The Emsella chair is an FDA-cleared device that strengthens your pelvic floor muscles using focused electromagnetic energy. You sit on it fully clothed while it triggers thousands of deep muscle contractions, essentially doing the work of 11,200 Kegel exercises in a single 28-minute session. It’s designed to treat urinary incontinence in both men and women by rebuilding the muscular support that keeps your bladder under control.
How the Technology Works
The chair uses high-intensity focused electromagnetic (HIFEM) technology to send energy pulses deep into the pelvic floor. These pulses cause what are called supramaximal contractions, meaning contractions far more intense than anything you could produce on your own through voluntary exercise. While a standard Kegel engages only a portion of the pelvic floor and depends on your ability to isolate the right muscles (something many people struggle with), the Emsella targets the entire pelvic floor region at once.
The goal isn’t just stronger muscles. It’s also restoring neuromuscular control, the connection between your brain and your pelvic floor that tells those muscles when to tighten and when to relax. When that signaling breaks down, whether from childbirth, aging, surgery, or hormonal changes, leaks happen during everyday activities like coughing, sneezing, or laughing. By forcing thousands of contractions per session, the chair retrains that communication pathway while also building muscle fiber density.
What It Treats
The FDA cleared Emsella specifically for the rehabilitation of weak pelvic muscles and the restoration of neuromuscular control in the treatment of urinary incontinence. That covers all three major types: stress incontinence (leaking when you cough, sneeze, or exercise), urge incontinence (sudden, hard-to-control urges to urinate), and mixed incontinence, which combines both.
Clinical data shows meaningful improvements for many patients. One study found that pad usage, a practical measure of how much leaking someone experiences day to day, was cut roughly in half after a course of treatment. The reduction in leakage correlated strongly with improvements on standardized incontinence questionnaires, suggesting that patients weren’t just using fewer pads but genuinely experiencing fewer and less severe episodes.
What a Session Feels Like
You sit on the chair fully clothed for about 28 to 30 minutes. There’s no undressing, no preparation, and no recovery time afterward. During the session, you’ll feel a tingling sensation and rhythmic contractions in your pelvic floor. The intensity ramps up gradually, and most people describe it as unusual but not painful.
Afterward, some people feel mild muscle soreness similar to what you’d experience after a workout. Occasional temporary redness or tenderness in the treatment area is possible but uncommon. There’s no downtime. You can go straight back to your normal activities the moment you stand up.
Treatment Schedule and Results Timeline
The standard protocol is six sessions spread over three weeks, with two sessions per week. Some people notice changes after the first few sessions, though the full effect builds over the course of treatment as the muscle fibers strengthen and the neuromuscular pathways reinforce themselves.
Results typically last several months after completing the initial course. How long they hold depends on factors like age, activity level, and the severity of your original symptoms. To maintain the improvements, periodic follow-up sessions are recommended, generally once every few months. These maintenance visits are less frequent than the initial treatment and are tailored to how your body responds over time.
Emsella Compared to Kegel Exercises
Kegel exercises are the most commonly recommended first-line treatment for pelvic floor weakness, and they do work when performed correctly and consistently. The problem is that studies consistently show most people do them wrong. Isolating the pelvic floor without engaging surrounding muscles like the glutes or abdomen is surprisingly difficult, and there’s no easy way to know if you’re doing it right without biofeedback tools.
The Emsella removes that guesswork entirely. It contracts the correct muscles at an intensity and volume that manual exercise simply cannot match. Doing 11,200 contractions in 28 minutes would take months of dedicated daily Kegel practice to approximate, assuming perfect form every time. For people who have tried Kegels without success, or whose incontinence is too severe for exercise alone to address, the chair offers a more intensive alternative.
Who Should Avoid It
Because the device generates a strong electromagnetic field, it’s not safe for everyone. You cannot use the Emsella chair if you have metal implants (including metal hip replacements or a copper IUD), a cardiac pacemaker, an implanted defibrillator or neurostimulator, or an implanted drug pump. Pregnancy is also a contraindication, as are epilepsy, hemorrhagic conditions, malignant tumors, pulmonary insufficiency, and recent surgical procedures, including any neck or spine surgery.
If you have any implanted electronic device or metallic hardware in your body, this treatment is off the table. The electromagnetic pulses can interfere with electronic implants and interact unpredictably with metal, making the screening process before treatment essential.