Did you know that osteopathy can help with fertility? Safe, gentle and entirely natural, osteopathy has been proven to help treat the root causes of infertility. In fact, scientific studies[1] show that women have gone on to conceive within months of their last osteopathic treatment session and deliver at full-term.
At IMI, our gynaecological osteopaths have treated numerous women and men who have gone on to have the baby they dream of.
How does osteopathy help with fertility?
Osteopathy is a manual, non-invasive therapy that focusses on realigning and rebalancing your entire body. This is important because infertility can be caused by any number of issues in women and men: some more obvious and others hidden. Sometimes the obvious causes are treated by fertility doctors and couples still struggle to get pregnant. Other times, doctors go through a checklist and can’t determine why a couple is infertile – with no insight into potential hidden factors, they conclude the causes are unknown.
Osteopathy does not only focus on one isolated area of concern or symptom; it focusses on your whole body. This way, osteopathy can find and address any underlying causes of infertility. After all, your whole body is an interconnected system: your anatomy, physiology, and biochemical systems do not function in silo – they directly impact and influence each other. If one body system is out of balance, other body systems will inevitably fall out of balance too. Osteopaths treat the entire body and its individual systems to restore complete balance and function, thus addressing health issues and creating an optimal environment for conception.
Infertility can be caused by structural, physiological, emotional and energetic issues – all of which an osteopath focuses on, in sequence, during treatment.
The IMI osteopathic approach to infertility
Structural
At IMI, our gynaecological osteopaths begin by treating structural blockages or misalignments in the body that may be impacting the reproductive system. Muscular and fascial restrictions, and sacral and pelvic misalignment can be caused by current or prior trauma like a former car accident, fall, chronic back pain or athletic injury. These can limit mobility of the reproductive organs in both men and women. Scar tissue adhesions and lymphatic congestion can impact fertility too.
Your gynaecological osteopath can realign and rebalance structural issues using a variety of techniques. These include visceral manipulation, soft tissue and myofascial techniques, gentle joint manipulation, stretching, and trigger-point therapy. They can help with uterus ante or retroversion too.
Physiological
Structural dysfunctions alter how the nervous and circulatory systems communicate with the pelvic organs. These dysfunctions can cause an abnormal blood flow, which can impair the flow of hormones and nutrients necessary to regulate the function of sex organs and nerves.
Additionally, inflammation in your gut may be impacting your sex organs, pressing on your the uterus or testicles, for example. Your osteopath will treat structural dysfunctions and, partnering with an IMI naturopath, help to tone down gut inflammation to improve your chances of conception.
Emotional and energetic
Stress levels in Hong Kong and around the world are at an all-time high. But even past traumatic life events or inner emotional blockages can affect your nervous system, its impact on hormonal balance, and subsequent effect on fertility. The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in the body and it’s responsible for transmitting signals from the brain to the internal organs and back again. In a calm state, your vagus nerve signals to your body to rest and recharge, but if it becomes dysregulated through chronic stress and trauma, it may constantly send signals to your body to go into stress mode. It communicates to your body that it’s not a good time to get pregnant.
Through craniosacral therapy and with a focus on the vagus nerve pathways, your osteopath can help improve and lower an aroused sympathetic nervous system. They can release emotional stress and trauma, and realign the body to an improved functional state for pregnancy.
Osteopathy for fertility: a case study
Here’s an example of a client who came to IMI for osteopathic treatment. At the time, Jane* was 30 years old. Her struggles with severe menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea) was impacting her life and work. During an initial in-depth consultation, it came to light that Jane had a history of hip injury – she had fallen down the stairs in her early 20s. Using trigger point therapy and visceral techniques, we treated her iliam and sacrum bones and her pelvic floor muscle, and addressed mechanical restrictions in her uterus. This, in turn, helped to improve the blood circulation to her hips and pelvis.
During a session – in a safe and trusted space – Jane shared she was trying to conceive, but she feared her menstrual health issues would impact her chances of successfully getting pregnant. Through fascia techniques on her uterus and sacrum, we were able to alleviate her injury trauma at the tissular level. We also helped her to direct her breathing to her hips, lowering her stress and restoring a sense of calm. Jane’s menstrual cycles became less painful and after five months, she conceived and is now overjoyed to be a mother.
If you are proactively preparing your body for pregnancy or struggling to conceive, you may wish to connect with our gynaecological osteopaths. Click here to schedule a consultation or call the clinic at 2523 7121.
*We respect client confidentiality. The name and identifying details have been changed to protect client identity.
