PelvicEx medical disclaimer and product limitations

The essential disclaimer

PelvicEx provides general education, self-reported planning, and exercise-pacing support. It is not medical advice, a diagnosis, a physical examination, a medical device measurement, or a substitute for care from a qualified health professional.

Using PelvicEx does not create a clinician–patient relationship. A programme selected by the website is not a prescription and does not mean that a clinician has assessed your symptoms, anatomy, operation, pregnancy, treatment, medicines, or health history.

If you think you may be experiencing an emergency, stop using the website and contact your local emergency service or attend an emergency department.

What PelvicEx can do

Within its current scope, PelvicEx can:

• explain pelvic-floor and Kegel concepts in plain language;
• guide you through self-reported goals, context, and safety questions;
• select educational or training content from a versioned rule catalogue;
• prepare contraction, release, coordination, or other practice instructions when the route permits them;
• pace and record a workout after the trainer interface is implemented;
• show why a rule affected the proposed next session;
• store and export progress from this browser;
• advise pausing exercise or seeking care when an answer matches a predefined safety route.

These functions organize information. They do not establish the underlying cause of a symptom or prove that the exercise has been performed correctly.

What PelvicEx cannot do

PelvicEx cannot:

• see, feel, or measure pelvic-floor movement, strength, tone, endurance, pain, or relaxation;
• tell whether a lift is occurring or pressure is moving downward;
• distinguish a weak pelvic floor from a non-relaxing, painful, injured, denervated, or otherwise impaired pelvic floor by questionnaire alone;
• diagnose urinary incontinence, retention, prolapse, constipation, pelvic-floor myalgia, sexual dysfunction, infection, neurological disease, cancer, or another condition;
• determine whether your symptoms are caused by the pelvic floor;
• assess wounds, stitches, bleeding, infection, catheter function, surgical healing, pregnancy complications, or cancer-treatment effects;
• order or interpret examinations, urine tests, bowel tests, imaging, laboratory tests, or urodynamic studies;
• guarantee symptom improvement, prevention, continence, sexual outcomes, recovery time, or freedom from adverse effects;
• replace emergency, primary, specialist, physiotherapy, maternity, surgical, oncology, neurological, colorectal, urological, or gynecological care.

A screen can record “I felt a lift.” It cannot independently confirm what happened inside the body.

Do not use PelvicEx for an emergency

Seek urgent local medical care now for a possible emergency. Examples include:

• sudden inability to pass urine, especially with severe lower-abdominal pain;
• new numbness or altered sensation around the genitals, anus, buttocks, or inner thighs together with new bladder or bowel loss, difficulty emptying, or significant leg weakness;
• severe or rapidly worsening pelvic, abdominal, back, genital, or postoperative pain;
• heavy bleeding, fainting, chest pain, severe shortness of breath, or another symptom that would ordinarily require emergency care;
• a catheter that is not draining with increasing pain or bladder fullness, when your clinical team has told you this requires urgent help.

This list is not complete. PelvicEx cannot determine urgency from a webpage. If you are uncertain whether a situation is an emergency, use the urgent advice available in your country.

When to stop a workout and seek advice

Stop rather than pushing through if a Kegel or pelvic-floor session causes:

• new pain or a clear increase in existing pain;
• new or increasing pelvic pressure, heaviness, or a bulge sensation;
• urinary urgency, burning, difficulty starting, a weaker stream, or incomplete-emptying sensation that is new or worse;
• constipation, straining, or difficulty passing stool that begins or worsens with training;
• lingering pelvic-floor tension or inability to return to a comfortable resting state;
• bleeding, wound discomfort, dizziness, or another response that conflicts with your treatment instructions.

One unusual sensation does not diagnose its cause. Persistent, repeated, severe, or worsening responses need an appropriate clinician rather than more repetitions.

