Acupuncture for Fertility

Research and anecdotal reports both suggest that acupuncture is a useful form of fertility enhancement and may improve outcomes of IVF.

Do you know any recent parents who say that acupuncture helped them conceive -- after years of trying to get pregnant? If you’re part of a growing population of Gen-X and Gen-Y who has sought out methods to enhance fertility, then you probably do have a few people in your social network who can attest to the powers of Traditional Chinese Medicine for helping couples to conceive.

A growing number of people trying acupuncture in San Diego are requesting acupuncture treatment for fertility enhancement. Some are actually using acupuncture as part of Western Medicine to help with the success of in-vitro fertilization (IVF). There are reported success rates of up to 70% for acupuncture assistance with IVF, which is greater than the success rate of IVF alone.

There was a scientific meta-analysis of the usefulness of acupuncture for IVF success, which was published in the Oxford Journal in 2013, and the conclusion of the large study was that acupuncture was not effective. The study’s authors actually said that acupuncture decreased the chances of IVF being successful. This was an alarming conclusion for many patients who had achieved success with acupuncture. Clinicians had witnessed great success using acupuncture in their IVF clinics. So why the discrepancy? It turns out that this study was funded by a drug company that makes fertility drugs and anti-depressants!

This is one reason why it’s so important to look at the source of anything you read nowadays, whether it’s a news-related article, magazine article, or scientific journal. Everyone has their own bias, and it’s impossible to be completely neutral when writing anything, but consumers should still be aware of the source and potential biases. Who do you trust the most? Your best friend who just got pregnant because of acupuncture? Or a scientist working for a drug company, who has a vested interest in “proving” that acupuncture doesn’t work?

Some acupuncture for fertility studies compare “true” acupuncture with “sham” acupuncture. Sham acupuncture often involves the use of special fake acupuncture needles that are placed at the acupuncture points and appear to get shorter as they’re “inserted” into the body. They don’t stimulate the acupoints in the same way as an actual needle that penetrates the epidermal layer of the skin. Many studies show that even the sham acupuncture enhances fertility and the success rates of IVF. Many suspect that the reason for this is that the acupuncture point is stimulated regardless of whether the needle actually penetrates the skin or not. In fact, some modalities of Japanese acupuncture actually use the non-insertion technique, in which acupuncture needles are held on the acupuncture points, but not inserted. Therefore, “sham” acupuncture is not really a sham. Some patients -- especially those who may have a deficiency condition -- may even do better with the “sham” or non-insertion technique. Ask your acupuncturist in San Diego about Japanese acupuncture or the non-insertion technique if you are needle-sensitive or deficient.

Another issue to keep in mind when reading the news about scientific studies concerning the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for various conditions is that each study typically tests only one acupuncture protocol to gauge the effectiveness of acupuncture as a whole. If one protocol appears ineffective, and the study concludes that acupuncture as a whole is 

ineffective for a particular condition, this is synonymous to saying that Western Medicine is ineffective if aspirin fails to treat H.pylori infection (stomach ulcers). Obviously some antibiotics can treat H. pylori, but aspirin does not. No researcher or doctor would discount the effectiveness of antibiotics -- or Western Medicine as a whole -- simply because aspirin does not treat H. pylori (and may even exacerbate a stomach ulcer).