What started as a mother of four’s personal journey to recovery from postpartum incontinence, has become a nationwide success story.
Chrismari de Kock (41) from Durbanville says after her third child she suffered from a weakened pelvic floor.
For many women, these changes arrive after childbirth, and are often brushed aside as “just part of being a mother” — a small leak when you laugh, a sudden urge to run to the bathroom (and not getting there on time) and loss of bladder control when you sneeze or run.
Affects life
“No one warns you about postpartum incontinence,” she says. “It affects almost every aspect of your life and makes things like running, jumping and playing with your children impossible.”
“I did research on how to improve my pelvic floor. Kegel exercises simply did not work for me, because you need to be very consistent. Also, my pelvic floor was so weak that I did not benefit from it despite exercising regularly.
She tested every other solution she could find, and after discovering pelvic chair treatment, she knew she had the answer.
“Within six weeks of sessions on the chair, it felt like ‘before’ — I could do all the activities I did before, without leaking. I also did not have to get up at night to go to the bathroom. I could not believe how many years I spent living a restricted life,” she says.
Expand to 22 clinics
She started her own branch in September 2023 in Cape Town and then started to roll out new branches in April the next year.
In just 19 months, her dedication has helped expand pelvic chair therapy from one practice to 22 across the country.
“Pelvic chair therapy is a non-invasive treatment that uses clinically tested electromagnetic technology to strengthen the pelvic floor. Each 30-minute session triggers over 11 000 pelvic muscle contractions — the equivalent of thousands of Kegel exercises without the effort, discomfort or embarrassment of traditional methods,” she says..
The treatment is not only for mothers after giving birth, but also for women suffering from heavy menstruation, as well as for men with incontinence after prostate operations and suffering from erectile dysfunction.
- Visit www.pelviccare.co.za for more information.
