14 DAY TRIAL // The principles of acupuncture are based on the release of neurotransmitters, like endorphins, that ease pain and threat inflammations. 104 conditions are known to be treated by acupuncture, including post-surgery pains, muscular pains, menstrual cramps, nausea and vomits caused by chemotherapy or pregnancy. Now, acupuncture could add another use: getting pregnant.
We don't know how, but a new research published in the British Medical Journal shows that acupuncture boosts the chances of in vitro fertilization.
"Complementing the embryo transfer process with acupuncture seems to increase the odds of pregnancy by 65 %, compared to sham acupuncture or no adjuvant treatment," said lead researcher Eric Manheimer, a research associate at the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Integrative Medicine.
The research was made on seven trials comprising 1,366 women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). The patients were given acupuncture within one day of the embryo transfer, sham acupuncture or no acupuncture. 65 % increase in pregnancy chances compared to no acupuncture or sham acupuncture "means that 10 women would need to be treated with acupuncture to result in one additional pregnancy," said Manheimer.
"However, in studies where pregnancy rates were high, the benefit of acupuncture was small and non-significant," wrote the authors.
"Acupuncture may be useful adjuvant treatment in the IVF process. However, I think there needs to be more studies to confirm these findings, because they are still preliminary," said Manheimer.
Others are skeptical.
"There are a lot of IVF patients undergoing acupuncture, relatively few of them at the suggestion of doctors. A large, randomized study is needed to really answer the question. I don't think we can say conclusively that acupuncture is effective or is anywhere near being a standard care, but it's not something I would discourage someone from trying if they wanted to," said Dr. Owen K. Davis, co-director and associate professor at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City.
But acupuncturists are not surprised by these results.
"I've done acupuncture and infertility and been successful a number of times," said Dr. Marshall H. Sager, past president of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture.