Vaginismus

Dr. Amyas Kabir pioneering two revolutionary procedures to build and strengthen muscles. BLOOMINGTON, Ill., Oct. 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In his goal of providing superb chiropractic care, clinical excellence and personal touch, renowned chiropractor and director of the Kabir Center for Health, Amyas Kabir, D.C., is one of the first in Central Illinois to offer two leading-edge procedures using electromagnetic energy for patients wanting to build and strengthen muscles. He will highlight these new technologies during a grand re-opening of the center on Oct. 19. Those who want to eliminate excess fat cells can benefit from EmSculpt Neo, a non-invasive procedure using electromagnetic energy and radiofrequency forcing muscles to contract -- ultimately sculpting areas of the body, including abdomen, buttocks, arms, calves, and thighs. The FDA-cleared needle- and laser-free device forces muscles to experience tens of thousands of contractions in just a 30-minute session, like doing 20,000 sit-ups. Four treatments of EmSculpt Neo are equivalent to 12 to 16 weeks of a high intensity interval training (HIIT) program. With over 25 million adult Americans experiencing some form of urinary incontinence, Dr. Kabir's other new technology is a windfall for women struggling with urinary incontinence and pelvic floor weakness. EMSELLA is a revolutionary chair that essentially strengthens the pelvic floor by inducing muscle contractions. Fully clothed patients sit in the EMSELLA chair for the noninvasive procedure that uses electromagnetic energy to stimulate and strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. Each 30-minute session is equivalent to 11,000 pelvic floor exercises (Kegel exercises). Stronger pelvic floor muscles restore continence and the confidence to enjoy normal daily activities without fear of losing bladder control. With no down-time needed, patients can immediately resume normal daily activities. Dr. Kabir recommends patients do six treatments over three weeks for maximum results. "It is heartening to witness the vast improvements in quality of life offered by the EmSculpt Neo and EMSELLA," says Dr. Kabir. "I'm thrilled to be able to provide these groundbreaking technologies to my patients." People who want to learn more about these leading-edge, non-invasive technologies are invited to attend the grand re-opening of the newly renovated, warm, and inviting Kabir Center for Health, 2412 E. Washington St., Bloomington, IL., 4:30 – 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 19. Attendees will have an opportunity to tour the center, learn about services offered, and sign up for demonstrations of the new technology. They will be treated to refreshments, appetizers and are eligible for raffle prizes. Amyas Kabir, D.C Dr. Kabir has been in practice in Bloomington, Illinois for over 25 years and is an expert in the field of human health & wellness. His mission is to provide his patients and community with the tools to maximize their regenerative and restorative potential. He takes pride in providing patients with best possible outcomes. To learn more about Dr. Kabir, log on to kabircenter4health.com. SOURCE Kabir Center for Health

At MedCity INVEST at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago this week, Canadian healthcare startups presented their technologies and how they plan to address pain points in healthcare across health tech, medtech and biopharma. The Consulate General of Canada in Chicago is currently celebrating the 75th anniversary of its diplomatic presence in the Midwest. Presented by the Consulate General of Canada, the Canadian healthcare startup showcase included five companies. Entrepreneurs from each company presented their businesses plans in a session moderated by Kelsey Tsai, vice president, The Blue Venture Fund. OPTT Health CEO Mohsen Omrani presented its screening and triage tool aimed at patients to assess mental health needs and can be used to monitor and track patient treatment. “Predicting drop off and improving patient engagement to retain patients are among the biggest challenges in mental health,” Omrani said after his pitch. Array Health and PursueCare are among its recent collaboration partners, Omrani noted. Hyivy Health presented its Floora pelvic rehab system to help women strengthen their pelvic floor through physical therapy home exercises that can be tracked through a companion app used by patients and a software program for clinicians. Hyivy Health. More broadly, the company supports patients with endometriosis, pelvic cancers and vaginismus. Its goals are to reduce muscle tension, pelvic pain and nerve damage while improving sex, bowel and bladder function, and natural lubrication. For clinicians Hyiv Health seeks to reduce cost per patient, referrals and ER visits. True Angle Medical developed a digital tool to help people who have difficulty swallowing food or liquid referred to as dysphagia. The causes can be diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease, stroke, medication or cancer treatment, and accidents such as traumatic brain injury. The company developed a device embedded with a sensor using electromyography that fits under the patient’s chin. It tracks patients doing home exercises to improve their condition. The sensor detects and tracks the exercises and transmits biofeedback to the user’s companion app on an iPhone or iPad. The company also enables the exercise data to be shared with clinicians so they can track their patients’ progress and make adjustments as needed. Looking ahead, the company seeks to add other product verticals. Careteam Technologies offers clinical decision support tools including personalized dynamic care plans, patient engagement, population health management. It helps clinicians work with patients to manage chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. The company helps clinicians to aggregate personalized care plans for patients with complex and chronic health issues. Patients and their caregivers can share those aggregated plans with the patient’s care teams. Healthcare organizations can track the care plans and ascertain whether they are followed, supporting intervention if necessary. The goal is to reduce healthcare costs by reducing avoidable hospitalizations. Able Innovations seeks to improve lateral patient transfer in healthcare settings and reduce the physical strain on healthcare staff, particularly nurses. Some of the injuries nurses incur by lifting patients can be career ending and contribute to fatigue and burnout. Able’s ALTA device seeks to move patients in a way that is dignified for patients and reduces the need for more than one nurse to move patients. The winner of the Canadian showcase, chosen by the audience, was Hyivy Health.

