LIHU‘E — Women from around the island should be more comfortable because Wahine Wellness & Pelvic Health is for women, run by women, with treatment by women, said Gregg Pacilio, Michelle Pacilio’s husband and himself a physical therapist.
The blessing for the physical-therapy clinic was officiated by yet another woman, kahu Jade Wai‘ale‘ale Battad of Ke Akua Mana Church on Friday afternoon in a building located at the intersection of Kukui Grove Street and Haleko Road, just across the walkway to the Kaua‘i Board of Realtors office.
Michelle Pacilio, the island’s first board-certified women’s health clinical specialist, leads the clinic owned by Dan Schaal of ‘Ohana Sports Medicine that is open to serve women throughout the island who need orthopedic physical therapy and pelvic floor therapy in a spa-like, relaxing atmosphere.
The clinicians focus on the ever-changing needs that influence women, specifically, in their health care and recovery, they said.
“Women are not small men,” Michelle Pacilio said in a release. “Our physical-therapy treatment should be tailored to the many physiological, hormonal and psychological differences that make us unique.”
Michelle and her all-female staff, including Kayla Murphy and Katie Kershner, address issues related to pregnancy, pelvic pain, female athletes, urinary and bowel symptoms, injuries, post-surgery rehabilitation, geriatric care and osteoporosis.
One of the clinic’s missions is to de-stigmatize pelvic-floor problems, allowing women to talk about and address their body’s functions instead of ignoring them.
“Following years of working with women, it is evident they want to be informed about their bodies and how to prevent common problems like incontinence and prolapse instead of accepting the status quo that these problems are inevitable due to age or pregnancy,” Michelle Pacilio said.
“There is so much that can be done to improve and even cure these problems, and the first step is to start talking about them,” she said.
Wahine Wellness & Pelvic Health Clinic is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday hours are 8 a.m. to noon.
• Info: 808-378-4151, wahinewellnesskauai.com
•••
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
