Fertility Acupuncture for Men
Around 30% of men suffer from sub fertility issues
Results from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that sperm quality is in decline, and that sperm counts in the western world have halved in the last forty years. Lifestyle and diet play an important role in male fertility and there is evidence that specific nutrients support fertility. The quality of the sperm reflects exposure to stress and environmental toxins and nutritional deficiencies.
Men with sub fertility issues may experience one or more of the following conditions
- hormonal imbalance
- immobile or slow sperm movement
- abnormal sperm shape
- absence of sperm or low sperm count
- erectile dysfunction
- retrograde ejaculation
- gonadotropin deficiency
Men who live a healthy lifestyle are more likely to produce healthy sperm. Some lifestyle choices may have a negative impact on male fertility:
- alcohol abuse
- excessive stress
- use of recreational drugs including marijuana
- anabolic steroid use
- smoking (decreases sperm count and motility)
- over-exercise
- lack of zinc and Vitamin C in the diet
- tight underwear (increases scrotal temperature resulting in decreased sperm production)
- exposure to toxins (pesticides, paint, radiation, heavy metals)
Semen Analysis
Although the semen analysis is not a perfect test, it is the most reliable indicator available to a practitioner to assess a man’s fertility.
My male fertility acupuncture focuses on using the semen analysis as a treatment guide. The semen analysis can reveal sperm motility, count, volume and morphology. Advanced testing can also reveal anti-sperm antibodies, DNA fragmentation and aggregation and agglutination.
The WHO manual recommends a minimum of two analyses a few days apart to get an average.
There should be roughly >10 million for natural conception (>100 million will give a much better chance) and >5 million for IUI and >500,000 for IVF, 1 for ICSI.
As your total number of motile normal sperm increases, so the chances of conceiving rise.
Counts can vary based on a number of factors – amount of exercise, sleep, food, alcohol and drugs, sickness etc.
Whether you have a subfertility diagnosis or not, I can help you improve the quality of your sperm and increase your sperm count to boost the chances of conception. I will take into consideration your sperm analysis results and incorporate them into a comprehensive assessment of signs and symptoms to form a wider holistic Chinese Medicine diagnosis to identify the root cause of the issue.
How many treatments do I need?
It takes nearly 100 days to develop mature sperm, therefore acupuncture treatments are usually undertaken over 3 months for best results. If you are going through ART (assisted reproductive technology) acupuncture can be beneficial the day before or on the same day of sperm collection.
