When I hear women say that they are having a hard time getting pregnant, I obviously want to help. If I could tell them one thing about what I know, it would be this: acupuncture and fertility treatments together can help with conception.
As an ancient practice that is thousands of years old, acupuncture has helped to restore more people to a balanced state than perhaps any other treatment in history. That’s what acupuncture is all about, anyway—balance. Imbalances cause all kinds of trouble in the body, including infertility (in men and women), so it makes sense that helping the body to regain its balance would help. It’s intuitive, yet the results speak for themselves.
One study, conducted by researchers at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany, shows as much. The study combined acupuncture treatment with conventional fertility treatment, looking at 225 women for signs of improvement. Women in the study who only underwent traditional western fertility treatments saw an impressive pregnancy rate of 13.8 percent. Still, combining acupuncture and fertility seems to work much better, as demonstrated by the pregnancy rate of 28.4 percent in the women who received both treatments.
How Acupuncture Works
By itself, acupuncture treats many different ailments by balancing qi levels in the body through the insertion of needles along energy pathways in the body called meridians. Among acupuncture’s benefits are increased blood flow (which aids the healing process) along these pathways, greater endorphin levels for pain relief, and reduced inflammation.
How Acupuncture and Fertility Treatments Work Together
The simple truth is that no two women are the same. One woman may be able to conceive easily without any treatments. Another may require hormone treatments. Acupuncture may help a third woman get pregnant. For those who have not had success with other treatments, or those who are undergoing IVF, acupuncture poses no risk, and in fact, it often helps to increase the chances of success, as seen in the above study. It’s also easy to include as a treatment in comparison with others. Some fertility doctors require patients to wait up to six months to conceive on their own before starting treatment. Acupuncture treatment is available from day one.
It’s even effective for treating pregnancy-related discomfort symptoms after conception as well as painful menstrual cycles once they return.
Are you unsure whether you can get pregnant?
It can be exciting and stressful all at once when you decide that you want to get pregnant. If you think you might have trouble conceiving, or if you’ve had trouble getting pregnant in the past, contact me today to learn how acupuncture and fertility treatments such as IVF work together.
Interested in starting acupuncture treatment? Set up an appointment at your convenience.