Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine for Your IVF Journey
Research supporting the benefit of acupuncture for IVF outcomes, has been around for a while now. One of the first significant studies, by Paulis et al. in 2002(1) showed a significant increase in pregnancy rates for patients who received an acupuncture treatment before and after embryo transfer (42.5%) compared with those who did not (26.3%). Since the Paulis (1) study, many additional studies (2,3) have confirmed these findings.
In 2015, Hullender Rubin et al. (4) published a study adding Whole Systems Traditional Chinese Medicine (WS-TCM) to the comparison. WS-TCM included more treatments, (average of 12) along with the inclusion of moxibustion, gua sha, tuina, Chinese herbal medicine, and dietary, lifestyle, and supplement recommendations. WS-TCM was compared with 2 acupuncture treatments on the day of the transfer and usual care (no acupuncture). The results showed live births were significantly higher in the WS-TCM group (61.3%) compared with usual care (48.2%) or acupuncture group (50.8%).
WS-TCM is closest to what I practice and recommend. Chinese medicine is designed to treat you as an individual, thus the more treatments, tools, and recommendations available can often support our ability to address any imbalances (and we all have some) or obstacles affecting your fertility journey. This benefit has long been observed by practitioners and the Hullender Rubin et al. study supports this.
While I recommend supporting your IVF/IUI journey with acupuncture (and all the additions of WS-TCM) as early as you can, it’s also never too late to start! Whether you are just considering meeting with a fertility specialist, or have already done a few transfers or more, acupuncture and Chinese medicine may be able to help you in your journey.
If you have questions about whether acupuncture and Chinese medicine could support you in your IVF journey, please get in touch or book in and we can discuss your individual case.
References:
1. Paulus WE, Zhang M, Strehler E, El-Danasouri I, Sterzik K. Influence of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction therapy. Fertil Steril. 2002 Apr;77(4):721-4. doi: 10.1016/s0015-0282(01)03273-3. PMID: 11937123.
2. Dehghani AS, Homayouni K, Kanannejad Z, Kanannejad Z. The effect of acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer on the in vitro fertilization outcomes: An RCT. Int J Reprod Biomed. 2020 Mar 29;18(3):209-214. doi: 10.18502/ijrm.v18i3.6719. PMID: 32309770; PMCID: PMC7142313
3. Xu, M., Zhu, M. & Zheng, C. Effects of acupuncture on pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing in vitro fertilization: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Gynecol Obstet (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-023-07142-1
4. Hullender Rubin LE, Opsahl MS, Wiemer KE, Mist SD, Caughey AB. Impact of whole systems traditional Chinese medicine on in-vitro fertilization outcomes. Reprod Biomed Online. 2015 Jun;30(6):602-12. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2015.02.005. Epub 2015 Feb 24. PMID: 25911598; PMCID: PMC4458185