Newport Beach, CA (January 13, 2015) –
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian today announced the opening of WOMANOLOGY®
by Hoag, a comprehensive, integrated program for the thousands of women
in Orange County who are facing incontinence, painful sexual intercourse
and other pelvic floor disorders.
For more than 12 years, WOMANOLOGY has operated a private clinic in Irvine
and recently added a second location in Fullerton, dedicated to providing
complementary, holistic treatment and rehabilitation for women experiencing
pelvic floor issues. When founder and physical therapist Robin Christenson,
MPT, decided to sell her clinics in late 2014, Hoag was an obvious choice.
“When I sold WOMANOLOGY I felt as though I was putting my baby up
for adoption,” Christenson said “I trust Hoag’s caring
staff and incredibly forward-thinking medical team to expand upon the
vision of helping women live better lives.”
Like its predecessor, WOMANOLOGY by Hoag offers women comprehensive, integrated
treatment for pelvic floor health in a calm spa-like setting. By bringing
the complementary and alternative medicine practice under Hoag, patients
will now also have access to top-quality clinicians, said Allyson Brooks,
M.D., Executive Medical Director of the Hoag Women’s Health Institute,
one of the first physicians in Orange County to refer patients to WOMANOLOGY
12 years ago.
“Robin assembled an outstanding specialized team of acupuncturists,
Pilates instructors, massage therapists and guided imagery therapists,
all of whom are now on Hoag’s staff,” she said. “WOMANOLOGY
by Hoag combines the trusted complementary care of WOMANOLOGY with the
expert medical care of Hoag’s Women’s Health Institute.”
To address the needs of men with pelvic pain, Hoag also acquired an additional
component of the groundbreaking, trademarked program of WOMANOLOGY that
focuses on men called, RESTORE HIM®.
Though part of the Women’s Health Institute, WOMANOLOGY by Hoag
does not have a “clinical” feel to it. Instead, Hoag has adopted
the program’s signature “spa-like” setting and will
appeal to the emotional, as well as clinical, side of treatment for these issues.
“We can’t light candles in the hospital,” Dr. Brooks
said. “But you won’t be asked to discuss your vulvodynia in
the same room as a stroke patient coming to rehab for balance therapy
or someone recovering from a heart attack or car accident.
“The only patients at WOMANOLOGY by Hoag will be others with pelvic
floor issues like yours.”
Childbearing is one of the main culprits, but obesity and other factors
also contribute to debilitating pelvic floor conditions. A National Institutes
of Health study found that pelvic floor disorders affect 10 percent of
women ages 20 to 39, 27 percent of women ages 40 to 59, 37 percent of
women ages 60 to 79 and nearly half of women age 80 or older.
Though thousands of women suffer from pelvic floor pain and disorders,
too few discuss it. Even with their doctors, Brooks said.
“With a comprehensive physical therapy program for women, designed
by women, we hope that more women will take advantage of the rehabilitative
therapies available,” Brooks said. “You can’t undo the
causes of pelvic floor problems: You can’t reverse childbirth, or
chemotherapy or C-sections. But you can have a healthier, more active
life. You don’t have to suffer in silence.”
ABOUT HOAG MEMORIAL HOSPITAL PRESBYTERIAN
Hoag is an approximately $1 billion nonprofit, regional health care delivery
network in Orange County, California, that treats more than 24,000 inpatients
and 362,000 outpatients annually. Hoag consists of two acute-care hospitals,
six health centers, and seven urgent care centers. Hoag Hospital Newport
Beach, which has served Orange County since 1952, and Hoag Hospital Irvine,
which opened in 2010, are designated Magnet hospitals by the American
Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Hoag offers a comprehensive blend
of health care services that includes five institutes providing specialized
services in the following areas: cancer, heart and vascular, neurosciences,
women’s health, and orthopedics through Hoag’s affiliate,
Hoag Orthopedic Institute. In 2013, Hoag entered into an alliance with
St. Joseph Health to further expand health care services in the Orange
County community, known as St. Joseph Hoag Health. Hoag has been named
one of the Best Regional Hospitals in the U.S. News & World Report
Metro Edition. National Research Corporation has endorsed Hoag as Orange
County’s most preferred hospital for the past 19 consecutive years
and, for an unprecedented 19 years, residents of Orange County have chosen
Hoag as one of the county’s best hospitals in a local newspaper
survey. Visit www.hoag.org for more information.