SmartBalls Teneo Uno and Teneo Duo

The new Smartballs Teneo range is designed and manufactured in Germany to the highest standards from odourless and hypoallergenic silicone, with a loop cord fully fashioned from silicone. They are easy to clean with soap and water, with no disinfecting required.

A product of the FunFactory - the source of some of the world's most innovative adult toys - Smartballs were originally designed as pleasure devices for women. With research now showing that vaginal balls can be an effective means of building pelvic floor strength, Smartballs' value as an exercise device has been recognised, with endorsement from German midwives.

• Smartballs Teneo Uno is a single ball design, slightly elliptical in shape, with an internal weight inside the ball. Smartballs Teneo Uno is designed to be suitable for women with a uterine prolapse, although the ability to use Teneo Uno will depend on the exact nature and degree of prolapse.
• Smartballs Teneo Duo is a classic duo ball design, with both balls slightly elliptical in shape, and an internal weight inside each ball.

Inserted vaginally, the weights in both Uno and Duo move silently creating a sensation that some women are able to feel. Both Uno and Duo feature an ergonomically formed finger hollow between the cord attachment points to make insertion simple.

The Smartballs Teneo range offers a wide range of pelvic floor exercise solutions:

• Both Teneo products can be worn discreetly for several hours. Used in this way, the weight of either Smartballs Teneo Uno or Duo provides a muscle challenge in its own right.
• Research has shown that pelvic floor contractions with duo balls in place are more effective that contractions on an empty vagina (Glavind, Arvonen).
• The 36mm diameter of both Smartballs Teneo designs means that they can also offer a useful starting point for women with a weakened pelvic floor who are unable to hold a much narrower cone. Used in sequence, they can offer a weight progression for these women from the Uno's 42g to the Duo's 85g.
• Smartballs Teneo Uno and Duo can also both be combined with an external weights set for active pelvic floor weights exercising. Start with a Smartballs Teneo Uno and progress to a Teneo Duo. Combine both with PelviWeights for active weight training, offering a unique challenge to women at every level of pelvic floor strength. Specifically, active pelvic floor weight training allows women whose pelvic floor muscles are already reasonably strong to greatly increase muscle strength, using the same approach (but with much lower weights!) used by the holder of the Guinness Book of World Records "world's strongest vagina" award!

Insertion of Smartballs is sometimes made easier by the use of a very small amount of water-based lubricant. Smartballs Teneo Uno and Teneo Duo come packaged with a small sachet of FunFactory's own lubricant. Only water-based lubricant should be used with Smartballs, and it should be washed off immediately after use, to avoid any deterioration of the silicone.

For more information, read our printable sheet Using Vaginal Balls (PDF).

Catch up on ABC Radio's Health Report story on using vaginal balls to strengthen the pelvic floor: 12 Dec 2005