The StarFormer Guide
Emsella or IntimaWave: How to Compare Pelvic Floor Chairs in Melbourne
Both the Emsella and the StarFormer PRO IntimaWave chair strengthen your pelvic floor while you sit fully clothed. The difference is in the engineering. IntimaWave uses Fotona's HITS technology with a seat-and-back design that also supports the lower back, and settings tailored to your condition. Here is what makes it the chair we chose.
If you have started researching pelvic floor chairs in Melbourne, two names come up: the BTL Emsella and the Fotona StarFormer PRO IntimaWave. Both let you sit fully clothed while a magnetic field does the work your pelvic floor cannot quite manage on its own.
So the real question is how they differ, and why we chose the one we did. We use IntimaWave at Pink, and we chose it deliberately. What follows is a clear comparison and the engineering reasons it is the chair we trust for the pelvic floor.
How do pelvic floor chairs work in the first place?
A pelvic floor chair uses a magnetic field to trigger involuntary contractions in the pelvic floor, stronger than the contractions you could produce with a Kegel. The field passes through clothing and tissue to the motor nerves that control the pelvic floor, and when those nerves fire, the muscles contract, many thousands of times in a single session. Over a course, that builds strength and neuromuscular control across the pelvic floor.
It is non-invasive. You sit fully clothed for around half an hour, there is no preparation and no recovery, and you can return to your day straight afterwards. That part is the same whichever chair you choose. What is not the same is how the chair is built, and how completely it works the area.
What is the Emsella, in brief?
The Emsella is made by BTL and uses HIFEM technology, High Intensity Focused Electromagnetic. It uses a single focused coil in the seat and is designed for pelvic floor strengthening, on a standard protocol of a minimum of six sessions a few days apart. It is FDA-cleared in the United States for urinary incontinence. If you have seen a pelvic floor chair advertised at a Melbourne clinic, it is most likely an Emsella, which is why it is the device most people are comparing against. That makes it the right reference point, so here is how the StarFormer PRO compares.
What makes the StarFormer PRO IntimaWave different
IntimaWave is the pelvic floor pathway of the Fotona StarFormer PRO, which uses HITS technology, High Intensity Tesla Magnetic Stimulation. It is a CE-marked medical device made by Fotona, a company with around sixty years of energy-based medical engineering behind it. This is where the StarFormer PRO is built to do more.
It treats the lower back, not only the seat. The IntimaWave chair works from both the seat and the back at once. That means it strengthens the pelvic floor and supports the lower back in the same session, reaching the area from more than one direction rather than from a single point beneath you. The lower back is part of the core that holds continence and posture together, and a single seat coil does not reach it.
It runs on a multi-channel platform. The StarFormer PRO drives up to four applicator channels together, which is why the same device can work the pelvic floor, the core and the back, rather than the pelvic floor alone.
It is tuned to your condition. Your clinician tailors the settings to your situation, whether that is stress, urge or mixed urinary incontinence, post-partum pelvic floor recovery, mild pelvic organ prolapse, or male pelvic floor strengthening including after prostate surgery. The treatment is matched to the person in the chair rather than run on one standard programme.
It is engineered with intent. This is the part worth understanding about Fotona. The StarFormer PRO is built around how precisely and how completely it activates muscle, reaching the deep fibres that are hard to engage on your own. The design is what does the work.
More on Pink's IntimaWave covers the pathway, the conditions it is used for, and what a course looks like.
Side by side: how the two chairs compare
| StarFormer PRO IntimaWave | BTL Emsella | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Fotona (Europe), ~60 years of engineering | BTL |
| Technology | HITS (High Intensity Tesla Magnetic Stimulation) | HIFEM (High Intensity Focused Electromagnetic) |
| Applicator | Seat and back working together (pelvic floor and lower back) | Single focused coil in the seat (pelvic floor only) |
| Channels | Up to four applicator channels | Single channel |
| How it is set up | Settings tailored by the clinician to your condition | Standard protocol |
| Same platform also does | TightWave body sculpting (core, glutes and more) | Pelvic floor only (Emsculpt is a separate BTL device) |
| Typical session | About 20 to 30 minutes, fully clothed | About 28 minutes, fully clothed |
| Downtime | None | None |
| Regulatory | CE-marked | FDA-cleared for urinary incontinence (US). Check current TGA status for Australia |
Why the design differences matter
Two pelvic floor chairs can look much the same from the outside. Where they actually differ is in how completely each one reaches and works the area.
