A few months ago, Athena launched the Athena Pelvic Muscle Trainer with a view to dominating the upper end of the pelvic toner market. Hot on their heels, Kegel developed the Kegel8 Ultra, to add to their bestselling Kegel8 range. Although not directly stated, many feel it was a direct attempt to compete with the Athena which was receiving excellent reviews, despite it being priced higher than the Kegel8 toners.

There is no doubt that both machines provide a fast solution to what can be a very embarrassing problem. Before such devices were developed, women had to rely on doing the old fashioned "kegel exercises" which were often so tedious and boring that most gave up. Not only that, many women did not realise that even with the most stringent of regimes, it took months before any real improvement could be noticed. Another issue was the fact that the slackened vaginal muscles of many women meant that it was impossible to feel these muscles working when they were exercised and advice such as inserting a finger into the vagina to see if you could "feel the muscles working" was often thought to be unpalatable by many.

Before electronic devices such as the Athena Pelvic Muscle Trainer and the Kegel8 Ultra, a number of "manual" devices came on the market which worked with an open spring device, providing tension to push against when trying to tighten the vaginal muscles. Although these were better than nothing, many women found it just too hard to get their weakened muscles going and promptly gave up!

At this moment in time, the Athena Pelvic Muscle Trainer and the Kegel8 Ultra are, in my opinion, undoubtedly the most effective products on the market.

In many ways the devices are very similar. Both work by stimulating and exercising the pelvic floor muscles using precise, controlled electronic signals. These signals automatically make your pelvic floor muscles flex and contract just as if you were somehow correctly doing thousands of kegels yourself.

The Athena and Kegel machines are both similar in size and have digital control panels with variable controls. This means that with either device you can treat both stress and mixed incontinence at the same time. Both are simple and comfortable to use.

In terms of results, initial reviews show that they deliver identical results, with most women claiming that they could notice an improvement in their pelvic floor tone within a couple of weeks. It took longer for both devices to deliver a complete cure, but with proper use the vast majority of women were completely cured of incontinence within a period of 6 weeks to 6 months, depending on the severity of their condition.

One outstanding feature of the Athena Pelvic Muscle Trainer is the fact that it is a wireless device and the control unit is actually a remote control device. This mean that it is more discreet to use than the Kegel8 Ultra. Now in most circumstances, this may not be an important feature, but for busy women who perhaps have very little time, the Athena can be used when, say, watching TV or having breakfast without being obvious. With the Kegel8 though, you simply cannot get away from the fact that there are short trailing wires and it comes down to how inconvenient you might find this.

The fact that the Kegel is not wireless may fade into insignificance when price comes into the equation. There is a significant price difference between the two models, with the Athena being more expensive.

In conclusion, I would say that as both have been shown to produce almost identical results, you have to decide yourself whether the wire on the Kegel8 Ultra is a no-no for you or whether the wireless Athena Pelvic Muscle Trainer is worth paying the extra money for.

Take a look at Athena Pelvic Muscle Trainer for further details on this product and information of where this can be bought in the UK. To see the full Kegel8 range, please visit Kegel8 Ultra