One of our goals here at Kegel 8 is to have open conversations and break the taboo around pelvic floor and intimate health.

However, according to new data, there is still a long way to go in educating women about their bodies, what is and isn’t normal, and when to see a doctor.  

To fully understand what is really bothering women, we used Google Keyword Planner to identify how many women are turning to Dr Google for answers about common intimate health issues and to self-diagnose their symptoms.

We compared searches from the past year to those in 2018 and found a dramatic increase in the number of women searching for symptoms related to bladder weakness, endometriosis, and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) - among others.

Here’s are some of our key findings:

Bladder weakness has the highest increase in searches

In first place with a 540 percent increase in searches was bladder weakness or incontinence. Roughly 40 percent of women in the UK are affected by incontinence at some point in their lives and this can be caused by factors such as the weakening of pelvic floor muscles.

Despite more awareness, Vaginismus is still a taboo condition

With a 336 increase in searches between 2018 and 2021, it’s clear people are still on the hunt for more answers when it comes to this intimate health condition. Affecting 2 in 1000 women, vaginismus causes the muscles in the vagina to tighten whenever penetration is attempted.

Other issues which have experienced a surge in searches…

Polycystic Ovaries Syndrome (PCOS) is another issue women are searching for more frequently, with 44,000 searches per month on average in 2021.

Vaginitis and endometriosis also experienced a 233 and 173 percent increase, respectively.   

Conclusion

It is encouraging to see a growing women’s health movement and increased public awareness around female-specific health issues. However, this data shows we still have a long way to go to overcome the stigma and knowledge gap when it comes to women’s intimate health. 

We believe that increased public discourse can go a long way in encouraging women to feel empowered to take control of their intimate health and no longer suffer in silence