Acupuncture for IVF

 

The drive to reproduce is one of the strongest. Unfortunately, its not always a simple thing to achieve. Infertility or difficulty conceiving can be heart breaking for people attempting to have children. For some people the cause of infertility is best treated through assisted reproductive techniques. One of the most commonly known techniques is In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). Increasingly, many fertility clinics recommend acupuncture for IVF.

Usually this will involve a treatment or a series of treatments running complimentary to the IVF process. There are different ideas about when acupuncture treatments should be done, but most agree that there should be a focus around the day of embryo transfer.

Recommending acupuncture for IVF usually relies on the idea that it may help increase implantation rates, egg retrieval numbers, or reducing the stresses involved in going through the IVF cycle.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the acupuncture treatment can be focusing on a couple of things:

The Kidneys: The Kidneys in TCM are considered responsible for many reproductive and gynaecological functions. By helping the Kidney energy, the treatment aims to help the IVF treatment.

The Liver: Also important in gynaecology, the Liver has a lot to do with menstrual cycles, and also stress. Treating the Liver in TCM aims to reduce the stress involved in the IVF treatment.

Blood: In TCM, “Blood” is a term that means more than just the blood in our vessels, but also a broad term that can involve things like iron levels or protein intake in your diet. In acupuncture for IVF, we’re hoping to increase Blood to ensure that the endothelial lining in the uterus is healthy and ready for implantation.

So if you find yourself thinking about IVF, maybe also consider acupuncture for IVF.

 

For those people who enjoy extra reading, here’s a study where women with a decreased ovarian reserve received electro-acupuncture with IVF, or normal IVF, or a placebo acupuncture. The electro-acupuncture group had an improved clinical pregnancy rate:

 

Zheng, Y., Feng, X., Mi, H., Yao, Y., Zhao, Y., Li, J., Jiao, J., Gong, A., Sun, W. & Deng, X. 2015, ‘Effects of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation on ovarian reserve of patients with diminished ovarian reserve in in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer cycles’, J Obstet Gynaecol Res, vol. 41, no. 12, pp. 1905-11.