Infertility Chiropractic

Infertility chiropractic is an emotionally charged and unresearched area. Yet every DC can regale you with stories of infertile patients who came for neck or back pain, and after a few months were pregnant. Is that the doctor who made you pregnant?

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This page was last updated by Dr Barrie Lewis, DC on 9th March, 2019.

Could a spinal or pelvic dysfunction be one of the causes of an inability to fall pregnant? Yes, certainly, and it's one of the options for couples to consider. The problem doesn't just lie with the woman; forty percent of it lies at the door of the male.

Ten percent of Western men have a problem as defined by less than 20 million healthy sperm cells per millilitre of semen.

The graphic below demonstrates how every organ and tissue in the body is innervated by nerves that mostly travel through the spinal foramena. The exception are the so called cranial fibres such as the Trigeminal which supplies the jaw joint, face, sinuses and other parts.

While no DC in his right mind would ever claim that he can get a barren woman pregnant, anecdotes abound. It's not at all uncommon for an infertile lady to come for chiropractic help for a neuromuscular skeletal condition only to discover after a few months that she has missed a period; right now I'm treating two such cases. 

And honey fertility rites still exist of course; a bottle of mead for the honeymoon?

While infertility was rarely a problem in the past, now that many couples are waiting until their thirties and even forties to start a family, is has become a major industry. Infertility chiropractic is one first option.

The spinal nerves emerge through a small foramen located between the disc joint and the facet joint. Derangements of either joint can irritate or frankly pinch the nerve as it emerges from the so called intervertebral foramen, or IVF. The foramena lie between every pair of vertebrae.

The ovaries are controlled by a very complex system of innervation from three different groups of nerves from the autonomic nervous system. Read more lower down about the rationale for chiropractic care; and the lumbar facet syndrome, the most likely nerves affected would be from the lumbar plexus of nerves.

Infertility Chiropractic

One gorgeous story about infertility chiropractic can be found in Bernard Preston’s book, Bats in my Belfry. Because chiropractic improves nerve function; of course the ovary, like all other organs in the body, is controlled in part by nerves. Clearing subluxations from the spine may be what is necessary to enable a woman to conceive.

• Lumbar facet syndrome ...
  

Raw Honey

raw honey, not the variety you might buy from the supermarket.

What’s the difference? Plenty! Just the taste, for a start. Far more important however, is the presence of small particles of pollen that modern methods would filter out as an impurity. Also heating the honey to aid filtration destroys a very important enzyme that gives honey its antibacterial activity.

Not really a part of infertility chiropractic but raw food in general is good food and anecdotally might help. Besides, honeybees and what's potting in the garden are fascinations of mine.

• Varicose veins and herbs ...

As a rule of thumb, though not always true, if honey is clear and runny, it’s probably been heated. Crystallised honey is not sugary, it’s the real thing, if the crystals are fine and uniform. Trust me, I'm a beekeeper.

It is however pollen, most likely, that helps with infertility by stimulating ovarian function. Raw honey, lightly filtered, contains millions of tiny flower protein granules. It also has healing qualities for burns and tummy bugs from a peroxidase enzyme that has been proved to have powerful bactericidal properties.

Use the search function at chiropractic help to find out more about varicose veins and herbs including honey.

Even the honeymoon finds it origin in the myths and mists of bee lore. A bottle of mead was mandatory for newly weds as recently as Thomas Hardy’s time. Under the greenwood tree is a must for all bookworms.

Mead is sadly almost unavailable today, except perhaps from a very unusual beekeeper. However pollen products are widely used. To find raw, unfiltered honey, you'll have to do your homework and find a local small apiarist. Take your own bottles and buy a whole year's supply during the nectar flow.

After you've read Bats in my Belfry, download Hardy's classic book on your Kindle. It's probably free.

Obesity and the various plastic products used to wrap foods are also major causes of infertility.

How does obesity interfere with ovulation, and cause infertility? Fat cells convert other hormones to estrogen, confusing your body so there is no proper cycle of peaks and valleys in ovarian function.

