New study shows acupuncture helps female infertility

Good news for women who want to get pregnant but are having difficulty conceiving - a recent study published in the journal "Complementary Therapies in Medicine" reports that Chinese medicine can increase the chances of getting pregnant. The authors state:

"Our review suggests that management of female infertility with Chinese Herbal Medicine can improve pregnancy rates 2-fold within a 4 month period compared with Western Medical fertility drug therapy or IVF [in vitro fertilization]. Assessment of the quality of the menstrual cycle, integral to TCM diagnosis, appears to be fundamental to successful treatment of female infertility."

For more details, you can read the abstract of this Chinese medicine fertility study. As the authors conclude, it is important to get a detailed history of the menstrual cycle in order to effectively treat female infertility. Your practitioner will ask you questions about your period (cycle length, duration of the period, associated symptoms and PMS, and so on), and will consider this along with other health history information, and examination of your pulse and tongue. All of this information allows your practitioner to make a diagnosis, and choose acupuncture points and herbs that are specific to you and your body.

Chinese medicine has a lot to offer women who are having trouble getting pregnant. If you are struggling with infertility, acupuncture and herbs can help you!

A short video about a resolution you can actually keep!

Happy New Year!

Like many people, I find myself thinking about areas of my life that I would like to change or improve. While it may seem arbitrary to make resolutions just because it's January 1st, I think it's always helpful to reflect on things in our lives that are working well, and to consider making changes where necessary. I try to do this every few months -- it helps to put things in perspective and make minor changes on a regular basis.

Some resolutions are smaller, day-to-day goals, like remembering to make the bed every morning or to take vitamins; other resolutions are larger or more long-term, such as the decision to quit smoking or to make a career change.

I recently watched a video called "23 and 1/2 hours", which answers the question, "What is the single best thing we can do for our health?" It's a really engaging presentation by a doctor / professor about the benefits of exercise. Some of the information he shares will be new, and other parts will definitely be familiar to you, but his way of sharing data is fun to watch. He suggests that we can all commit to doing some form of exercise for at least 30 minutes per day -- or, put another way, to limit sitting and sleeping to just 23-and-a-half hours per day. When put this way, the goal of exercising to improve health feels very manageable!

This is a great example of a resolution that is both big (improve my overall health) and small (exercise a little bit every day). If you are working on some health goals of your own, no matter what the size, acupuncture may help you achieve your intentions. I invite you to contact me to discuss how acupuncture can help you improve your health and your quality of life.

I wish you all the best in 2012!!!