For women, by women – Hyivy Health provides updated technology to help pelvic floor rehabilitation
By: Delia Loveless (she/her)
According to the National Institutes of Health, one in every three women will experience pelvic health issues in their lifetime. However, the technology used to help women rehabilitate their pelvic floor muscles has not been updated since the 1930s.
Rachel Bartholomew (MBET' 14) (she/her)
Hyivy Health CEO & founder
While receiving treatment for cervical cancer, Rachel Bartholomew (MBET' 14) (she/her), asked herself why the technology hadn’t been updated when it was impacting so many women? While searching for support groups on Facebook, she found groups of women who shared similar experiences to her. In each group, women asked for better aftercare options and more research into the products currently on the market.
Bartholomew saw how the lack of research into pelvic health had created a system that fails women.
"There's a lot of really bad pseudoscience out there. In terms of products currently available, many of them are marketed as something that can help. The reality is that when they're tested in clinical trials, they often don't perform as advertised," she says.
Bartholomew began Hyivy Health (pronounced “Hi - ivy) in 2019 using her experience as a program coordinator at LaunchPad, Wilfrid Laurier's startup incubator, as well as her firsthand knowledge of the gaps in the market for women's pelvic rehabilitation.
Female first approach
Hyivy Health is creating a pelvic floor rehabilitation system that puts women first which includes a vaginal wand designed to be used by patients in the comfort of their homes. The system focuses on lubrication, thermal therapy, and auto dilation.
Batholomew explains, "you wouldn't have a massage without oil. We put heating pads on sore muscles; it's the same concept in these pelvic floor muscles. Dilation works to massage the surrounding muscles and tissues and break down the scar tissue that occurs from postpartum tearing, gender affirmation surgery, menopausal atrophy, or radiation damage."
The wand will include sensors that track data like temperature and pressure. These datasets will be shared with a mobile app, alongside subjective data like pain levels, mental state and menstrual cycles. That data will aggregate into progress reports that can help patients and their clinicians identify what may be causing their pain or interfering with their progress.
Through a connected therapist portal, clinicians and pelvic floor physiotherapists also receive this data to help track the progress of their active patients and see their progress in real-time.
Waterloo co-op students' contributions drive success
As the product begins clinical trials in May 2022, Bartholomew credits Waterloo co-op talent for helping to bring the product to life.
One such student is Madeleine MacKinnon (she/her), a Biomedical Engineering student, who completed three work terms with Hyivy. Her first work term as a mechanical engineer began just weeks into the company's founding. During her work term, MacKinnon focused on competitor analyses, designing the therapist portal and mobile app, and the user experience (UI/UX).
Working at a startup gave MacKinnon the opportunity to try a variety of roles. What brought her back for subsequent work terms was her contribution to women's health and the mentorship she received from other female engineers.
"I think it's so important that women are taking charge of our health and addressing what we need," says McKinnon. "Being able to work with a company that is owned and run by the target user just brings a whole new level of understanding into the design process that is so hard to get otherwise. To see so many women in engineering roles succeeding and offering mentorship, that was just such a powerful experience."
Anna Liebenberg (she/her) is a current co-op student working at Hyivy. As a mechanical engineer, she is working on writing test procedures for the prototype, updating the CAD model, and conducting research into the design of the second version of the device.
Liebenberg’s own experience suffering from pelvic health problems led to her interest in working for the company.
"It's a critical problem space to be working in, and there's so much opportunity for innovation," says Liebenberg.
Breaking biases for women’s health
International Women's Day (IWD) is an annual celebration of women's social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. This year, the theme for IWD focuses on breaking biases. To accomplish this, the goals of IWD include working to create inclusive work cultures where women can thrive and be celebrated and assisting women into positions where they can make informed decisions about their health.
"We are just now beginning to gain a basic understanding of how women's health genetically differs from men. Things like how our hormonal and menstrual cycle affects mental health and what supports women need during some of the most physically challenging times of our lives," says Bartholomew.
While strides are being made, there is still much work to further equity for women in both health and in business.
I think we just need more people taking on the challenges of understanding this better, bringing it to the forefront, creating better workplace cultures, school cultures, to support this, understanding the gender landscape as well. We are making strides in the realm of women's health care, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
Read more about Hyivy Health in the University of Waterloo magazine article, Cancer survivor builds startup for pelvic health and better sex.