New offerings like the Pixel app, Proov 's at-home ovulation testing kit and Turtle Health are bringing the largely patient-coordinated process of in vitro fertilization all the way to patients with at-home testing and in-phone treatment management. The time-sensitive process of getting pregnant through in vitro fertilization (IVF) could not wait for stay-at-home orders to end. As the pandemic wanes, health tech companies are bringing the IVF process into the home while providing support to the patients who largely coordinate the process themselves. “The onus of getting it right for a patient who is selected or elected to go forward with IVF treatment is very much on themselves,” Pixel Fertility Founder Adam Hait told Fierce Healthcare. “For the most part, as they progress through treatment, it's up to them to ensure they have the right medications at the right time, know how to store those medications and know how to administer those medications.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 1 in 5 heterosexual females ages 15 to 49 are unable to conceive on their own after a year of trying. Currently, the in vitro fertilization clinic market is worth around $8 billion. Some estimates expect the industry to reach $41 billion by 2026. In the three-year period from 2019 to 2022, venture capital investment in fertility startups doubled. Many of these startups are looking at where fertility begins: in the home. How tech can coordinate the siloed IVF process Hait is a third-generation pharmacist and has spent three decades in “the world of fertility.” He created Pixel to function as a digital IVF sherpa to navigate the largely solitary space of trying to have a baby the new fashion way. The Pixel app is currently in beta testing but is slated to launch within the next few months. Pixel gives fertility patients round-the-clock access to medication FAQs, live chats and on-demand video calls with healthcare professionals and how-to videos for administering treatment.  Patients are alerted when their medication is running low and can facilitate delivery while allowing for medication cost transparency. Through coordination with insurance, patients are also kept in the loop about their fertility benefits. The precarious process can be disrupted at any point with mismanagement of a cocktail of drugs largely administered at home. Pixel provides guidance for both males and females. Half the time, male infertility is the issue, but the female cocktail of drugs is more complex, according to Hait.   “Every day in the fertility space, in the clinic as well as the pharmacy, unfortunately, is a fire drill,” Hait said. “Every single day, there are patients who do not have the medications that they need, when they need it.” While patients can call their local pharmacist and presiding clinician during working hours, if the problem can’t be quickly remedied, the results can be expensive or even hazardous to the patient’s health. For example, if a patient realizes too late that they don’t have enough gonadotropins, active drug forms of the FSH hormone responsible for follicle stimulation, ovarian hyperstimulation can take place. Mild cases of ovarian hyperstimulation can be treated with medications but severe cases can cause death. At-home tech tools for determining the fertility journey Before a digital sherpa can be conscripted, a path needs to be charted. Women's health company Proov provides an at-home ovulation testing kit and boasts the only FDA-cleared and CE-marked at-home ovulation diagnostic platform. The startup nabbed $9.7 million in series A funding in December 2021 to continue building out its product pipeline in women's health. The at-home testing largely serves two purposes: acquiring preliminary information about patients’ fertility and determining if ovulation has taken place. Proov offers four testing systems: “reserve” gives users an idea of the status of their ovarian reserve, “predict” determines the fertile window, “confirm” verifies ovulation took place and “complete” includes the insights of all the other packages. All Proov tests are performed at home with urine strips that patients use each morning. Over a month-long period, patients record their results with the Proov app. The app then provides a cycle-long analysis and recommendations for patients looking to conceive or address hormone imbalances. Founder and CEO Amy Beckley created the app after shelling out for IVF treatments that could have been addressed with simple supplements if only she had a clear picture of her fertility. “If you go into a lab or send in a sample, you're getting like a snapshot in time, it is really hard to understand the cycle and how estrogen and progesterone fluctuate across it,” Beckley told Fierce Healthcare. A month of hormones tests, you can’t go to a clinic for that, Beckley said, that has to take place in the home. Amy Zwanziger, CEO and founder of Turtle Health, told Fierce Healthcare that her company’s offering overlaps with Proov at some stages of the fertility journey, but she herself used Proov’s “confirm” package when on her own fertility journey. Confirming that ovulation took place is an important part of determining fertility and for patients with mild fertility issues assessing hormone levels can be sufficient, Zwanziger said. For patients with structural fertility issues, Turtle Health exists. “Proov is going to give a general fertility perspective,” Zwanziger said. “Turtle Health is going to show whether I have something structural like a huge fibroid, a huge cyst, a very small number of follicles that's likely to require a ton of intervention. If I look relatively normal, I can use Proov to actually confirm that I ovulated.” Turtle Health bills itself as the first comprehensive at-home virtual fertility clinic geared towards both men and women. Patients are sent at-home semen analysis, blood work and health questionnaires. Blood is collected through an arm patch that Zwanziger says patients prefer to blood pricks. Turtle Health plans to offer an at-home ultrasound that is still in the experimental stage. For men, Zwanziger says at-home semen collection can be less anxiety-inducing. For women who experience vaginismus, in-clinic ultrasounds may not even be an option. “There's a lot of different patient populations who might have sexual assault history, who might have medical trauma,” Zwanziger said. “There's a lot of different scenarios that we see it's definitely a huge advantage to do this at home.” Turtle Health seeded $5 million in funding this past December, bringing total funding to $5.4 million. The company’s at-home ultrasound tool showed comparable efficacy with in-clinic transvaginal ultrasonography ovarian reserve assessments, according to a recent study. With the importance of the tool in fertility diagnosis, Zwanziger hopes to soon have full authorization.