Making kegels fun: how our pelvic trainer brings gamified training to our Women’s Pelvic Health program

Product Team: Margaret Tung, Arielle Slam  

Pelvic floor contractions (called Kegels) help women strengthen their pelvic floor and solve related symptoms, such as urine leakage. One in four women experiences urine leakage during activities such as jumping or sneezing. Our Women’s Pelvic Health program provides personalized exercise plans, often including Kegels, to address these symptoms by strengthening the pelvic floor, glutes, and abs. 

To fully benefit from these exercises, proper form is crucial. Hinge Health members receive comprehensive guidance from their physical therapists, in-app content, and educational resources. However, we wanted to offer an additional way for our members to receive bio-feedback on their internal movements.

The desire for deeper member guidance prompted us to integrate a pelvic floor trainer device into the Hinge Health program last year in partnership with Perifit. We collaborated with a team of design experts to develop immersive training games that offer both symptom relief and delight. By incorporating engaging motion design and uplifting soundscapes, we’ve transformed the Kegel exercises from a routine task into an enjoyable experience for our members, turning what could be a mundane activity into something delightful. 

“Our pelvic trainer is a fun, fast, and effective tool for reducing urine leaks. While we all might wish we were diligent in doing our Kegels at every traffic light - it’s BORING and hard to know if you are doing it right. The pelvic trainer solves both of these issues by giving you data on your Kegel strength and form while you play enchanting 2 minute games.” - Arielle Slam, Principal Product Manager, Women’s Health

“Since launch, we’ve heard from many members that the gamified pelvic training experience is more motivating than doing Kegels on their own, and it’s fascinating to see how the game responds to their pelvic floor muscle movements.”  - Margaret Tung, Staff Product Designer, Women’s Health 

This device not only guides women through contractions, but also provides real-time feedback on form. It uses patented dual pressure sensor technology to determine if a member is performing their Kegels correctly and displays a form feedback score to help them understand how to strengthen their contractions. This feature, unique to the device, ensures accuracy in recognizing incorrect and potentially harmful pelvic floor contractions. Initial data from our member’s use of the device shows that they report a 9 percentage point greater improvement in symptoms at six weeks relative to non-pelvic trainer users. 

Additionally, this technology has demonstrated proven clinical outcomes. Our partner Perifit has researched the efficacy of their device in reducing urinary incontinence (UI) symptoms in women. Over 6,060 women were surveyed with a validated questionnaire after completing games of training. Results showed a significant decrease in UI symptoms scores with a large effect size at all time points. 71% of respondents who completed 40-60 games reported improvements in UI symptoms, and 85% of respondents who completed 280-320 games reported improvements. These results demonstrate that at home training with a trainer device is an effective way to improve urinary incontinence symptoms.