Designing a route to better health
MILLIONS of women suffer from incontinence, organ prolapse and pelvic floor pain after childbirth, around menopause and even from high-impact exercise.
Eight years ago, civil engineer Yvonne Brady did some research and set up EVB Sport in Drogheda, a company that designs and makes engineered clothing to help rectify and prevent pelvic floor problems by providing support in the right places.
She says many of her clients haven’t been able to see physios and gynaecologists during lockdown, leading to a jump in referrals as an interim solution.
And many women are on their feet more, juggling children and putting their bodies under strains and stresses they are not used to – and doing damage.
‘We help women that are suffering from issues like bladder leakage, from prolapse to pelvic pain,’ she says. ‘It’s a real problem that is under-researched and very under-resourced and there are very few solutions out there that don’t involve surgery.’
Yvonne first became aware of the issue when she started training for a marathon ‘too soon after baby No.3’.
‘I didn’t realise the impact,’ she admits. ‘ But if you’re running on a hard surface, the impact is three times your body weight, and if you’re running downhill, it’s seven times your body weight.
‘The function of the pelvic floor is to support those internal organs and your continent function, so if that’s gone through labour and nine months supporting a baby, it’s already stretched and does need time to recover.
‘But there’s so many women out there pounding the roads or doing exercises and having issues. And I as an engineer said, “hang on a second, this isn’t right.”
Having founded her own civil engineering company with husband Brian Hughes, she devised a solution to help women avoid surgery. It looks like a pair of shorts or leggings but layered technology mimics the pelvic floor muscles to eliminate stress incontinence and provide support against pelvic pain.
Yvonne added: ‘I’m delighted to have the chance to make a change – that’s what gets me up in the morning that we’re a part of doing this.’
EVB Sport is one of the beneficiaries of DMG Media Ireland’s Shop Ireland initiative, in which we are giving €1m worth of advertising to small businesses as they make their way through the pandemic.