Clinical references
Research Behind Pelvic Floor Electrical Stimulation
Published clinical research on pelvic floor electrical stimulation suggests it may help reduce pad use, leakage volume, leakage frequency, and urinary incontinence symptom severity in women. Individual results vary, and research findings should be interpreted within the study design, population, and protocol used.
Key Results Used on This Site
- 75% means 6 of 8 randomized controlled trials in Naidu et al. 2026 reported significant within-group reductions in pad use for intravaginal electrical stimulation groups.
- 66.7% means 10 of 15 randomized controlled trials in Naidu et al. 2026 reported significant within-group reductions in pad weight, a measure of leakage volume.
- 57.1% means 8 of 14 randomized controlled trials in Naidu et al. 2026 reported significantly reduced leakage frequency with significant differences compared with passive treatment groups.
- 62% means patients in the active-device group in Sand et al. 1995 had pad-test leakage improve by at least 50%, compared with 19% using sham devices.
The 75%, 66.7%, and 57.1% figures are study-level reporting rates from a systematic review. The 62% figure is a patient-level response rate from a separate multicenter double-blind trial. These figures should not be read as guaranteed individual outcomes.
Selected References
2026 systematic review of intravaginal electrical stimulation
A systematic review of randomized controlled trials reported that 6 of 8 trials found significant within-group reductions in pad use, 10 of 15 trials found significant within-group reductions in pad weight, and 8 of 14 trials found significantly reduced leakage frequency after intravaginal electrical stimulation.
2024 Scientific Reports network meta-analysis
A network meta-analysis of 30 randomized controlled trials found that intravaginal electrical stimulation significantly improved urinary incontinence symptom severity and quality of life, with no serious adverse events reported in the included studies.
View article in Scientific Reports
2022 Frontiers in Neurology meta-analysis
A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials found that intravaginal electrical stimulation was associated with reduced pad-test leakage and fewer daily urinary incontinence episodes compared with control conditions.
View article in Frontiers in Neurology
1995 multicenter double-blind study
A multicenter double-blind study reported that 62% of women using active stimulation had leakage volume improve by at least 50% in pad testing, compared with 19% of women using sham devices. Urinary diary data also showed at least 50% improvement in 48% of active-device patients compared with 13% of sham-device patients.