The IntimaWave chair treats from the seat and the back together, so it strengthens the pelvic floor and supports the lower back in the same session, where a single seat coil works the pelvic floor from one point only. The platform runs up to four applicator channels, which is why the same device can also work the core and the glutes. And the settings are matched to your condition, so a stress incontinence programme is not the same as a post-partum or a male pelvic floor programme.
That is the engineering worth paying attention to: how intelligently the treatment is delivered, and how much of the area it actually covers. None of it replaces a proper assessment. The most reliable way to decide is to have your pelvic floor assessed rather than to choose on a spec sheet alone.
What does the evidence actually say?
The magnetic-stimulation evidence base is genuine and growing. A 2021 review in the Journal of the Laser and Health Academy examined studies of this class of high-intensity magnetic stimulation across pelvic floor rehabilitation, muscle strengthening, pain and motor recovery, and describes how the stimulation recruits muscle fibres that are difficult to activate through exercise alone.
There is also published case work using the StarFormer PRO itself. One example is a single case report of an older patient with incomplete bladder emptying whose residual urine improved across a course of treatment. It is worth being careful here: a single case report shows what happened for one person, not what typically happens, and it is not the same as a large trial. We mention it because it is real and specific to this device, not because it predicts your result.
In practice, most people see gradual improvement across a course rather than overnight. Individual response varies, and your clinician will assess your progress as you go rather than promising a number.
Why we chose the StarFormer PRO
We chose the StarFormer PRO deliberately: the seat-and-back design that treats the pelvic floor and the lower back together, the multi-channel platform that can also work the core and glutes, settings we tailor to the condition in front of us, and Fotona engineering we trust. It is a more complete way to treat the pelvic floor than a single seat coil running a standard programme.
The most reliable way to decide is still an assessment of your specific symptoms, because the right plan depends on your pelvic floor, not on a brochure. If IntimaWave suits you, that is the conversation we will have, with no pressure and no obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is IntimaWave better than Emsella?
IntimaWave treats the seat and the back together, so it strengthens the pelvic floor and supports the lower back in one session, lets the clinician tailor the settings to your condition, and runs on a platform that can also work the core and glutes. The Emsella is a single seat coil on a standard protocol for the pelvic floor alone. Both can help with incontinence; the difference is how completely and how flexibly. We start with an assessment so the plan fits your symptoms.
How many Tesla is the Emsella chair?
BTL publishes the Emsella's field at up to 2.5 Tesla. Fotona describes the StarFormer PRO by its HITS technology rather than by a single Tesla figure, because the field that reaches the muscle depends on the coil design and how the treatment is delivered, not on a headline number alone. The more useful questions are whether a chair can be tailored to your type of incontinence and how completely it reaches the pelvic floor and lower back, which is what an assessment looks at.
Is a pelvic floor chair better than Kegels?
A chair reaches muscle that Kegels often cannot isolate, which is why many people find it helpful. It is best used alongside pelvic floor physiotherapy rather than instead of it, because supervised pelvic floor exercise is the evidence-based first step for incontinence. For many people the chair is what finally activates the right muscles.
How many sessions does IntimaWave take?
It is set across a course, usually two to three times a week, with each session about twenty to thirty minutes. Your clinician tailors the number and the settings to your condition after assessing you, so there is no single fixed answer.
Is IntimaWave safe after having a baby?
It is widely used for post-partum pelvic floor recovery. We ask that you are first cleared by your obstetrician, GP or midwife, and your consultation covers your full history to confirm it is appropriate for you and that the timing is right.
Can men use IntimaWave?
Yes. Pelvic floor weakness affects men too, particularly after prostate surgery, and the chair is used for the male pelvic floor on the same principle. A consultation confirms whether it suits your situation.
More on Pink's IntimaWave
If you would like to know whether IntimaWave suits your situation, read more about Pink's IntimaWave pelvic floor strengthening. No referral is needed, and your first conversation is a no-pressure assessment.