There is oodles of research proving that women with a very high body mass index will have difficulty falling pregnant. Cutting out all the refined carbohydrate in the diet and, oddly, increasing the healthy fat to control hunger, is the only way that seems to work. A person who is constantly famished is not going to stick to any diet for long.

In truth, it's hunger that needs to be addressed, not obesity and that means no chocolate cake or cookies, or even supermarket bread, but more olive oil, avocados, fatty fish, and, yes, perhaps even butter. Butter is back and changing to low fat milk won't help your hunger pangs; in fact the butterfat helps prevent a rise in blood glucose.

This goes along with polycystic ovaries too; there's much work being done on the ketogenic diet to control blood glucose and manage the infertility that goes with it.

So, can low thyroid function be the problem? This is very routine to establish. All it takes is a simple blood test. Talk to your doctor if you suspect your glands could be underactive.

Are you a smoker and infertile? Research shows that women who inhale tobacco are four times more likely to take over a year to conceive.

And if your husband is also a smoker, the odds are really stacked against you, because he will have a lower sperm count. Male infertility has increased a staggering fifteen times over the last 70 years.

Worse still, even if you do conceive, if your husband has a low sperm count it means a six times greater chance of miscarriage or a baby with a birth defect for two reasons:

• because of a higher rate of sperm abnormalities in smokers, and
• the greater the likelihood that a defective sperm will make it to his heaven; a female ovum.
  

So, if both of you smoke then don't start with chiropractic help for back pain; you might end up pregnant with a nasty ending; enough said.

So, along with infertility chiropractic, raw honey fertility, obesity, smoking and plastic products are simple points for infertile couples to consider, before the extremely expensive interventional techniques of modern medicine.

After the honeymoon, with a few things in between!, comes the menopause. Please, pretty please with honey on top, don't take hormones; breast cancer and prevention.

Seriously OVERWEIGHT and infertile?

Perhaps our Free weight loss program is a good place to start. For more info, Click here. FREE WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS ...

In any case, these very expensive medical interventions are not very effective. After a seven-year follow-up, pregnancies occurred in 41% of treated couples compared with 35% of untreated couples. Why not allow your chiropractor to examine your spine rather? While there is no research proving it, I would be VERY surprised if INFERTILITY CHIROPRACTIC is not considerably more effective than those figures just quoted.

Cosmetics

Research done at the UMC in the Netherlands on hundreds of men found that men who used two or more cosmetics, lotions or deodorants were a massive FIVE TIMES less fertile. Nothing is known about the effect of cosmetics on female fertility. It certainly makes sense for infertile couples to both stop using all cosmetics for a period before going for fertility programs, including infertility chiropractic.

And that, unpleasant as it may seem, includes all deodorants and antiperspirants.

Seriously UNDERWEIGHT and infertile?

Despite question marks over what precisely defines underweight the BMI calculator remains in common use. A BMI under 18.5 is usually defined as the threshold of underweight and normal.

Whilst being seriously underweight is usually associated with psychological illness (anorexia and bulemia), hyperthryoidism, malabsorption syndromes and other serious illness, there are apparently healthy people who are underweight. Nevertheless, falling pregnant is seriously difficult if you are a healthy, underweight woman.

Obviously the first step if your are seriously underweight and infertile is a thorough medical examination which you've probably already had.

Should no abnormalities be found, the next obvious step is a consult with a nutritionist. And, if there is a border line underlying fear of putting on weight, a visit to a psychologist.

All of this BEFORE considering Infertility Chiropractic.

Simple healthy ways to put on weight.

To increase the calories in your diet, fruit is a first healthy step. Adding an apple, half a dozen strawberries and/or bunch of grapes to increase the carbohydrate in the diet... avoid the refined carbohydrate.

• Interesting facts about strawberries ...

To add healthy fat to your diet one could start with a handful of freshly shelled pecan nuts added to your muesli in the morning. Olives and olive oil, a bowl of homemade fish soup.

