Can Chiropractic Care Help Infertility? Can Chiropractic Care Help Me Get Pregnant?
From the September 15, 2016, issue of the Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research comes a case series showing that chiropractic care resolved two documented cases of female infertility. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define infertility as the inability to conceive after one year of attempting to do so.
The study begins by noting that infertility affects approximately 11% of reproductive-age women, which accounts for approximately 6.7 million individuals. Many different mechanisms have been attributed to female infertility including hormonal issues, cysts, and ovarian dysfunction.
Medical assistance to achieve pregnancy includes several procedures such as in-vitro fertilization. The costs of these can range over $10,000 per attempt. These procedures and the drugs included are very invasive and can carry significant side effects. For these reasons, the study reports that more people have been turning to alternatives such as chiropractic.
In this case series, two individual women who were unable to conceive received chiropractic care. In the first case, a 28-year-old teacher with a primary complaint of infertility was recommended by a friend to seek chiropractic care. In addition to her infertility, she was also suffering from occasional headaches, allergies, indigestion, low energy, trouble sleeping, and depression. She also revealed a history of two significant motor vehicle accidents.
An examination revealed a significant reduction of range of motion in her neck. X-rays showed spinal misalignments in the upper neck. The conclusion was that subluxations were present and specific chiropractic adjustments were given to address the subluxations. Approximately one month into her care plan, the patient reported that she was pregnant.
The second case involved a 37-year-old woman suffering with upper back and shoulder tension, and infertility issues. She had two daughters that were conceived through fertility treatments. As with the woman in the first case, this woman also had a history of 2 significant motor vehicle accidents years prior to seeking chiropractic care.
An examination consisting of palpation, range of motion, thermographic studies, and x-rays confirmed the presence of subluxations in the woman’s spine. Specific chiropractic adjustments were performed to address the subluxations.
In this case, the woman noted a number of health improvements including less tension in her shoulders, improved sleep quality, more energy, more relaxed, fewer colds, increased overall comfort, and increased neck comfort, and an overall improvement in health in general. Within months of starting chiropractic care, the woman became pregnant without the assistance of medical fertility treatments of any kind.
In their discussion, the study authors explain that subluxations affect body function that can lead to a variety of health issues. They quote the Association of Chiropractic Colleges definition of subluxation which may explain subluxation best as “…a complex of functional and/or structural and/or pathological articular changes that compromise neural integrity and may influence organ system function and general health.”
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The study authors note that women suffering with lumbopelvic pain only see care in about 25% of the cases because many believe that the pain is normal during pregnancy. Those who do not gain relief are more likely to continue to have pain after their pregnancy. A previous randomized chiropractic clinical trial showed that chiropractic care given in conjunction with the normal obstetric care was more effective in eliminating pregnancy-related lumbopelvic pain than just obstetric care by itself.