acupuncture research for female and male factor fertility

Research in 2019 showed significantly higher pregnancy rates with acupuncture treatment compared to standard medical treatment such as Clomid, Letrozole, Metformin, oestrogen or progesterone (Yun et al. 2019)

Benefits to sperm motility, morphology, and fertilisation rate at IVF have been observed in acupuncture studies, and it can be beneficial to treat the couple rather than just the woman. The effects of diet on sperm have been well studied. 

Not all studies demonstrate benefit from acupuncture treatment. Some studies showing positive results are listed here.  

acupuncture to help ovulation

• a review of 9 trials shows higher pregnancy rates with acupuncture compared to Clomid in treating anovulatory infertility (Gao et el. 2019)

• acupuncture may help ovulation in PCOS by changing endorphin levels which in turn affect hormone levels (Chen et al. 2019)

acupuncture for low ovarian reserve

• acupuncture 3 times a week reduced FSH and increased oestrogen and antral follicle count (Li et al. 2017)

• acupuncture reduced FSH, LH and stress,and increased oestrogen in women with premature ovarian failure (Chen et al. 2014)

acupuncture for sperm count, motility and morphology

• improved sperm count and motility with acupuncture treatment in infertile men (Yu et al. 2019)

• electroacupuncture treatment improved sperm motility and vitality (Jin et al. 2017)

• in a comparison of acupuncture or surgery to treat varicocele, improvements in sperm tests were comparable in the 2 groups (Kucuk et al. 2016)

• improvement in sperm motility with acupuncture (Dieterle et al. 2009)

• improvement to sperm morphology with acupuncture in infertile men (Gurfinkel et al. 2003) (Pei et al. 2005)

• acupuncture treatment improved sperm morphology, rapid progression, and fertilisation rate with IVF (Zhang et al. 2002