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Acupuncture and Infertility
The Basics of
Acupuncture for Fertility
Acupuncture for Fertility
By Sandra Joslyn Tallarico
When you hear the word "acupuncture," your mind may immediately jump to notions of dark rooms, zither music and burning incense. From there it's an easy jump to the horrific mental picture of needles being jammed into your flesh...maybe lots of needles.
OK, now that you're scared half-silly, clear your mind of those stereotypes. Acupuncture, used in the Orient since at least the time of Christ, is an increasingly commonplace medical treatment in the United States and in Europe.
Another myth buster: It doesn't hurt. During most treatments you don't feel anything at all, and generally the most discomfort you may feel is a quick twinge that goes away immediately. The most common side effect reported is occasional light bruising on an area that was treated.
Though mainly practiced in the Orient, visiting Jesuit Monks brought some of the texts and theories back to France in the early 1600s. Interest flared in Europe for a brief time in the early 1800s, and William Osler, M.D., long considered to be the father of modern medicine, described acupuncture to be an effective treatment for sciatic nerve irritation in his famous 1892 textbook.
In a nutshell, from a Chinese medical perspective, channels of energy, called meridians, run through the body and over its surface. Obstructed movement in a meridian causes energy to build up in some areas of the body, while depriving other areas. Placing needles on certain sites unblocks these so-called obstructions. Modern scientific theory supposes that needles stimulate the nervous system to release chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord and brain, promoting the body to heal itself.
Acupuncture is often helpful where conventional medicine is not. James K. Rotchford, M.D., a founding member of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, finds it helps as many as 80 percent of people. These statistics are general, however, as there isn't a lot of specific data on infertility treatments at this time.
