How can acupuncture and herbal medicine help with fertility?

Karina Smith is a Melbourne based Doctor of Chinese Medicine…

Chinese Medicine and acupuncture can seem quite mysterious to the uninitiated.

Often times a person’s curiosity is piqued by great word of mouth of a good friend who had an amazing experience, and this is very common when it comes to seeking help with fertility.

Fertility is not just about getting pregnant, (although that is the major landmark event).

There are many stages and aspects of the journey that collectively create the right conditions for a healthy pregnancy and birth experience.

Fertility is a natural healthy state of being for a human body, however, in this modern day of high stress, long working hours, demanding careers, having a social life and wanting it all, conditions are not always right in the body for getting pregnant.

This article takes a look at how Chinese medicine and acupuncture can be extraordinarily helpful in bringing the body towards a state of harmony and balance for the fertility journey.

Pre-conception

In an ideal world, planning to have a baby might include a period of time preparing and nourishing the body and mind in the lead up to trying to get pregnant.

Some people just get pregnant, and that’s where the journey begins!

In Chinese medicine we have wonderful diagnostic tools to help investigate where in a person’s body there are deficiencies, and how to bring them back into balance.

This is extremely relevant for both men and women, especially if they have been trying for some time.

There is often a lot of pressure put on women to do all the medical investigations, with some kind of preconceived notion that it is her body that needs support.

Astoundingly, we have seen a 50% decrease in sperm quality over the past 10-15 years across the world!

A good example might be that a couple has undergone further investigations which have revealed low sperm motility for example (the sperm are not swimming well), or low morphology (the sperm are malformed).

The great news is that acupuncture has been shown to help improve both the quality and the movement of sperm over a period of 3 months or more of consistent treatments.

A great reminder that is takes two people (and maybe some specialists in the mix), to make a baby, so all parties need to be on board with taking care of their health and getting the relevant testing done.

Another example could be that a woman has had some further blood tests and been found to be very low in iron. Chinese medicine has a whole array of herbs and acupuncture protocols to nourish and tonify her blood.

Sometimes along the way there can be some unexplained reasons why a couple might not be conceiving.

A good practitioner will be able to respect the role of western medicine in your journey, and help you to take the right steps for further investigations if they are needed, for example ultrasounds, blood tests or physical exams.

These are just some of the ways that Chinese medicine and acupuncture can support the fertility journey.

If you have been curious to see how acupuncture might help you on your fertility journey, have a search for a local Acupuncturist, or feel free to get in touch below.

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Website: https://www.drkarinasmith.com/

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Dr Karina Smith

Karina Smith is a Melbourne based Doctor of Chinese Medicine and Yin Yoga Teacher, Teacher Trainer & Educator. With a passion for women's health, through Yin and Chinese Medicine Karina aims to improve the health of her students, patients and clients.After years of dancing and its emphasis on performance, yoga was an unexpected beacon of self-care and restoration for Karina, where her relationship to movement shifted to something that was there to nourish her mind and body.
A year after commencing practice at the Australian Yoga Academy (AYA), Karina knew she wanted to do the yoga teacher training on offer there - and from thereon it has been a deep-dive into the rich offerings of this ancient practice.
Karina has now studied and taught yoga extensively - including two 350hr Teacher Trainings (AYA and Shantarasa Institute, India), studies under the renowned Bernie Clark and Paul Grilley, over a decade of teaching at numerous studios in her home town of Melbourne, and lecturing for The Australian Yoga Academy.
In 2018, Karina launched her own 50 Hour Yin & Functional Anatomy Teacher Training and continues to run this course. Karina’s love of Yin Yoga revealed a deeper fascination for human anatomy and led her to pursue Chinese Medicine. After graduating in 2019, she now runs her own clinic offering acupuncture, herbal therapies, moxibustion and cupping treatments.