Acupuncture has been used as a treatment for infertility since ancient China. Acupuncture stems from the belief that there is an energy flow through your body, and if there is an imbalance or blockage, it negatively affects your health. Acupuncture aims to correct that. In modern days, acupuncture appears to be most effective for couples experiencing functional problems like irregular ovulation, but is most frequently paired with another, more traditional, infertility treatment.

How do you decide if fertility acupuncture is right for you? While acupuncture can be used to treat any type of fertility disorder, it treats functional problems best. These include treated spasmed tubes, repeated pregnancy loss and unexplained infertility. Acupuncture is often combined with herbs to treat the medical conditions including elevated follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteal phase defect, hyperprolactinemia, and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) with annovulatory cycles. Acupuncture can also be used for men affected with sperm-DNA-fragmentation.

States and provinces mandate that acupunctures be certified and have appropriate training. Many acupuncturists also specialize in treating infertility disorder. Women seeking treatment should make sure that their acupuncturist is both trained and specialized. Complications can occur from improperly performed acupuncture; specifically miscarriage should the acupuncturist hit the wrong point on a pregnant woman. This shouldn’t be too much of a concern, because if you work with a trained professional, there really isn’t much to worry about.

Acupuncture treatment procedures should happen once or twice a week, and will continue for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Remember the process may take more time than just twice a week if you are combining it with medical infertility treatments, like IVF. In general, the acupuncture treatment can be completed in 12 appointments. At each appointment, your acupuncturist will most likely take additional time to discuss your current condition and answer any questions that you may have.

While medical professions often argue about the validity of infertility acupuncture, research has shown it to be clinically effective. The researches from Center for Integrative medicine found that if acupuncture takes place on the same day as embryo transfer, the statistical rates improved significantly. A German research study was done comparing acupuncture patients versus non-acupuncture patients. In the control group, 21 out of 80 women got pregnant, whereas in the acupuncture group, 34 women got pregnant.

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