Intimate Rose Review

For my blog this week, I wanted to write about my interview with Dr. Amanda Olson, the president and chief clinical officer of Intimate Rose. She is passionate about empowering women and men with pelvic health issues. However, while I was interviewing her through Zoom, the application wasn’t able to record the whole thing.

I tried my best to go over all her products through Intimate Rose and that’s what I wanted to share with you today. I hope to have my interview with her soon as she was very eloquent when she discussed Intimate Rose’s products that’s why I really want you to hear it from her first hand.

For now, this blog will be about product reviews for Intimate Rose.

First Product: Pelvic Wand

The first thing that drew me to her company was the pelvic wand. I thought it was really uniquely designed as it didn’t look too intimidating and it is used to address those internal trigger points in the pelvic floor, which can be very scary for people to go in and get these worked on by somebody else. It also resolves the issue of not having that continuity on getting them worked on more regularly as this product bridges that gap.

Just a side note, if you want to see these products physically, you can visit my YouTube page. Back to the topic, the pelvic wand is this little silicone made of very soft and gentle type material. It is very thin on one end, and it’s a little bit broader on the other end. How this is used is the wired end is used for the deeper pelvic floor muscles. You will insert the pelvic wand into your vagina and you would take nice and easy motioning back and forth along with a clockwise type of pattern. You will be looking for tender spots.

If you are a patient of mine and you’ve had a trigger point, you know that we will sometimes hold that trigger point for a little bit to help it to release. Really, that’s your brain connecting with that area and it’s the same thing with your pelvic floor. You will find a tender spot with the one end of the pelvic wand and you will gently hold. More is not better, in my opinion, as we want to be kind to our brain and to our body. Just lightly hold it where that tender spot is and then let it dissipate and not try to force it out. You would simply move to the next tender spot, hold for up to a minute, and keep working your way around that clock of the vagina.

The other longer thinner end, which has a more blunt tip at the end, would be more superficial or you can even insert it into the rectum. I think people think of pelvic floor being just in women or just because you had a baby. However, your pelvic floor holds up all your pelvic organs so it’s also encompassing that anal opening. That is why you have to address that as well so the pelvic wand works well for this.

That being said, you would want to use a generous amount of lubricant whenever you are using the pelvic wand. Sometimes, when people have a really tight or hypertonic pelvic floor, they are going to have pain with sex, pain with putting tampons in, pain with putting a menstrual cup in, and those sorts of things, so even though the pelvic wand is relatively small and the other end is much smaller than a tampon would be, that might be horrifying to someone. So you would want to use a generous amount of lubricant and go very slowly.

The pelvic wand has three kinds. They have the standard one, which is what I described above. The other one is something you can put in your fridge or freezer or run it under warm water so you can also use it for therapy or warmth if you are trying to do better if you have some inflammation and you want to decrease it or use it for heat therapy. The last type, which I think is my pick, would be the vibrating pelvic wand. They make the wand in a vibrating format and it has a few different settings on it. Vibration is great for trigger points as we also use it for other kinds of trigger points in the office. Vibration will be phenomenal on an area and it helps with blood flow and things heal better with better blood flow. So it goes without saying that better blood flow in the pelvic floor will lead to better pelvic floor health.   

Second Product: Dilators

If you are having that pain with sex, tampon insertion, and those kinds of things, you might want to pair the pelvic wand with dilators. Their dilators have a very wide range of sizes to them. She sent me both the small and larger set to check. To give you an example, the small set starts with a size a bit smaller than my pinky. I would say that it’s even smaller than a teen intro tampon. Then we have other sizes that are getting bigger so you kind of work your way up slowly to the bigger set.

With the dilators, they are also made with the super soft, pliable, and soft silicone coating to them. You want to do it always linked with breath. When people come into my office and we are working on their pelvic floor, I do not do any internal work in the office. I always start people off with breathing because breathing links right up with how pelvic floor works. Your diaphragm should be parallel to your pelvic floor and they should talk to one another. To get your pelvic floor to relax, you need to have a solid breath practice.

In the Intimate Rose line of products, they tell you how they want you to breathe to use their products, which I love. When you think about the diaphragm, the muscle right under the lungs, and the pelvic floor kind of talking to one another, as you inhale, the diaphragm pushes down as the lungs are filling up. And that puts pressure down onto the pelvic floor. It is accepting pressure and it’s having some stress on it. When you exhale, the diaphragm comes up and your pelvic floor is sort of relieved and is getting some rest.

When you are using things like the pelvic wand or the dilator, you are going to want to get into a super comfortable position and you are going to want to maybe be lying down on your back or on your side. You will also want to incorporate that breath so you are going to inhale and get some pressure down onto the pelvic floor. As you exhale, think of fully relaxing the pelvic floor and then inserting the pelvic wand or the dilator. With the dilators, you will just leave it in there as long as you can tolerate it. You can leave it there for 15 minutes or whichever time you are comfortable with. While it is in there, you work with your breath. Remember that when you inhale, you will feel more pressure, and when you exhale, try to fully relax, then just go through those motions.

