Leaking? Heaviness? Weakness?Build Strength and restore confidence in your pelvic floor

You'll start with a short quiz that assigns your symptoms to a level. That's the level you need to complete to improve your symptoms. You'll then be invited to fill in a questionnaire including validated clinical tools used in Women's Health Physiotherapy clinics, including the POP-SS (Pelvic Organ Prolapse Symptom Score), which rates the impact your symptoms have on daily life. These become your baseline scores.

You then follow short guided exercise sessions that progress over time, teaching you how to correctly activate and strengthen your pelvic floor. You're automatically progressed through the levels, gradually building strength until it can cope with the movement, load and impact you need. You'll re-take the symptom questionnaire at the end of each level and your results are saved and graphed in your personal dashboard, so you can see your scores improving over time.

Symptoms occur when the demand on the pelvic floor is greater than its strength. You're unlikely to see a drastic improvement until you have completed the level needed for your symptoms. Each stage unlocks only when the previous stage is completed. No skipping. No guessing. No overloading too soon.

This ensures:

• You do not work beyond your capacity
• You build true load tolerance
• You achieve meaningful, lasting change

It took me 10 months to recover my pelvic floor after my second baby. It takes many women 12–18 months, sometimes 2–3 years. The longer symptoms have been present, the longer the recovery takes — so don't expect a quick fix.

This is a long-term solution, aimed at building strength and maintaining control into later life. Strength and function (and therefore symptoms) will not resolve on their own. Pelvic floor strength continues to decline naturally with ageing, peri-menopause and menopause.

The West 6 is for women of all ages who want to improve (or prevent) pelvic floor symptoms like leaking, heaviness or weakness, in a structured, progressive way. It's suitable for:

• Postnatal recovery — rebuild strength safely after pregnancy and birth.
• Active women experiencing symptoms — including running, lifting and high-impact exercise such as CrossFit and HYROX.
• Peri-menopause and menopause — improve and maintain pelvic floor strength as the body changes.

The programme is for you if you experience:

• leaking when you cough, sneeze, run or jump
• a feeling of heaviness or pressure in the pelvis
• bladder or pelvic floor weakness during perimenopause or menopause

It is also for women who:

• are uncertain about how to progress pelvic floor exercises
• have completed pelvic floor exercises before with limited improvement
• know they're doing their exercises correctly but haven't progressed to movement, load or impact
• want to return to exercise safely after pregnancy, childbirth or pelvic floor surgery

This programme is designed for women who want a structured, progressive approach to rebuilding pelvic floor strength. It is an investment in time and health, and is not a quick fix.

An examination isn't essential. The programme includes self-check tools and guidance to help you ensure you're activating your pelvic floor correctly. If you're still unsure, an examination is advised.

This programme is for building the strength of a weak pelvic floor. Sometimes the pelvic floor is "overactive" or "non-relaxing", which needs a different treatment approach. Symptoms of an overactive pelvic floor are more likely to be pain or tightness (e.g. pain on intercourse, inability to have intercourse or wear tampons). If you have these symptoms, address this first. When in doubt, seek an assessment — regulated UK Women's Health Physiotherapists are listed on the POGP directory.

Gemma works privately at Elite Physical Medicine (Buckinghamshire & Hertfordshire) and offers both remote and face-to-face appointments. Further details on Elite Physical Medicine's Women's Health services.

Always seek individual medical advice if you:

• have severe pelvic pain
• notice a sudden change in bladder or bowel function
• have recently had pelvic surgery
• have been advised to follow specific clinical treatment