[1] Kramp, Mary Ellen. “Combined Manual Therapy Techniques for the Treatment of Women with Infertility: A Case Series” Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, vol 112, no 10, 2012, pp 680-684
中文版:
難以懷孕？ 整骨療法助您提高生育能力
你知道整骨療法可以幫助生育嗎？安全溫和且全天然的整骨療法已被證實有助於治療不孕症的根本原因。事實上，科學研究[1]表明，女性在整骨治療後的幾個月內能成功懷孕並足月分娩。
IMI的婦科整骨治療師已經給予很多不同女性和男性合適的治療，使他們能懷孕和擁有自己的孩子。
整骨療法是一種手動、非侵入性療法，專注於重新調整和重新平衡您的整個身體。這很重要，因為不孕症可以由女性或男性的不同問題引起：一些原因明顯，另一些則較隱藏。 有時，生育醫生會治療較明顯的原因，但夫妻仍然難以懷孕。由於醫生並沒有深入了解夫婦不孕的潛在隱藏因素，而無法確定夫婦不孕的原因，所以他們得出的結論是原因未知。
整骨治療會專注你的整個身體，而不是只關註一個獨立的症狀或區域。通過這種方式，整骨療法可以找到並解決任何導致不孕症的根本原因。畢竟，你的整個身體是一個相互關聯的系統，它們直接互相影響。如果一個身體系統失去平衡，其他身體系統也難免會失衡。整骨療法治療整個身體及其各個系統以恢復平衡和正常功能，從而解決健康問題並為受孕創造最佳環境。
不孕症可能是由結構、生理、情緒和精力問題引起的，整骨治療師會為您依次序地尋找並解決所有問題。
IMI 整骨療法治療不孕症
結構
在IMI，我們的婦科整骨治療師首先處理可能影響生殖系統的結構性問題或任何身體錯位。肌肉和筋膜的限制，以及骶骨和骨盆錯位可能是由過往的創傷而引起，例如車禍、跌倒、慢性背痛或運動損傷等，這些都會影響男性和女性生殖器官的活動性。另外，疤痕組織沾黏和淋巴充血也會影響生育能力。
婦科整骨治療師可以使用多種技術重新調整和平衡結構問題。包括內臟推拿、軟組織和肌筋膜技術、溫和的關節推拿、拉伸和觸發點療法，也可以幫助子宮前傾或後傾。
生理
結構功能障礙會改變神經和循環系統與盆腔器官的交流方式。這些功能障礙會導致血流異常，從而損害調節性器官和神經功能所需的激素和營養物質的流動。
此外，腸道炎症亦有可能會影響性器官，例如壓迫子宮或睾丸。整骨治療師將治療結構功能障礙，並與 IMI 自然療法醫師合作，幫助緩解腸道炎症，從而提高您的受孕機會。
情緒和精力
現時香港和世界各地的壓力水平處於歷史性高位。再加上過去可能發生的創傷性生活事件或內心的情緒障礙也會影響您的神經系統以及影響荷爾蒙平衡，繼而影響生育能力。迷走神經(vagusnerve)是體內最長的神經，它負責將信號從大腦傳遞到內部器官，然後再傳送回來。在平靜的狀態下，你的迷走神經會向您的身體發出休息和充電的信號，但如果它因慢性壓力和創傷而變得失調，它可能會不斷地向您的身體發出信號，讓您進入壓力模式，並告訴您的身體現在不是懷孕的好時機。
通過顱骶療法(CST)並專注於迷走神經的路線，整骨治療師可以幫助改善和降低興奮的交感神經系統，有助釋放情緒壓力和創傷，並重新調整身體以改善懷孕的功能和狀態。
案例研究：關於生育能力的整骨療法
以下是一個來自IMI接受整骨治療的真實個案。 當時客戶Jane*30歲。她的經痛嚴重並影響了她的日常生活和工作。在最初的深入諮詢中，發現Jane有髖部受傷病史：她在20歲時從樓梯上摔下來。整骨治療師使用觸發點療法和內臟療法技術，治療了她的髂骨和骶骨以及她的骨盆底肌肉，並解決了她子宮的問題，從而有助改善她的臀部和骨盆的血液循環。
在其中一次治療期間，Jane分享了她正在嘗試懷孕，但擔心她的月經健康問題會影響她成功懷孕的機會。通過對她的子宮和骶骨進行筋膜技術治療，我們為她減輕了損傷創傷，還幫助她將呼吸引導至臀部，減輕壓力並恢復平靜感。Jane的月經週期變得沒有那麼痛苦，五個月後，她成功懷孕了，現在很高興能成為一名母親。
如果您正在積極為懷孕做準備或努力嘗試懷孕中，請聯繫我們的婦科整骨治療師。點擊此處預約諮詢或致電本診所 2523 7121。
*我們為尊重並保障客戶資料的機密性。 名稱和詳細信息已更改以保護客戶身份。
