Can Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicine Help Fertility?
At Village Remedies clinic in Balmain, Sydney, we see both women and men for fertility support.
Trying to conceive can be an exciting but also stressful time. Things that may get in the way of fertility include:
- Lifestyle - stresses from emotional, nutritional and/or chemical sources
- Age - it will be easier for women under 35 and men under 40 to conceive naturally (not to say it can’t happen later though)
- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
- Endometriosis
- STI’s
- Sperm health
Improving fertility will depend on you and your partner’s unique situation but include:
- Treating or managing any of the above conditions
- Suggesting lifestyle or dietary changes
- Offering supplementation
- Assisted reproductive treatments such as IVF
Can Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicine Help Fertility?
From a Chinese medicine perspective, our goal is to help improve your body’s overall health so that you’re in a better and stronger state to conceive naturally. Ideally we see both partners to give us the best chance and focus on improving sleep, digestion, reducing tension and pain, and lowering stress. For women we must also pay close attention to the health of the menstrual cycle.
At Village Remedies clinic in Balmain, Sydney, we use acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine that has been traditionally indicated for improving fertility and chances of conception. Each treatment plan is tailored to your situation, whether you’re planning on trying, have been trying for a while, or undergoing ART or IVF.
To find out if acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can help for your fertility, please contact us or book online.
4 Ways Acupuncture Can Support Fertility
Acupuncture for fertility is becoming increasingly popular as a way to help support couples to fall pregnant naturally or to assist in conjunction with IVF and other assisted reproductive procedures. Developed over thousands of years as part of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture involves the use of very fine needles to stimulate various physiological processes in order to help the body regulate and heal. So how might acupuncture help fertility?
- Stress
Our modern lives are full of daily life stressors that are constantly triggering our sympathetic nervous system response (i.e. fight or flight) where our physiological processes are geared more towards survival of an imminent threat. Stress comes in all shapes and sizes from big life changing events, to everyday things like not sleeping enough, having a lot on at work, pressure to start a family, etc. These things accumulate and make it harder for us to spend sufficient time in the opposite parasympathetic nervous system state (i.e. rest and digest) where the body’s processes focus on repairing, regulating and regenerating. This is the side of the nervous system responsible for the regulation of hormones and blood flow necessary to support good fertility.
While we can’t acupuncture away the stress, we may be able help reduce its impact. Research on acupuncture has shown that it has effects on helping regulate the autonomic nervous system (involving sympathetic and parasympathetic) via various pathways (such as shown here).
- Hormones
The menstrual cycle involves a complex interplay of waxing and waning hormonal influences. These reproductive hormones are controlled by the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian (HPO) axis, which is heavily influenced by the autonomic nervous system (as discussed above), so stress again plays a role here. Underlying conditions such as PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) or endometriosis may add other complicating factors.
For the best chances of falling pregnant naturally, regulating the menstrual cycle is an important first step that we look at in Chinese medicine. For those undergoing IVF or assisted fertility, we look at how we can support the different stages of that process.
- Circulation
Good circulation to the reproductive organs is vital for healthy function and in particular to the endometrium where implantation occurs. Again this is influenced by the autonomic nervous system - in a fight or flight response, circulation goes more towards the periphery and muscles to ready for action, versus the rest and digest state where circulation moves more towards the internal organs.
Traditional Chinese medicine thought focuses on promoting the healthy smooth flow of circulation throughout the body. If the circulation is too little or too much to an area, this can cause issues. Acupuncture is used traditionally to help regulate blood flow within the body.
- Sperm Quality
While a lot of fertility advice and treatments centre around the woman, men make up 50% of the equation for fertility, and with sperm counts dropping more than 50% since 1970 in westernised countries such as Australia, this is an area that should not be overlooked when a couple is trying to get pregnant.
All of the above areas of stress, hormones and circulation will play a role in the amount and quality of viable sperm. Using acupuncture to promote the body’s healthy functioning may support sperm quality and count.
When you come to try acupuncture for fertility with us at Village Remedies in Sydney CBD or Balmain, we will always tailor the treatment and advice to you, as everyone’s situation is unique. If possible, seeing both partners is ideal to best support the process. If you have any questions around acupuncture for fertility or would like to book an acupuncture appointment, please contact us or book online.
