Acupuncture

Studies Support Acupuncture as an Effective Infertility Treatment

A fundamental therapy in Chinese medicine, acupuncture has been used for more than 3,500 years. Now, studies in the U.S. and Europe indicate that acupuncture can improve fertility when combined with Western treatments. These studies show that acupuncture increases blood flow to the uterus and helps release the body’s endorphins, which play a critical role in overall balance and feeling of well-being.

Acupuncture Increases Uterine Blood Supply – Experimental Evidence

By monitoring blood flow, researchers showed that applying acupuncture to the points specified for female infertility indeed increases blood supply to the uterus. This is important because the increased blood supply can cause thickening of the endometrial lining of the uterus. The endometrial lining is the part of the uterus that receives and nourishes the fertilized egg, the fundamental first step to establishing a pregnancy. This thickening was confirmed when the endometrial lining was monitored by ultrasound. In fact, the studies show that acupuncture fertility treatments are just as effective at causing endometrial thickening as traditional estrogen therapy—the standard treatment for a thin endometrial lining in Western medicine.

Acupuncture Therapy for Fertility Nearly Doubles Pregnancy Rates

In a large, very well-designed study in Germany, acupuncutre therapy for fertility was shown to nearly double the clinical pregnancy rates for fertility patients undergoing IVF treatment. In that study, the baseline pregnancy rate without acupuncture was below the baseline of the best U.S. fertility centers, while all other aspects of the German and U.S. treatments and procedures were similar. The dramatic increase in the pregnancy rate strongly suggests fertility acupuncture has a powerful additive effect when used to complement IVF treatment.