Who pelvic floor physio helps — and when EmSella or a Mummy MOT is the better first visit
People usually book because something has started leaking, dragging or hurting — a cough, a run, the school run, sex, or the sense that something sits lower than it should. Pelvic floor physiotherapy is the appointment that asks what the muscle is doing, and whether you can use it, rather than handing you a generic Kegel sheet.
At Littlehampton Natural Health Centre, on Granville Road, you see Amelia Altenburger, an HCPC-registered physiotherapist with extra pelvic-floor training through Mummy MOT and POGP. People come from Littlehampton, Rustington, East Preston, Angmering, Arundel, Bognor, Felpham and Worthing who want a private assessment without a long wait.
This is a briefing before you book, not a diagnosis. Fees, FAQs and the full clinical picture sit on our pelvic floor physiotherapy in Littlehampton page.
Who it helps
The pelvic floor supports bladder, bowel and sexual function. Problems show up as leaking, urgency, heaviness, pain, or a muscle you cannot find or cannot let go. Tight is not the same as strong. Some people brace and hold their breath. Others have never been shown a lift that actually lifts.
It may be appropriate if you have:
- Leaking with a cough, laugh, sneeze, run or jump
- Urgency, frequency, or difficulty emptying
- Heaviness or bulge (prolapse symptoms)
- Pain with sex, tampon use or smear tests
- Postnatal recovery, including after caesarean, and tummy-gap concerns
- Pelvic-floor change around menopause
- Leakage or urgency after prostate surgery — men are seen
You do not need a GP letter to book privately. If we find something that needs your GP or a specialist referral, we will say so.
Embarrassment is the sentence we hear most often in the first minute. Appointments are private. You control the examination. You can bring someone with you.
What happens in the room
A physiotherapy appointment is clinical time: history, examination and a plan you can follow at home.
History. How symptoms started, what you have already tried, pregnancies, surgeries, bladder day and night, bowels, training load, and what you actually want to get back to.
Examination. Usually starts with breathing, the abdominal wall, scars, posture and how you try to “do a Kegel”. An internal vaginal examination may be offered because it is the most accurate way to judge lift, tone and tenderness. It is optional. You can say no and still receive education and external work. You may bring a chaperone. Wear comfortable clothes; you may be asked to undress from the waist down for part of the assessment, with a cover.
Plan. Amelia explains what she found in plain English. Treatment may include teaching a correct contraction and a correct relaxation; strength or endurance work, or down-training for an overactive floor; manual therapy to the abdomen, pelvis or pelvic-floor muscles where appropriate; and advice on bladder and bowel habits, lifting, running return and sex.
You should leave knowing what is going on, what to stop this week, and what to practise.
How this helps — and what it will not do
Physiotherapy answers “what is going on, and can you use the muscle well?”. Start here if you cannot find the muscle, have pain, prolapse symptoms, scarring, a postnatal tummy gap, or you have never had a proper assessment.
For prolapse symptoms, physiotherapy can help you understand the picture, reduce strain, and strengthen support. It does not “put an organ back” in the way surgery might. We will not over-promise.
A common shape of care is a short block rather than open-ended weekly visits: restore awareness, reduce aggravating habits, then build strength or control for a goal — dryness on a run, less urgency, comfortable intercourse, confidence with grandchildren. Amelia should give you a range after the first visit.
When EmSella is an option
The EmSella chair is at this clinic on Granville Road. You do not travel to Chichester for it. It is a clothed 30-minute session that uses electromagnetic energy to load a weak pelvic floor. It does not diagnose. It does not teach technique.
Manufacturer materials describe thousands of contractions per session (often compared with “11,000 Kegels”) and quote research figures such as 95%, 75% and 66% in studied groups. Those are manufacturer and published-study figures, not this clinic’s cure rates.
EmSella is added after assessment if extra loading is likely to help and there are no contraindications. It is not automatically right for pelvic pain, a tight or overactive floor, or every bladder problem. Loading a muscle that cannot relax can make symptoms worse. If the chair is your main question, read the EmSella page; Amelia still consults before a course of sessions.
Many people do both: physiotherapy to assess and coach, then the chair to load the muscle while you continue a home programme.
After birth
If you are postnatal and also have tummy-gap, scar or return-to-exercise questions, a Mummy MOT-style physiotherapy appointment is often the better first visit. There is no separate Mummy MOT fee; we book those visits as pelvic floor physiotherapy. Amelia also sees people months or years after birth. The chair can wait until we know the floor needs loading rather than calming.
Fees and how to book
- Free short assessment — if you are unsure whether this is the right clinic
- New-patient physiotherapy appointment — £60
- 30-minute follow-up — £50
- Plan of 6 × 30-minute sessions — £270
Some physiotherapy appointments can be claimed on private medical insurance. Cover varies by insurer, excess and authorisation — check your policy and speak to reception if you plan to claim. EmSella chair sessions are not billed as physiotherapy.
Book a new-patient appointment
Who you will see, and where
Amelia graduated from the University of Chichester with a BSc in Physiotherapy and is HCPC-registered. She treats musculoskeletal problems and pelvic health, with further training in Mummy MOT and POGP pelvic-floor courses.
Littlehampton Natural Health Centre, 10C Granville Road, Littlehampton BN17 5JU. Free on-street parking. Monday to Thursday 09:00–12:30 and 14:00–18:00; Friday 09:00–13:00 and 14:00–17:00; Saturday and Sunday closed. Email reception@lnhc.co.uk.