Acupuncture and infertility

Although there is not a huge call for infertility in my practice, I have been lucky enough to assist a handful of couples having fertitlity issues and can report the majority were able to conceive thanks to lifestyle changes and Chinese Medicine techniques. It it incredible rewarding as a practitioner to be able to help these couples and to see the pictures of the babies they thought they would never have. Of course, it is heartbreaking when a client turns to alternative therapies as a last resort after exhausting all conventional methods and they find that they are still unable to have a child. As with most other conditions, it is frustrating that we cannot get these couples into the office sooner and be thought of as adjunctive or complementary treatment rather than as a last-ditch effort. I am sure these are obstacles that our Canadian neighbor Lorne Brown encounters daily at his fertility clinic in Vancouver. Check out his story:

It's been used in China for over 2,000 years but acupuncture to help infertility is a new concept in North America.

Dr. Lorne Brown is a doctor of Chinese medicine specializing in fertility. This former Fredericton resident is now living in Vancouver.

Daily, he says, he receives e-mails from around the world from couples who have been unable to become pregnant who want more information on acupuncture as a treatment for infertility.

"We know it increases blood flow to the reproductive organs. The more blood flow to the ovaries the more nutrients and oxygen and balanced hormones. That means, hopefully, better egg quality and also the more blood to the (uterine) lining which means better implantation of the embryo."

Acupuncture has also been shown to reduce the effects of stress which has been proven to impair fertility. If stress and its negative hormones can be lowered and blood flow can be increased, he says, this can help people who want to have a baby.

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