How Does Acupuncture Boost Your Fertility?

How does acupuncture for fertility work?

Acupuncture has been used for boosting fertility for over 3000 years. The most important thing acupuncture does is improve your blood circulation, bringing more blood, oxygen, and nutrients to your body’s organs and tissues.

In the ovaries, this promotes the maturation of healthy eggs. In the uterus, this makes for a healthy environment that supports implantation and grows a healthy baby.

Western studies show that improved blood flow (as measured by oxygen flow in the uterine arteries) improves fertility and increases live birth rates.

How does acupuncture work?

Acupuncture works by improving the flow of blood and qi (vital life force) through your circulatory system. The circulatory system in eastern and western medicine are very similar – the vessels, also known as arteries, veins, meridians, or channels – follow specific pathways, are connected so they form one giant network, and the blood and qi should move freely and easily through the network.

Anytime there is a blockage, things don’t work as well as they should. Think of it like traffic flow on the freeways of a major city. Without traffic congestion it is easy to get places. With a traffic jam, you are stuck. The worse the congestion, the harder it is to get anywhere. Nothing functions like it should.

Acupuncture places very fine needles at specific points along the meridians to break up that congestion and re-establish smooth and easy circulation.

How do I know if I need acupuncture for boosting my fertility?

Do you have symptoms of blood congestion that could be blocking your fertility?

This would be any kind of pain, such as painful periods, pelvic pain between periods, breast pain with PMS, any kind of abdominal pain, and low back pain.

Have you been diagnosed with endometriosis or uterine fibroids? Is your menstrual blood dark in color? Do you have clots with your period? Is your flow either too heavy or too light? All of these can indicate blood congestion.

Other things to look for: irregular periods, any type of PMS, abdominal bloating, and a history of abdominal surgeries (DnC’s, C-sections). Do you regularly eat cold or raw foods (salads) and drink iced beverages? Do you tend to run cold? This may seem far-fetched but cold slows down blood circulation, which is why you apply ice to a sports injury.

Improving blood circulation with acupuncture will always help to boost fertility.

How often do I need to get acupuncture to boost fertility?

Recommendations vary from patient to patient. Standard care is once a week. For some it may be twice a month, for others twice a week. It will depend on the needs of the patient, including the severity of fertility-related health challenges, age, and timing of other fertility treatment options such as IVF.

What other stuff makes acupuncture for fertility work better?

For centuries, acupuncture has been combined with healthy nutrition to make fertility treatments more effective. The food that you eat, along with the vitamins and supplements that you take, will work synergistically to make your response to acupuncture fertility treatments more successful. In our clinic we use lab testing to help evaluate your nutritional needs, including iron levels per anemia, and vitamin D. 

How long will it take for acupuncture to boost my fertility?

This is the million-dollar question.

Some of our patients seem to get pregnant almost immediately, while for others it can take longer. It depends on so many variables, including the severity of your fertility challenges, your age, are you pursuing other treatment options such as IVF?

We do know it takes about 3 – 4 months for an egg to mature, and we advise patients to plan on an initial course of treatment to span 3 – 4 months. Typically we are working with patients throughout their conception phase, and once pregnant we provide prenatal support during the entire pregnancy.

Ready to get started?

Book your first appointment here. We serve the East Bay, including Piedmont, Oakland, and Berkeley.

Leslie Oldershaw, L.Ac.
Medical director
Fertility Acupuncturist East Bay
510-595-1175
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