A young Australian business owner has shared how she devised a unique wearable product that helps ease period pain and doesn’t cause any negative side effects.
The Ovira product launched in March 2020 and provides instant, drug-free period pain relief through the use of gentle pulsating currents.
Founder Alice Williams, from Melbourne, told FEMAIL she has always experienced bad period pain and wanted to stop relying on medication to relieve the discomfort.
The 27-year-old entrepreneur, who had no previous experience in business, said the product idea originally sparked at the beginning of 2019 and took months to design, manufacture and register the device.
Registered nurse and anti-ageing specialist from The Wellness Group, Madeline Calfas, said period pain, also known as Dysmenorrhoea, is a ‘widespread female problem that affects 40 to 90 per cent of women’.
A young Australian business owner has shared how she devised a unique wearable product that helps ease period pain and doesn’t cause any negative side effects
The Ovira product (pictured) launched in March 2020 and provides instant, drug-free period pain relief and operates through the use of gentle pulsating currents
‘During a women’s period a hormone called prostaglandin makes the uterus contract, but if it contracts too strongly this can result in compressing nearby blood vessels,’ Madeline said.
‘This then cuts off the oxygen supply to the muscle and causes the period pain to occur.’
The new $189 product is a Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) device and uses electrotherapy technology to reduce this pain.
Users operate Ovira by applying the electrode patches called ‘love handles’ to the lower abdomen area or lower back.
Madeline said small electrical currents run through the electrodes and helps the muscles in the uterus to relax, which means the blood flow is not being restricted, and cannot create pain.
These vibrations are controlled through a small remote and users can choose between different intensity levels.
Many women are often prescribed the contraceptive pill to assist with period pain, though this hormonal treatment can often cause physical or emotional side effects.
Founder Alice Williams (pictured) told FEMAIL she has always experienced bad period pain and wanted to stop relying on pharmaceuticals to relieve the discomfort
Madeline said Ovira sends electrical vibrations to the nerves that stops pain signals being perceived by the brain.
Nurse Madeline Calfas (pictured) said period pain effects 40 to 90 per cent of women
This type of medical treatment is known as electrotherapy as it uses electronic energy to pulsate vibrations into the body tissue.
She said there have been several trials that have shown this technology to be a very effective treatment for period pain, and there are no side effects (such as nausea and drowsiness) that can be associated with pain relief drugs.
The product can be used when needed and for hygiene reasons the circular disks should be replaced after 100 uses.
Prior to starting the business, Alice said she was sick of taking prescribed medication to help with her period pain and endometriosis, but no matter who she spoke to she was told the only options available were strong pain killers or the pill.
‘After researching alternative options myself, I came across electrotherapy and found it worked but isn’t well recognised,’ she said.
Prior to creating the business, Alice said she was sick of taking pharmaceuticals to help with her period pain and endometriosis, so she researched alternative options and came across electrotherapy
Madeline said there have been several trials that have shown electrotherapy to be a very effective treatment for period pain
With the new found information and the product idea in mind, Alice turned to a close friend who’s a hardware engineer and helped her design the medical item.
‘The design process was quite quick because we knew what we wanted the product to look like and how it would work, but the manufacturing and regulatory process took a lot longer,’ she said.
Ovira has been designed to be small and portable, meaning you don’t have to stay at home to use it; it’s small, discreet and can be worn under your clothes.
As the product is a medical device it needed to receive approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA in order to be legally certified and sold – which Alice described as a long, time consuming process.
‘Since we were creating a medical device, we had multiple conversations with manufacturers about what we can and can’t do,’ she said.
‘For example, we originally designed the buttons on the control to be hard buttons but for regulatory approval they needed to be soft.’
The electrotherapy vibrations are controlled through a small remote and users can choose between different intensity levels (pictured)
‘The design process was quite quick because we knew what we wanted the product to look like and how it would work,’ Alice said
Before starting the business, Alice worked as a film production manager and had studied health science at university, so Ovira was a great way of combining her creative skills and passion for health together.
By mid-2019 she left her previous role and dedicated herself to working full time for the business and is now in the process of recruiting a small team.
Late last year Alice also took part in the Melbourne Accelerator Program where she networked with other small business owners and investors.
The program, which is designed to assist new start-up brands, helped Alice promote the product to those who may consider investing in her business.
By the end of the program, she was invited to pitch her idea further which lead to a six-month fundraising process that closed in February 2020 and helped raise $1.7 million – which will be used to develop the business.
Ovira has been designed to be small and portable, meaning you don’t have to stay at home to use it; It’s small and discreet, and can be worn under your clothes
Since officially launching the product on the market in March, Alice said the brand has received a fantastic response from customers in both Australia and America.
She has described the experience as stressful but positive, and she feels very grateful to have developed a product that can help others.
Alice is currently recruiting a small team of people to grow the brand further, which she is very excited about.
When asked what’s next for the brand, Alice said she aims to continue growing the business and extend the product range to help solve other health issues women face.