Electrical muscle stimulator TONIS: first glimpse

pelvicmed , tonis , electromyostimulator , Kegel exercise machine , PFMs , test drive

As we are ageing, keeping your PFMs all right is getting more relevance. Our editorial’s trusted tester looked into another Kegel exercise machine.

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Text by: J.C.

Photos by: NuArt Studio

Russian version

Medical background

The person who is going to test the device is me-a menopausal woman diagnosed with vaginal vault prolapse (stages 1 or 2) and stress-related urinary incontinence. Doctors recommend undergoing a surgery to fix pelvic floor muscles. I don’t feel like doing this. However, the situation may worsen, doctors warn. I am a rather open-minded woman, not a frequent case among my peers, and I had tested a number of exercise devices made by trustworthy manufacturers. Despite the fact, my problem is still present. I hope that using a medical device instead of toys with the exercise function among others will help me.

First impression: package, user’s manual

Ok, here we have a Kegel exercise machine with electromyostimulation (an electrical device, simply stated) launched by a Russian manufacturer and it is called TONIS. “Tonis” is similar to tonus, sounds fine! A thick cardboard package, and what is inside is also packed perfectly well. The box contains a small pink control unit with a screen and several protuberant buttons, the exercise device itself, cables, a plug and a USB-cable for charging, a user’s manual and two thin sticks looking very curious-the indicators of muscle tension and relax, the manual says. Well, and a lovely pouch with a logo, big enough to store the bunch of things listed above.

First, I really liked the idea of wired connection between the control unit and the device, although it may seem a bit obsolete in our era of wireless technologies. The point is that I had had a rather unpleasant experience before trying to marry a toy to a smartphone’s app via Bluetooth: the connection was slow or on and off and it made me upset and demotivated. Besides, your smartphone can prove overfilled with other applications with not enough space for another one. But with TONIS you have a cool device that works well regardless of the smartphone’s model or its characteristics. That is easy.

Let us go back to the exercise device. This is the case to read the user’s guide first before switching and trying the device. The user’s guide is coherent. It lists the basic contraindications-the standard ones for any other stimulator, gives a clear idea as for the programs and explains what the buttons are meant for. Fairly enough to proceed to training. Still, some information is omitted and I found it necessary to get a comprehensive picture, particularly:
– what is the right body position for training;
– how often should PFMs (pelvic floor muscles) be trained;
– does it make sense to do several different trainings in a row;
– and, essentially, where to attach or put the indicator and what does it serve for?

I can figure out some of the answers using common sense or looking for this information on the web. For example, you should lie flat on your back while training. But here again, there is a question: should I bend my legs or keep them straight? Perhaps, it does not matter much. Ok. But the point of the indicator is of my big concern. I will have to contact the manufacturer to know it because it is totally unclear where to put it and why. What if the exercise machine cannot work correctly without the indicator?

Training

As a matter of fact, the training process is very easy: you should charge your control unit, connect it to the exercise machine using cables and place the device into the vagina according to the guide (put the contact plates along the sides while the indicator should be up), switch on the control unit, sel ect a training program, increase the power up to a comfortable level and enjoy the process. I would like to talking about peculiarities, pros and cons I discovered.

Peculiarities, pros and cons

This exercise provides electrical stimulation. No need to tighten your muscles yourself following the indications as in the case with kGoal and Magic Kegel. TONIS does the work for you, your muscles will have to work intensely. Some people say that the perfect training should include both: electrical stimulation and ordinary exercises (using other devices), i.e. their alternation. But real life is somewhat different. Let us get enough fr om what is available.

Is it scary to put an electrical device inside? In this particular case it is not. In comparison with a rather hardcore Impulse by Calexotics and even if we compare TONIS with a very tender Daring Danny by MyStim, TONIS proves to be extremely careful. It has 99 levels of stimulation. As for myself, I started feeling some effect on level 30, stopped on level 35 but I could have added some points. (During the second training, I tried the levels 45-50 and I felt ok). They recommend that you do trainings on the highest level that you can tolerate and you are free to reduce the intensity.

The device has 14 ready-made programs that differ in action according to the type of problem they address. At least three of them do suit me: prolapse, stress-related urinary incontinence and menopause (again it is not clear: should I work on one problem within a certain period of time or alternate the trainings thinking they are all useful). The majority of programs last for 20 minutes. And it is long, you know. With other exercise machines I would not work for more than 10 minutes. Some programs, including the menopause-focused setting, last for 45 minutes. Haven’t tried them yet. The action of those programs may differ greatly (the program has 5 different stages). But at the moment of prolapse-centered training, after 15 minutes, my muscles started ‘burning’. So, I am most likely to hold off trying the 45-minute training.

Ok, among the pros I can state the following:
– the device is easy to use;
– it has ready-made programs;
– its intensity can be smoothly adjusted.

Among the cons:

– some issues unmentioned in the user’s manual… That’s all!

A couple of words in conclusion

What was the reason to speak about my ‘immodest’ problems in public, you may ask. My motivation is to share some useful feedback in my further report of success (or failure) after a period of trainings I am putting my faith in.

The stimulator was provided for test by the manufacturing company.

P.S.: Every time you find the information in the user’s manual insufficient, go to sexshopers.ru to read about it! It was in our article where I found a photo of the device with the indicator already attached to it, and I finally understood how to use it!