A couple came to our acupuncture clinic, struggling with infertility. They had been trying to get pregnant for over a year without success. The wife’s menstrual cycle was regular, and a full workup at the fertility clinic did not believe she had infertility issues. The husband, on the other hand, had been tested and was found to have low sperm count with poor motility and morphology. This male infertility acupuncture case study describes how acupuncture improved his sperm quality, resulting in the couple getting pregnant within three months.
Male Infertility – The Hidden Problem
When you read about infertility in the news or health journals, it’s mostly about female infertility. Older women wanting to get pregnant after having a career, women wanting children after illnesses, and unexplained infertility. Believe it or not, half of all infertility issues reside with men. Within the population at large, 7% of men have infertility issues that impede a couple’s ability to get pregnant.
Male Infertility Case Study
Our patient was a 43-year-old man who had never had children. His testing revealed a low sperm count and poor motility and morphology. A normal sperm count ranges from 15 million sperm to more than 200 million sperm per milliliter (mL) of semen. Our patient had a sperm count of just 6 million sperm.
Motility refers to how well the sperm move. Sperm need to swim to the awaiting egg. Poor motility impacts fertility because the sperm are not able to get where they need to go. Morphology refers to the shape of the sperm. Normal shape enhances the chances of pregnancy, while irregular shape impedes it. The precise range can vary, but typically a healthy sperm morphology range is between 4 and 14 percent NF (normal form). A score below 4 percent makes it more difficult to achieve pregnancy. Our patient had both motility and morphology issues.
Acupuncture Treatment for Male Infertility
In Chinese medicine, the kidneys control reproduction. Male infertility often involves addressing kidney deficiency. This was the case with our patient. His tongue and pulse indicated kidney deficiency. In addition, he had several common symptoms of kidney deficiency, including premature grey hair, a history of tooth problems, and being born prematurely.
Having kidney deficiency did not indicate problems with his actual kidneys. Our patient did not have kidney disease, as defined by Western medicine. It merely enabled us to understand that his infertility issues were due to a constitutional weakness with his kidneys, as recognized by Chinese medicine.
Treatment focused on boosting kidney function. Points used in his treatments included KD3, KD7, ST36, HuoZhu, LingGu, BL23, and BL20. We applied additional points to address other imbalances besides kidney deficiency. In addition to acupuncture, we prescribed a famous Chinese herbal medicine formula that is clinically proven to improve sperm quality.
Superior Results
After weekly acupuncture for three months, our patient retested and was thrilled to find out that his sperm production had improved across the boards. He was normal in all three areas. This result was confirmed a few weeks later when his wife became pregnant!
This male infertility acupuncture case study is typical for the cases we treat at Raleigh Acupuncture. Both men and women have excellent results in improving kidney function and fertility, resulting in pregnancy within three to six months.
Next Steps
BOOK NOW to schedule an appointment online.
WATCH VIDEO ABOUT OUR MALE INFERTILITY TREATMENT.
LEARN ABOUT ALL THE MALE HEALTH ISSUES WE TREAT.
