Acupuncture and the IVF Patient
There are many and various ways that acupuncture can support the IVF patient.
Our clinic opened in 2008 specifically to address the needs of IVF patients and to work with IVF clinics in Sydney and Melbourne – the first of its kind in Australia. In the last 12 years we have seen many thousand IVF patients and have been happy to know that we are making a difference to their cycle, whether that be in terms of outcomes or management of stress and anxiety. At the outset we created a small manual of treatment protocols that were specific to each stage of the IVF cycle. Some of these were based on research findings and some were based on TCM diagnostic principles. Over the years, as patient demands multiplied, as our experience grew and research findings developed, our treatment guidance manual grew to many times the size – we called it the Manual Of Every Thing – MOET.
Many of our patients come for treatment in the month or two preceding an IVF cycle, and some come just on the day of Embryo transfer. Some patients come after several IVF attempts that have not been successful, either before continuing with IVF or instead trying to conceive naturally. We see men and women (single or in couples) and apply the very best of what traditional Chinese medicine has to offer combined with research findings which are regularly being updated.
Embryo transfer

Our clinics offer one or two acupuncture treatments around the time of embryo transfer where appropriate. These are based on protocols used in clinical trials some of which showed an increase in pregnancy rates in certain groups of women receiving acupuncture (most commonly those for whom the expected pregnancy rate was 30% or less).
Frozen embryo transfer

Many IVF clinics like to transfer embryos into a natural environment. Embryos that have been frozen and successfully thawed are transferred back into a uterus in its natural state at exactly the right time for implantation. In addition to applying TCM principals and an individual approach we may use mild electro-stimulation on acupuncture points on the abdomen in the weeks before the transfer.
Before and during the medication phase of IVF

Any phase of the IVF cycle

Before the pregnancy test
