Men’s and Women’s Health: How acupuncture improves fertility
When you are trying to build your family, there is nothing more heart wrenching than when all of your efforts fail to produce the intended result. Your friends and family often don’t understand.
In my practice, I have worked with men and women in their journey towards parenthood for more than 12 years.
The clinical manifestation or medical diagnosis varies from person to person and couple to couple, but one thing is clear. Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine (EAM) are consistently an effective treatment for many reproductive challenges.
Impaired fertility may be due to a female factor in 30% of the cases, male factor in another 30%, and in 30% of cases, the cause may be due to both partners.
Elegantly adaptable in its application, EAM can aid the natural fertility in women and men or provide adjuvant support to an assisted reproductive procedure. There are several mechanisms by which EAM can improve your and your partner’s fertile potential. In women, acupuncture and EAM can:
- Regulate reproductive hormones
- Decrease insulin resistance
- Promote ovulation
- Improve blood flow to the uterus and ovaries
- Improve uterine lining
- Regulate menses
- Reduce menstrual or pelvic pain
- Relax uterine contractions
- Resolve small uterine fibroids
- Reduce pain caused by intercourse
- Improve libido
- Reduce anxiety and/or depression
- Improve IVF/IUI pregnancy rates
- Prevent some types of miscarriage
For men, there are also methods in which this system of medicine can:
- Increase sperm count
- Increase sperm movement
- Improve sperm shape
- Improve libido
- Resolve small varicoceles
How can this be true? In the coming weeks, I will be publishing a series of articles describing how acupuncture and EAM can achieve these results. We will review the current evidence and outline a typical treatment plan.
