Hinge Health Program for Accessibility of Women’s Pelvic Health Centers

Remote physiotherapy provider Hinge Health on Wednesday announced a new program focused on improving access to pelvic physiotherapy for women, designed by a team of women.

The Women’s Pelvic Health Program aims to help treat common pelvic floor disorders such as pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence.

One in four women have a pelvic floor disorder and experience urinary incontinence at some point. Karen Stander, vice president of physical therapy at Hinge Health, says the company began developing the pelvic health program while she was expecting her second child. The pelvic health offer is designed to improve access to care that is not always readily available.

“I advocated for a pelvic health referral for my OBGYN after I had my daughter, and it still took me months to find someone, and I live in the San Francisco area,” says Stander, adding that Hinge Health’s offering can be used by people regardless of geography nationwide and in US territories.

Hinge’s pelvic health program pairs a user with a team that includes a pelvic floor physical therapist to assess needs and develop a personalized set of digital exercises, a health coach who can discuss lifestyle changes to support the exercise plan and urogynecologists who can get involved if a limb case needs to be escalated.

Brynn Bannach, regional vice president of sales at Hinge Health, is also a member of the pelvic health program. A mother of two, she says hip pain came with her second child, along with other pelvic health issues. She sees great potential in the new program.

“I have enough mom friends to know how common it is and how long we all really have to seek care through traditional means,” she says. “And then you add the stigma, the embarrassment that goes with it, the fact that we’re here today to talk about it is huge. The fact that we can finally offer this kind of care virtually is a real game-changer and I’m thrilled .

The idea is that treatment plans fit easily into a busy schedule and co-exist with any other treatment a member may receive from Hinge Health (which was named among fast business‘s 10 Most Innovative Medicines and Therapeutics Companies of 2022).

“We created this as an additional pathway in our program for a member to receive treatment for their lower back pain in addition to pelvic floor pain,” says Stander. “We are integrating this pelvic health education into our digital clinic offering to really make sure that. . . we can proactively provide this education.