During my interview with Dr. Olson as she described her products, she mentioned visualization is really important with pelvic floor work. I don’t really think much about it when I work with people with pelvic floor issues or those who are in the clinic for pre-natal matters. However, when she talked about it, I realized that that is a great key when you are going into labor. I like that connection because we want to visualize your pelvic floor opening, softening, and relaxing. For my pre-natal patients who are going a little past their due date and they are getting anxious, I tell them to visualize their cervix softening, their pelvic floor relaxing, the thinning happening, and the opening like a flower blossoming. Intimate Rose also mentioned this in their system, too, which makes total sense when you are working on relaxing your pelvic floor.

Note that it is very common to have the inability to relax your pelvic floor that is why the pelvic wands and the dilators will be great to help with that inability.

Third Product: Kegel Weights

For the Kegel weights, I don’t usually right off the bat recommend this for use because I found that many times, people do not know what they are squeezing. They might recruit their inner thighs, their glutes, and the like. I also found that they are less elevating their pelvic organs and are more into squeezing one little spot.

So, with Kegel weights, these are used for a Kegel exercise system. Even though I say that you want to make sure to fully relax before you engage the pelvic floor, this is a good tactile way to learn exactly where your pelvic floor is and what you should be engaging to do what it needs to do.

The Kegel weights look like tampons and it has six sizes. The first one is white, the next is like a lighter pink, and as I increase in darkness, they get a little heavier. The dark purple colored Kegel weight is the heaviest.

You would want to start with the lightest as these are weights for your pelvic floor. It’s like putting a weighted exercise to it. It’s not just for the fact of the strength of it as it is more of that bio feedback of having something physically on your pelvic floor telling you that this muscle is what needs contracting and what needs to be engaged.

So, to use the weights, you would simply insert the Kegel weight into your vagina as you would a tampon. It’s also made of soft silicone just like the first two products and you would use a lot of lubricant for it. You can lie on your back as it is the least amount of resistance. You are not using gravity and you are just letting it rest there. It will tell you where your pelvic floor is at and you can practice being able to hold it in.

Dr. Olson talked about the Kegel weight as if you are upright or on all fours, your drawing that up into your body. It is sitting on your vagina and you are using your pelvic floor to telescope it up into your body. Try not to recruit your inner thighs or your glutes and just focus on the pelvic floor. You want to work your way up from holding it for ten to 15 minutes to doing light, easy tasks throughout your day while using the Kegel weight. From there, you would want to progress to the next weight.

The important thing to remember is that your pelvic floor is like any other muscle and your progress will not be linear as you won’t be able to chug away at this perfect increase of progression. You will have ups and downs and you will find that sometimes, a certain Kegel weight is way too heavy one day although it was fine the last time you used it. That is fine, that is normal and you can back off and then you can ramp back up.

This is great for pelvic floor dysfunction, prolapse, and those kinds of things. I like that it helps you to accurately hone in on where your pelvic floor is at through touch. Even when I am working with people and I want them to contract something, touching it will make a world of difference. Think of that as your hand on your pelvic floor saying this is what we want to activate.

Using Lubricants For These Products

With all these three products, it is advised to use a lubricant. One of the lubricants that I always recommended in the past was coconut oil as it is natural, has no extra things in it, and has no chemicals. However, I just took a class a couple of months ago and they were talking about how you want your lubricant to match the proper pH for your vagina. Coconut oil does not have the proper pH for optimal vaginal health, which ranges about 3.8 to 4.5. As we hit menopause, it can even go up to 5.

With these products that are silicone, you want a water-based lubricant. One of the lubricants that I found which is hypoallergenic, is good for sensitive skin, is water-based, and is in the proper pH zone is the Good Clean Love line. You can also check out other products that have no proplylene glycol, parabens, and are not scented. Just be sure that if you pick other products, they are water-based and match the pH level of the vagina.

Conclusion

That is my overview of the systems of Intimate Rose and I really enjoyed seeing how much thought and effort they went into putting these products together. They made a conscious effort to make them not seem like sex toys as they are therapeutic tools to help with a very real problem that a lot of women suffer with. If they were marketed as sex toys that would be a huge deterrent for people who have had trauma in that area that is now experiencing pelvic floor dysfunction, pain with sex, and emotional component that come with it, too.

So, I just think these are really great products and I hope we can really get Dr. Olson for another interview so she can share more about pelvic floor health soon.

Dr. Olson earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Pacific University, and a Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Regis University, graduating as a member of the Jesuit National Honor Society. She holds a Certification of Achievement in pelvic floor physical therapy (CAPP-PF) through the American Physical Therapy Association, and the Pelvic Floor Practitioner Certification (PRPC) through the Herman and Wallace Pelvic Institute. She is also a certified Stott Pilates instructor and RRCA certified running coach.  

Dr. Olson teaches internationally on various pelvic health topics including pelvic floor dysfunction in runners. She has written several physical therapy continuing education courses, newspaper and magazine articles on pelvic floor dysfunction, and running, and authored the book Restoring the Pelvic Floor For Women.

They have different forums so if you have questions on how to use their products, you can find support by checking out Intimate Rose’s website here.

If you have any questions, you can drop it in the comment section or you send me a message through Facebook or Instagram. I’d be happy to do another podcast about your questions. Also, if you want me to talk about something specific, let me know!

You can also check my TikTok account as I use the platform to educate viewers about movement, chiropractic education, yoga, pregnancy, and more!