Male Fertility Acupuncture

According to the Mayo Clinic, 10-15 percent of couples in the United States have fertility challenges. Infertility is defined as not being able to get pregnant despite having frequent, unprotected sex for at least a year. In about half of these cases, male fertility factors play a role.

Male fertility problems are due to low sperm production (count), misshapen sperm (morphology), immobile sperm (motility), or blockages that prevent the delivery of sperm. Infections, injuries, urological health problems, lifestyle choices and other factors can play a role in causing male infertility.

Male fertility is a complex process. To get your partner pregnant, you must be able to produce healthy sperm that can reach, penetrate and fertilize your partner’s egg. For this to occur:

• You must produce large quantities of sperm. This has to do with sperm count. A low sperm count is fewer than 20 million sperm per milliliter of semen.

• Sperm must be shaped correctly. This is also called morphology. If sperm are misshapen they are not able to swim properly, penetrate the egg as needed and may have chromosomal abnormalities.

• Sperm must able to move. This is also called motility. If the movement of sperm is abnormal, the sperm may not be able to reach the egg.

There are many reasons sperm quality is affected. A few of the common causes are varicocele, chronic infection, hormonal imbalances, pesticides, heavy metal exposure, overheating of the testicles, smoking, or emotional stress.
The average sperm cycle is 72 days from when a sperm is first formed to when it is mature enough to ejaculate. When treating sperm quality, we ask for at least 3 months to create new, good quality sperm. Treatment consists of weekly acupuncture visits, lifestyle modifications, supplements, and herbs. At the end of 3 months, another sperm analysis should be considered to verify sperm quality has improved.