Lying on the table with needles stuck in her body at every conceivable location, all Kim could think about was “What am I going to do if there’s a fire?”

Kim, a 35-year-old woman suffering from unexplained infertility agreed to an alternative approach to fertility treatments: Acupuncture. Her doctor, a believer in combining traditional and nontraditional therapies for his patients, referred her for this treatment in conjunction with her other standard medical treatments. Today, more confidence is placed on acupuncture as an increasing number of studies are being done to convince our western culture of its benefits. Kim’s experience, as unorthodox as it may seem to some, was in her opinion very soothing and relaxing, “similar to getting a massage” she said; albeit with needles.

After the pain of several failed pregnancy attempts and several unsuccessful IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) treatments Kim was open to any advice her fertility doctors gave her. When conventional medical treatments fall short it makes sense to start looking in another direction. In Kim’s case, the fertility center where she was a patient recognized the vital role of the mind-body-spirit connection, and even established a separate treatment center concentrating on a holistic approach to infertility. The holistic healing treatments compliment their standard medical treatments in an effort to treat the whole individual rather than simply trying to treat a diagnosis with a standard protocol.

Acupuncture as part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been used to treat infertility, among many other illnesses, for thousands of years in eastern culture and is becoming more accepted in our culture. It is based on the concept of a delicate balance of vital energy, or Qi (pronounced Chee) that flows throughout our bodies. This energy flows along pathways called meridians, and there are approximately 2,000 acupuncture points that connect with them. If this energy flow is blocked, illness is provoked.

Treating infertility with acupuncture involves concentrating on the specific points that affect the reproductive system and regulate the hormonal systems. The procedure consists of placing small metallic needles along specific acupuncture points and manipulating them either manually, thermally, or electronically. The atmosphere is calm and stress free, and most people admit to not much more than a little “pin-prick” feeling when the needle is inserted which quickly disappears. Some people experience light-headedness or a feeling of well-being immediately after the procedure which is sometimes attributed to a release of endorphins.

Because many mainstream medical professionals are witnessing firsthand the positive affects of acupuncture, western or conventional medicine is making room for this procedure as an alternative or complimentary medical treatment. In the case of infertility there have been increasing studies showing the success rates when combining acupuncture with IVF. In a study sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine the results showed that 42.5 percent of patients receiving acupuncture together with IVF became pregnant, whereas the pregnancy rate was only 26.3 percent in the control group (no acupuncture treatments). The study concluded that “Acupuncture seems to be a useful tool for improving pregnancy rate after ART (Assisted Reproductive Therapy). Regulated studies like these are proving to modern western science that acupuncture really can work even though it is not completely understood. As traditional Chinese medicine continues to prove itself in our western culture, perhaps the studies will get larger and the results will become more convincing to the larger medical population.

In the past, what couldn’t be understood in concrete scientific terms was often dismissed as unfounded evidence. And western culture, being so used to following only established standards for medical treatment, was suspicious of anything that deviated from these standards. But since the 1970s interest in acupuncture has grown dramatically. Millions of Americans have been successfully treated with acupuncture by doctors, dentists, and acupuncturists for relief of pain and other illnesses. As recently as the 1990s the FDA removed acupuncture needles from the category of “experimental medical devices” and regulated them just as they do scalpels and other surgical instruments. The National Institute of Health has funded a variety of research studies on acupuncture, and the World Health Organization lists a variety of problems that are benefited by acupuncture treatments.

As government and private organizations are recognizing the benefits of acupuncture treatments for infertility, and fertility centers are adopting ‘new’ approaches to treatments, we are beginning to see more happy patients; patients being helped where traditional medicine didn’t work. The shroud of mystery that surrounds alternative approaches to medical treatment is slowly being removed, and we may find that acupuncture may become some patient’s first choice for infertility treatment rather than a last resort.