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What do you think of when you hear the word “engineering?” Most likely, it isn’t a bra with wearable EKG sensors or a video game that helps strengthen your pelvic floor. Welcome to femtech!
You May Be Asking, “What Is Femtech?”
Femtech is short for “female technology” and encompasses the technology, companies, and services that focus on the unique healthcare needs of females. It includes but is not limited to menstrual health, menopause, mental health, cardiac, pelvic, and uterine care, reproduction and contraception health, general health, and pregnancy. It encompasses issues specific to the female body but also focuses on areas where women present different symptoms (such as cardiac health) or health problems that disproportionately affect women (such as autoimmune diseases).
Women’s health has been overlooked and desperately needs more of a spotlight. This field needs more engineers, and I encourage you if you’re reading this, to consider advancing the field of femtech. Not only is femtech a cutting-edge field and a great way to make a lasting impact on those around you, but femtech is currently on the rise and has many areas for innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities. The revenue forecast for femtech is expected to be $103 billion by 2030. [1]
One Health Area That Has Been Overlooked for Women Is Cardiac Care
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in women (1 out of 3 deaths). [2] Women’s heart disease symptoms present differently than they do in men, causing them to be often missed. Women experiencing a heart attack can present with symptoms of fatigue, pain in the back, neck, jaw, and stomach, nausea, and cold sweats, in addition to the classic chest pain symptoms. One study found that 62% of women did not have chest pain when experiencing a heart attack. [3] Heart attack symptoms in women are often missed because it wasn’t until 1993 that the NIH mandated that women be included in clinical trials. This means medical therapeutics, tests, and devices were created on heart health data, mainly from male hearts. [4] This is where Bloomer Health comes in.
Bloomer Health has created bras embedded with EKG sensors so women can bring personalized heart health data directly to their doctor for early detection. The Bloomer Bra can adapt to multiple bra styles and track breathing, heart rhythm, temperature, posture, and movement. Bloomer Tech makes it easier to have women in clinical trials and helps close the data gap so women’s cardiovascular health is no longer overlooked. [5]
Another serious health issue for women is postpartum hemorrhaging (excessive bleeding after giving birth), which is the number one cause of maternal deaths worldwide. This is where the Jada system comes in with their aim to stop postpartum hemorrhaging.
The Jada System Stops Postpartum Hemorrhaging by Applying Low-Level Vacuum Pressure to the Uterus
This causes the uterus to collapse, pressing uterine blood vessels together and stopping the bleeding. [6] The Jada system is currently in over 2,000 hospitals in the U.S., and I’m excited for when it will be available elsewhere since most maternal deaths are in lower- and middle-income countries. This device will save lives; it’s something so simple yet so needed, and that’s the story of many women’s health issues.
One last femtech example I’d like to provide works to strengthen the pelvic floor and prevent pelvic floor disorders. One out of 4 females 20 years or older will experience a pelvic floor disorder in their lifetime. Pelvic floor disorders can range from incontinence to erectile dysfunction in men and, in extreme cases, prolapse. Prolapse is when the pelvic floor muscles can no longer hold up the pelvic floor organs properly, and in extreme cases, the uterus can fall out of the vagina! [6] Pelvic floor exercises are essential to prevent this, and that’s where Perifit comes in.
Perifit is a kegel (aka pelvic floor) exerciser designed by doctors to help women perform their pelvic floor exercises correctly. The Perifit device works by inserting the kegel device into the vagina, which connects via Bluetooth to a user’s phone to play Perifit’s video games! Perifit is cleared by the FDA and can measure strength, endurance, frequency, release, and accuracy. [7] This device not only works to prevent pelvic floor disorders, but it has created a fun and engaging solution for patients.
And this is why I love femtech. When we think of engineering, we think about oil rigs, cars, bridges, etc., but engineering is also video games and vaginas! Femtech takes really serious, overlooked problems and creates innovative solutions to help women. Women’s health is not niche; it’s roughly 50% of the population. You or a loved one may already be experiencing a women’s health-related issue, so it’s about time we focus on it. I hope you will get involved in femtech, whether making a career move, investing in femtech, purchasing a femtech product, or simply learning more. I challenge all of you to find a femtech product you think is interesting and share it with others. We can’t solve something this big without the world knowing that the future is indeed femtech!
Some resources to look at if you’re interested:
- Femtech Insider
- Femtech Focus
- Women of Wearables
- FemTechnology Summit
- The Vagina Business by Marina Gerner
- Unlocking Women’s Health by Brittany Barreto
- Go Figure! The Astonishing Science of the Female Body by Lisa Falco
[1] Stepaniuk, Kyrylo . “Femtech: Market Overview, Key Challenges, and Perspectives.” Freshcodeit.com, Apr. 2023, freshcodeit.com/blog/femtech-market-overview.
[2] “Facts.” www.goredforwomen.org, 2019, www.goredforwomen.org/en/about-heart-disease-in-women/facts.
[3] O’Connor, A. (2022, May 9). Why heart disease in women is often missed. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/09/well/live/heart-disease-symptoms-women.html.
[4] Clayton, Dr. Janine A. “Women’s Heart Health: The Heart of the Matter | Office of Research on Women’s Health.” Orwh.od.nih.gov, 11 Feb. 2020, orwh.od.nih.gov/about/director/messages/womens-heart-health-heart-matter. Accessed 22 Aug. 2023
[5] https://www.bloomertech.com
[6] How Does the Jada® System Work?” Www.thejadasystem.com, www.thejadasystem.com/how-jada-system-works
[7] “Pelvic Floor Disorders Affect Almost a Quarter of U.S. Women.” National Institutes of Health (NIH), 27 May 2015, www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/pelvic-floor-disorders-affect-almost-quarter-us-women
[8] https://perifit.co
