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Can Acupuncture Help Infertility?

If you have difficulty getting pregnant, acupuncture is a great alternative to more invasive therapies. Acupuncture is one of the simplest, safest, and the most natural approaches, and may help you avoid complicated and often stressful and expensive intrusive medical procedures.

Researchers from New York's Weill Cornell Medical Center reviewed existing studies and found that acupuncture helps...

1. Reduce stress hormones that interfere with ovulation

2. Normalize hormones that regulate ovulation so an egg is released

3. Increase blood flow to the uterus, improving the chances of a fertilized egg implanting

4. Improve ovulation cycles in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which makes getting pregnant difficult

5. Improve pregnancy rates in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF)

The study’s author is Raymond Chang, MD, an acupuncturist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at Cornell. He recommends that patients who want to avoid taking fertility drugs, have PCOS, are not eligible for IVF, or who want to improve the success rate of IVF, should consider acupuncture as an alternative treatment.

How It Works:
Acupuncture stimulates the flow of intrinsic energy in the body, enhances the blood circulation to the pelvic region and benefits vital organ function. Your acupuncturist may also recommend specific Chinese herbal formulas to restore vital energies and nourish the body to produce a healthy ovum. Used in addition with proper exercise, a good diet and a healthy life style, acupuncture and alternative therapies can help you not only to conceive, but also to deliver a healthy, full term baby.

The Treatment:
The initial phase of treatment typically takes 3 to 6 months or more depending on the nature of complaint, trauma, toxin from medication, genetic influences, lifetime habits and illnesses. Within this phase, most women will become fertile and open for conception. You will also benefit from regularity of periods, bright red blood flow without clots, minimal or no menstrual cramping and breast tenderness, better emotional balance, enriching sleep, warm hands and feet, and much more energy. Once conception occurs, second phase treatment increases the probability of a full term pregnancy and decreases the possibility of miscarriage.

Supports IVF:
German researchers have increased success rates by almost 50% in women having IVF (Fertility and Sterility, April 2002 issue). Acupuncture can strengthen and balance one’s general health, affect the autonomic nervous system, which is involved in the control of muscles and glands, and may relax the uterus, increase the uterine blood flow and make the lining of the uterus more receptive to receiving an embryo. That means more hope, fewer cycles, and a shorter wait for a beautiful, healthy baby.

Who Should Consider Acupuncture:
Women with unexplained infertility or hormonal imbalances, such as menstrual irregularities, PMS, high FSH level, anovulation, difficult implantation, and frequent miscarriage, would be encouraged to seek relief from Acupuncture and Chinese medicine. The most frequent cause of unexplained infertility or hormonal imbalance is stress.

For more information or to answer any questions you may have about acupuncture, call HealthQuest Chiropractic at (877) 789-HEAL (4325).

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