Acupuncture and (the Immaculate) Conception

When I was in eighth grade, I was still an only child when my mother sat me down in the kitchen after school one day. “I have something to tell you,” she said. “I’m pregnant.” Before I had a chance to respond, she added, “I got pregnant because your father treated me with acupuncture.”

Now, I’m pretty certain that she added the last bit in order to avoid having the awkward birds and the bees conversation that we had never had. While my dad was (and continues to be) an amazing practitioner of Chinese medicine, the implication that his acupuncture skills alone could result in pregnancy without, um, other assistance from my father, would be a modern-day immaculate conception.

That being said, acupuncture is a viable option for women who are having difficulty conceiving, whether used alone or in conjunction with assisted reproductive technologies. In a research study conducted in South Korea involving women ages 26-41 with unexplained infertility, there was a 60.9% pregnancy rate for those women who stayed during the entire course of 6-month acupuncture and herbal treatments.

Acupuncture boosts fertility by regulating the endocrine system to balance hormone levels and decreasing stress. In my mother’s case, she discovered that she had a fallopian tube obstruction after not being able to have a second child. With the assistance of acupuncture treatments, she gave birth to my little brother just shy of her fortieth birthday.

The first step for women trying to conceive is always to see your physician to have bloodwork done and other tests to see if there are any structural issues that may be causing infertility. After ruling out issues that may be better addressed surgically, consider acupuncture to boost your chances of conception naturally.