Situations that need individual guidance

Generic self-guided programming may be unsuitable or incomplete when you have:

• recent pelvic, abdominal, prostate, bladder, bowel, gynecological, gender-affirming, or other relevant surgery;
• an indwelling urinary catheter, recent catheter removal, urinary retention, or difficulty passing urine;
• pregnancy complications, recent birth, a significant perineal tear, wound concerns, or postpartum bleeding or infection symptoms;
• current or previous pelvic cancer treatment, radiotherapy, chemotherapy effects, or oncology rehabilitation restrictions;
• a known neurological condition, spinal-cord injury, new neurological symptoms, or altered pelvic sensation;
• pelvic pain, painful sex, genital pain, chronic pelvic pain syndrome, or suspected pelvic-floor overactivity;
• a vaginal or rectal bulge, unexplained heaviness, bowel-emptying difficulty, fecal leakage, or significant constipation;
• symptoms that are new, unexplained, recurrent, or getting worse;
• clinician instructions that specify a different technique, dose, restriction, or timing.

Follow the treating team’s instructions. A generic website should not overrule care designed around your diagnosis and treatment stage.

Adult and evidence scope

The current generic PelvicEx programme catalogue is designed for adults aged 18 and over. That age is a product-scope boundary, not a claim that physiology changes on a birthday. Children and adolescents need age-appropriate assessment and care.

The generic catalogue also does not provide a complete pathway for neurogenic bladder or bowel dysfunction, spinal-cord injury, active postoperative complications, or an unexplained acute symptom. A person may still use educational pages, but the presence of a guide does not make a self-guided programme appropriate.

Research cited on PelvicEx often concerns a specific population—for example women with stress urinary incontinence, men after prostatectomy, or people in supervised pelvic-health care. Results from one population cannot be assumed to apply equally to every anatomy, symptom, or unsupervised app user.

Evidence and source limits

Each guide identifies its sources, intended scope, and limits. Internal risk and quality-control records are not displayed as reader-facing approval labels.

• lower-risk educational and policy topics still need source checking, original writing, and product verification;
• clinically meaningful evidence summaries and programme design need scrutiny suited to their claims;
• condition, treatment, and safety topics need expertise that matches their specific risks.

These internal records guide quality-control work. They do not prescribe an exercise, establish individual suitability, or create a clinician–patient relationship.

Sources can support statements about groups and treatments, but they cannot predict what will happen for one reader. Citations also do not convert PelvicEx into a clinical service.

External links and third parties

PelvicEx links to publishers, professional organizations, government health services, research indexes, and other websites. Those organizations control their own content, availability, privacy practices, and updates. A link is provided for evidence or context; it is not an endorsement of every statement, service, product, or advertisement on the destination site.

Reserved advertisement boxes on PelvicEx are placeholders in the current version. If advertising is introduced later, an advertisement must not be interpreted as medical advice, evidence, editorial approval, or a recommendation that a product is suitable for you.

Data and privacy limits

Current progress is stored in this browser. Browser storage may be deleted, unavailable, accessible to another person using the same browser profile, or lost when site data is cleared. PelvicEx does not claim that this storage is encrypted or suitable for medical records.

Do not use PelvicEx as the only record of information needed for clinical care. Tell your clinician directly about symptoms, treatment changes, and adverse responses rather than assuming an exported app record has been received or reviewed.

A practical decision rule

Use PelvicEx for education and low-risk self-guided practice only when the route fits your circumstances and the movement remains comfortable and controlled. Use a qualified clinician when you need diagnosis, examination, treatment selection, postoperative clearance, symptom investigation, or individualized rehabilitation. Use urgent services when symptoms may be an emergency.

When those routes disagree, clinical and emergency care takes priority over the website.

Sources

• Frawley H, Shelly B, Morin M, et al. “An International Continence Society report on the terminology for pelvic floor muscle assessment.” Neurourology and Urodynamics. 2021;40(5):1217–1260. Official ICS report.
• Bø K, Berghmans B, Mørkved S, Van Kampen M, editors. Evidence-Based Physical Therapy for the Pelvic Floor. 3rd edition. Elsevier; 2023. Chapters 5 and 17. Official publisher record.
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. “Definition & Facts of Urinary Retention.” NIDDK guidance.
• North Bristol NHS Trust. “Same Day Emergency Clinic: Cauda Equina Syndrome.” Emergency symptom guidance.