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Can Acupuncture Help You Conceive?

Get to the Point of Conception

By Kim Seidel

More women are seeking acupuncture to help boost their fertility and enhance their overall health. "Today you can scarcely pick up a magazine publication without some mention to the benefit of acupuncture for various illnesses and conditions," says Jennifer Hanbury Pobiak, a licensed acupuncturist at OneMedicine Associates in Rockville, Md. "Even the Wall Street Journal just recently published an article on the benefits of acupuncture for infertility. Acupuncture has become a mainstream complementary therapy to a large variety of conditions."

While the acupuncture movement may be gaining more popularity in the United States in recent years, acupuncture is an ancient healing art that has been practiced in China for more than 3,000 years. With care and consideration, modern women may be able to reap the benefits of acupuncture for infertility and other health issues.

According to medical definitions, a couple of child bearing age is regarded as infertile when they have not conceived after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse. Yet once a woman decides that she wants to conceive, she can consider using acupuncture, Pobiak says. "The same way that most women now start taking prenatal vitamins and supplements while she is trying to conceive, a woman should take a 'whole-body' approach when attempting to become pregnant," Pobiak says. "These days, the modern woman has a variety of different issues that may affect her fertility."