Shell them yourself, it takes less than a minute to shell three pecan nuts, because the valuable fatty acids are very rapidly oxidised (go rancid) once the shell is broken.

• Pecans nutrition ...

For healthy protein one need look no further than making your own hummus, and an egg a day would be quite fine because your cholesterol is almost certainly also low, but do check if your doctor has ordered a cholesterol test. Underweight people can still have high cholesterol. Very occasionally.

• Scrambled egg with parsley benefits ...

Vitamin E @ infertility chiropractic

However, care needs to be taken; there are eight isomers of vitamin E and, taking the commonest form, alpha tocopherol, in tablet form increases the rate of metastatic disease.

Oddly, taking mixed tocopherols prevents malignancies. There's a harmony about enjoying whole foods and distinct dangers of thinking that well-being comes from taking large amounts of supplements.

Or, as Hippocrates said, let your food be your medicine.

The richest sources of vitamin E are cold pressed oils like from the soyabean and sunflower, which are difficult to get, and freshly cracked nuts, seeds and 100% wholewheat flour, if you can find it; we grind our own.

Vitamin E is a strong anti oxidant and is itself in the process rapidly oxidised; goes rancid. Health nuts take the time to crack their own pecans and walnuts, grind their own healthy flour and bake bread and regularly eat green beans and peas.

The argument is that it makes cogent sense to spend an extra half an hour a day preparing and enjoying whole foods, than spending that time and more visiting doctors.

In any event, if you are infertile and want to safely increase the fertility hormone in your diet, you simply have to spend the time. Buying a bag of pecan nuts and learning the knack of cracking three or four every day would be a good start.

Chiropractic and the colicky baby

There is strong research proving that chiropractic care provides significant relief from colic, and that medication does not help at all.

• Colic chiropractic ...
  

Perhaps starting an apiary is a consideration. It's easier than you think, depending on where you live. Keeping bees in cities is currently the rage in finding new ways to relax and contribute to a greener planet. Without these little insects for pollination of our food, life as we now know it, would not exist. And they are seriously threatened by pesticides in monoculture agriculture. 

Do you think you might like to start beekeeping? It's been a fascination of mine for over fifty years since introduced them by my grandfather. Without a doubt it's my best hobby, and the only way to get really good raw honey. The swarming traps link below will get you started.

There are legitimate concerns about honey, obesity and blood sugar; what comes as quite a surprise is that it does not have a high glycemic index. It's not converted rapidly to blood glucose causing an insulin rush. Furthermore, enjoyed in the context of the whole meal, adding protein and fat, you need have not be worried about the moderate use of the nectar of the gods and diabetes, or hypoglycemia.

Just adding cheese and butter, and perhaps a leaf of lettuce to this low GI bread turns this honey sandwich into the perfect meal. If you are seriously obese, then make sure that you add a salad to further lower the glycemic index of the whole luncheon. If you don't know about the so called GI of foods then read more at Bernard Preston's blog below.

It takes five minutes to grind the healthy flour and prepare the ingredients for our low GI bread recipe.

Mead

Reading Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy many years go first got me interested in honey mead. A bottle was given to every newly married couple about to go on honeymoon. Within a month... certainly more pleasant that infertility chiropractic or the many medical techniques.

Mead is a wine made with honey, and nothing else. It's a difficult wine to make as yeasts, like humans, can't live on simple carbohydrate alone.

After spending several years experimenting with meads, I combined another interest, brewing beer, with my fascination for a fermented honey drink. A melomel is easier, but better still I have now perfected the brewing of a braggot; a beer made with honey instead of sugar.

Infertility chiropractic looks at what your DC might be able to do to help, but also at other aspects of this complex subject. Remembering that health is additive, both in a positive and negative sense, subluxations, poor weight, cosmetics, smoking, glucose and thyroid disfunction all add up to difficulty falling pregnant.

LINKS

• Pubic bone pain in pregnancy.