a signal properly and it tests your current pelvic floor strength. You then start to play a game. The exercise patterns will vary depending on the training programme, but for the post-partum one the first game is Catch The Lotus where you are a butterfly which you can move up and down the screen to catch the lotuses by tightening and relaxing your pelvic floor muscles. At the end of the game it shows you the percentage of flowers you managed to catch. 


Advanced level of Catch The Lotus game in the Perifit app


As you practice more you can choose to be a bird instead of a butterfly and the game gets more complicated with the addition of enemy birds you need to avoid. This requires you to be more precise with the timing of tightening and relaxing the muscles. After you have played the game a number of times you get access to another game called Manage The Gate where you open and close a gap in the clouds with your pelvic floor exercises. You need to contract the muscles to let gems go through and close them to stop rocks going through. Again at the end of the game you are given a percentage score of how successful you were. As you practice additional games become unlocked (and they are developing new ones) keeping it interesting, but you can also choose to just used biofeedback training with the same exercise without the game format.

I find it a little challenging to get the Perifit in the correct position straightaway so I often find I need to make a few adjustments to ensure the sensors are picking up my exercises. Other than making sure you get the right position the game and device are easy to use though. Doing the exercises less so. I'm quite good at doing a quick squeeze of my pelvic floor muscles, but it is harder to maintain that contraction. I also find it particularly challenging to completely relax the muscles, but this is important so they can rest and have more strength in the next contraction, it's also part of having better overall control. The more I use Perifit the better I get. I have also noticed that the muscles are working better when I am not consciously controlling them. I need a few more weeks of regular practice before I would dare getting on a trampoline though.

Tracking Your Progress


The app records your performance so you can look at how you are improving over time. The feedback includes detailed statistics to show the performance of the last training session and progression mapped on a graph for: force, stamina, precision, release and frequency. You can also create an account which then shows you your ranking against other users.


Screenshot of menu options showing the Perifit training programs


What are the Benefits of using Perifit to Exercise your Pelvic Floor?


You can do pelvic floor exercises for free so why buy a Perifit? There are a number of reasons I think it is worth buying:

  • I found the games kept me engaged so I exercised for longer.
  • Perifit contains pressure sensors for both deep and superficial muscle tightenings, these mean you get feedback on whether you are doing the exercises correctly.
  • The Perifit app tracks your progress showing you how much you have improved.
  • The games teach you to have better control over both contracting and relaxing the muscles, with a combination of fast and slow holds. The pelvic floor works in numerous ways and it’s important for you to be able to train it for all of these eg you need to be able to quickly contract the muscles if you are going to sneeze, whereas running or trampoline will put pressure on them over a longer period.
  • There are 6 different programmes for varying needs e.g. stress incontinence, postpartum and over active bladder. An assessment helps you select which one is best for you.

The Perifit device for toning the pelvic floor covered in a bright pink medical grade silicone

More About Perifit


Perifit is FDA and CE approved, designed by doctors and recommended by more than 1000 physiotherapists worldwide. The device is covered in medical grade silicone which is comfortable and waterproof. It can be cleaned with water and mild soap. The sealed unit contains a battery which is designed for 1000 training sessions of 10 minutes, so it should last for at least 5 years if used of 30 minutes a week. If the battery is flat before 5 years Perifit will replace it and after 5 years you can get a replacement for a large discount.
The free Perifit app is compatible with iPhone 4s and above, iPad 3 and above and Android devices running Android 4.4 and above.

There is a huge amount of information on the Perifit website and a customer support email if you have any other questions.

You can buy Perifit from the website https://perifit.co/

***Disclosure: I was sent Perifit for honest review***




3 comments

  1. Sounds fab - I definitely need something like this in my life! Really struggle with mine since having the kids. I keep meaning to see the gp but putting it off x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Could this perifit be used after menopause for incontinence

      Delete
    2. Hi M, yes it is designed to be able to help

      Delete

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