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Acupuncture and Infertility

By Sandra Joslyn Tallarico

When you hear the word "acupuncture," your mind may immediately jump to notions of dark rooms, zither music and burning incense. From there it's an easy jump to the horrific mental picture of needles being jammed into your flesh...maybe lots of needles.

OK, now that you're scared half-silly, clear your mind of those stereotypes. Acupuncture, used in the Orient since at least the time of Christ, is an increasingly commonplace medical treatment in the United States and in Europe.

Though mainly practiced in the Orient, visiting Jesuit Monks brought some of the texts and theories back to France in the early 1600s. Interest flared in Europe for a brief time in the early 1800s, and William Osler, M.D., long considered to be the father of modern medicine, described acupuncture to be an effective treatment for sciatic nerve irritation in his famous 1892 textbook.

How does it work?
In a nutshell, from a Chinese medical perspective, channels of energy, called meridians, run through the body and over its surface. Obstructed movement in a meridian causes energy to build up in some areas of the body, while depriving other areas. Placing needles on certain sites unblocks these so-called obstructions. Modern scientific theory supposes that needles stimulate the nervous system to release chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord and brain, promoting the body to heal itself.

Why consider acupuncture as an infertility treatment option?
Acupuncture is often helpful where conventional medicine is not. James K. Rotchford, M.D., a founding member of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, finds it helps as many as 80 percent of people. These statistics are general, however, as there isn't a lot of specific data on infertility treatments at this time.

Good candidates for trying medical acupuncture are people who have functional, rather than a structural reason for infertility (for example, damaged fallopian tubes are structural). Men or women with functional infertility would be encouraged to try acupuncture in addition to their standard medical treatment. Generally speaking, around 10 visits with a licensed acupuncture provider will let you determine if it can be of help to you.

Along this same line, Dr. Rotchford recommends herbs in conjunction with acupuncture. In Chinese medicine, the practitioner always combines herbs in order to produce a certain effect. There are many combinations of Chinese herbs that have been lauded as improving fertility in both males and females. He does caution, however, that it's best to tailor the herbal recipe to the individual, rather than to the condition.

Though it might seem somewhat obscure and hard to come by, acupuncture is growing in popular acceptance; recently, the American Medical Association advocated its use for certain conditions, such as back pain and post-operative care.

If you're curious about acupuncture and the treatments provided in your area, do your own research. Different states require different levels of practitioner certification, so it's best to check out what level of training your state considers sufficient.

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