InControl Medical
At-Home Remedy For Incontinence

An overactive bladder is never a good sign. 60 million women, especially over the age of 40, suffer from the inability to control their bladder as the strength of their pelvic floor muscles is compromised with age. While bladder accidents on their own are quite uncomfortable, having to go through the embarrassment of it in public is the most undesirable experience.

Known widely as urge urinary incontinence, this condition occurs when the detrusor muscle in the bladder loses its connection with the brain, and the bladder muscles start squeezing involuntarily. Incontinence is disproportionally more common in women than men, and its likelihood increases with age. Other than urge incontinence, there also exists stress urinary incontinence, which arises from weak pelvic floor muscles. The number one cause for weak pelvic floor muscles is the gestation period, which stresses these muscles out.

Unlike stress incontinence, which usually results in a slight leakage of the bladder, urge incontinence causes the muscles to squeeze hard enough to empty the bladder entirely. While not life-threatening, the effect that urinary incontinence can have on a patient’s social, occupational, physical, psychological, and sexual aspects of life is a harrowing experience. About 70 percent of women, due to stigma and humiliation, never bother to inform their physician nor seek further knowledge or assistance about incontinence because they believe the only solution would be surgery or medication. Even with medication such as the commonly prescribed anticholinergic drugs, studies have shown that extended use of these drugs for incontinence can heighten the chances of dementia by 50 percent.

Breaking down the barriers between women and the cure of incontinence, InControl Medical, developer and manufacturer of urinary incontinence devices, has developed a range of cutting-edge home medical devices, empowering women to regain control of their lives. “Built with easy-to-clean, medical-grade silicone, all our devices are made in the U.S. by women, for women,” says Herschel Peddicord, founder and CEO of InControl Medical. For easier availability of their devices, the company is also a Medicare provider, enabling women to order InControl’s devices through Medicare or directly from the company’s website and use it in the comfort of their homes. “With our devices designed to cure incontinence, we strive to make incontinence a thing of the past,” says Peddicord.

The Beginnings of a Life- Changing Solution

Interestingly, a close family member’s battle with urinary incontinence led Peddicord on the journey, which brought about the origin of InControl.As Peddicord sold his telemedicine company HomeMed around that time, he began his search for a solution to urinary and fecal incontinence.As Peddicord sold his telemedicine company HomeMed around that time, he began his search for a solution to urinary and fecal incontinence.

In the course of nearly two years of research, Peddicord would discuss with doctors, scientists, engineers, and physical therapists to clearly grasp the concept of incontinence and its causes.

With their years of experience in the medical device industry, Peddicord and his team created the first product, InTone, to help women control the involuntary leakage of urine. As they took the device to clinical trials, they observed a 90 percent success rate at stopping and curing urinary incontinence. After getting clearance from the FDA, the InControl team was off to the races.

Through several iterations of InTone, InControl’s flagship product today has come to be known as “Attain,” an at-home medical device designed to deal with stress, urge, mixed as well as bowel incontinence. Attain’s primary feature is an inflatable probe that is transvaginal, or in the case of bowel incontinence, transrectal. The probe has an internal pressure sensor that, when inflated inside the bladder, would gauge the air pressure inside it. Its measurement is accurate to one one-hundredth of a pound per square inch. While using the device, if a woman squeezes her pelvic floor muscles, the balloon experiences a change in pressure, thereby measuring the muscle strength, which is collected as biofeedback. With the balloon concurrently acting as active resistance for the muscles to squeeze against, the muscles are able to build faster.

Another important feature of Attain is its combination of two different neuromuscular stimulation algorithms, with one designed to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and the other to calm the detrusor muscle, thereby preventing it from squeezing involuntarily. Together, they help re-establish the muscle brain connection to control the bladder muscles. Women can use Attain for 10 minutes a day till their pelvic floor muscles strengthen, and then once or twice a week to maintain their gains. InControl is releasing a new device, “Attain Plus,” which is an Attain that collects and transmits real muscle strength data to a smartphone to enable women to see how many pounds of pressure they can squeeze. Every day, as this pressure goes up, the device prints out a graph with the collected information.“With Attain Plus, a woman can see real clinical data on her muscle strength,” says Peddicord.

With less than a one percent failure rate, Attain has been extremely successful in helping women overcome incontinence, and physical therapists have been administering it in patients in conjunction with their therapy. As the device records patient activity when in use, therapists can check during each appointment to ensure patient compliance. “Attain is a physiotherapist’s best friend,” says Peddicord.

Helping Women ‘Live’ Again

InControl Medical is truly bringing a shift in the world of incontinence through its wide spectrum of innovative medical devices built to meet the various expectations of women.

Knowing that there are women who are looking to deal with only stress incontinence, the company offers a device called “Apex,” which stands for automatic pelvic exercises.Apex is particularly designed for women who have just given birth and have weak and loose pelvic floor muscles as a result or women who run or perform high-impact exercises.As Apex is automatic, a woman has to simply lie down on her bed, insert it into her vagina, and turn it on. The device then does all the pelvic exercises for her in a short span of seven minutes.

Another device that InControl developed is “Intensity,” aimed to help women overcome sexual dysfunction while also curing stress incontinence. When women get older, their vagina does not lubricate as well as when they were younger, leading to sexual dysfunction. Through electro neuromuscular stimulation of the pelvic floor muscles, Intensity promotes blood flow to that area, thereby stimulating the lubrication of the vagina. Intensity’s electro neuromuscular stimulation teaches the muscles to not only contract but to relax as well. For women who undergo painful intercourse because their pelvic floor muscles are too tight, Intensity relaxes their muscles enabling them to have intercourse without pain.

However, one of the biggest issues that Intensity helps women deal with is anorgasmia, the inability to have an orgasm. The device simulates an actual orgasm by causing the pelvic floor muscles to contract and relax. With an internal vibrator and an external one for the clitoris, Intensity solves anorgasmia in women.

Having been around for 10 years now, the company has designed several generations of their incontinence product, selling over 200,000 devices. Recognized by the FDA as a Current Good Manufacturing Practice, InControl builds all of its products from its ISO 13485 and MDSAP certified facility in Brookfield, Wisconsin. With approximately 49 patents issued already, the company now has six or seven more pending approval.

As the company continues to innovate and improve its medical devices for women, they are simultaneously making a conscious effort to increase awareness around incontinence. In the same vein, InControl is gearing up for an extensive marketing campaign for the next year to let women know that a solution for incontinence exists. The company is constantly advocating on the subject of women’s health through social media and podcasts and is planning to run TV commercials to help more women discover their products.“We are determined to eliminate urinary and fecal incontinence,” concludes Peddicord on a resolute note.