By Dr. Aaron Cashman, DAOM, LAc 

When I meet people for the first time and they ask me what I do for a living, they often will say something like, “Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine, huh?  I heard those are helpful with infertility”.  And I will tell them that, yes, they are very helpful for increasing the odds for conception and for carrying a pregnancy to term.  Sometimes people will then ask exactly HOW acupuncture and herbal medicinal formulas work to improve these odds.  A full, comprehensive answer to the ‘how it works to help infertility’ question would fill a small book.  So instead, I’ve decided to simplify things here and to describe three of the many ways in which acupuncture and herbal medicine help to make pregnancies more viable.

First, acupuncture can assist in increasing blood flow to the uterus to help create a thicker, healthier endometrial lining, which helps with proper implantation*.  According to Valinda Nwadike, MD, “Endometrial thickness is important in pregnancy. Healthcare experts link the best chances for a healthy, full-term pregnancy to an endometrium that is neither too thin nor too thick. This allows the embryo to implant successfully and receive the nutrition it needs.” **

Second, acupuncture can help to reduce stress and thereby increase the odds of pregnancy.  According to fertility researcher Alice Domar, PhD “Your body is smart, it knows that (periods of stress) aren’t good times to have a baby”.  Dr Domar, who is the director of Mind/Body services at Boston IVF, stated that the medical community once “said I was stupid to believe that the mind had any control over the ovaries…Today (however), researchers widely accept that stress and fertility are connected.”  Also, stress hormones like cortisol can “trip up ovulation” by interrupting the “signaling between the brain and the ovaries”, says Sarah Berga, MD. ***

Third, acupuncture can help to balance hormones, which is also pivotal in conception and carrying to term.  In addition to minimizing stress hormones, other important hormones play major roles in fertility.  Restoring balance to the proper levels of some of these hormones is crucial.  A few important hormones in fertility include estrodial and progesterone, thyroid hormones (like TSH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).               (For a much more thorough explanation on hormonal balancing through acupuncture and herbal medicine, I highly recommend the book, Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life, written by Acupuncturist/Herbalist, Dr Claudia Welch.)

Other ways that acupuncture and herbal medicine have been shown to help increase fertility odds:

• Keeping the fallopian tubes open for fertilization by preventing or reducing spasms
• Increasing sperm motility and sperm count
• Overall increase of health and well-being of mother to ensure a smooth pregnancy

Why did I focus this blog post on acupuncture and not herbal medicines?   

In general in the West, acupuncture is typically more widely accepted and therefore has been researched more in clinical studies.  However, in my clinic and in many other EAM (East Asian Medicine) clinics, herbal medicine is just as important as acupuncture for many conditions- sometimes more important.  

In the realm of fertility and conception, acupuncture sometimes has enough of an impact alone that adding herbal medicine or a supplement is not needed.  But more often, patients get better, faster results when both herbs and acupuncture are administered consistently over time.  

According to the AMA’s (American Pregnancy Organization) website, “Clinical observations from the Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness suggest that the most effective fertility treatments involve both a combination of acupuncture, herbal medicine, and traditional medicine.  However, conception occasionally occurs when acupuncture and herbal medicines are used without traditional medical interventions. “.

– Dr. Aaron Cashman, DAOM, LAc, is the founder of Mind-Body Acupuncture in Philadelphia, USA (www.acuforus.com)

*https://americanpregnancy.org/getting-pregnant/acupuncture-for-fertility/

**https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/327036

*** https://www.webmd.com/baby/features/infertility-stress

Resources:

https://www.pacificcollege.edu/news/blog/2015/04/17/how-does-acupuncture-fertility-work-increase-chance-conception-without-side-effects

https://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/features/ancient-art-of-infertility-treatment

“(Excellent) Health is a state of complete harmony of body, mind and spirit.”  – B.K.S. Iyengar

“Your body hears everything your mind says.”  – Naomi Judd

I’m an Acupuncturist and get Acupuncture treatments often.

Why do I also get regular Massage Therapy?

First of all, massage feels great.  Massage can feel like floating on a cloud on a breezy, warm, summer day.  All one’s worldly cares vanish into that liminal, dream-like state between being awake and sound asleep.  It can feel, as though through magic, someone (the LMT) finds a very soothing, supportive means of slowly draining my mind-body continuum of all its fears and doubts, frustrations and anxieties.   Massage therapy has a unique ability to allow one’s body-mind-spirit to pour out the world’s stressors that the body accumulates (usually unintentionally/subconsciously) throughout daily life.   

Massage therapy can be miraculous at releasing unwanted mind-body accumulations.  In Ayurveda, there is a word for these accumulations or toxins: ‘Ama’.  ‘Ama’ usually refers to food or drink that was not properly digested and assimilated by the body, but can also refer to mental-emotional toxins or energetic ‘sludge’ that remains in the system until it feels safe and has a chance to allow it to leave the mind-body continuum.  When these accumulations- Amas– stay in the system for long periods of time, they can eventually lead to greater problems or various ‘Amayas’ (disease).  Fortunately, Massage Therapy is excellent at removing these physical and energetic toxins from the body and mind.  

I particularly find that lymphatic drainage massage techniques are excellent at helping the body find an exit door for more mental or psychological-based Amas, whereas I find that myo-fascial or trigger point massage techniques excel at releasing Amas that are bound to the system on a more physical/bodily level.  Of course, mind-body-spirit can never be separated completely.  Still, I find that sometimes I need more of mental-emotional-lymphatic release and other times it feels like I just need work done on my tight I-T band or rhomboid muscles.  

Can’t Acupuncture do all of this?  

Well, yes, but it is different.  First, it feels different.  There is often more of a ‘flow’ feeling with massage where techniques are continuous.  Acupuncture techniques are more sporadic.  Massage, then, excels at unifying or integrating all of the trigger and acupuncture points and tissues at all levels and locals- from head to toe, epidermis down to bone.  

While acupuncture is incredible at quick-focused release, massage works its wonders in a more broad-spectrum way, since it attends to a large majority of the body’s surface area.  In an acupuncture session, however, it can be the case that only a handful of acupuncture points are chosen and thus, only those few areas are touched upon by the practitioner.

In other words, Therapeutic Massage and Acupuncture are like Yin and Yang- inseparable companions, each with their own invaluable strengths and efficacies.

To book a Therapeutic Massage session with Tho Lam, LMT, at Mind-Body Acupuncture, please visit www.acuforus.com  (Located in the Rittenhouse/Grad Hospital area of Phila)

Tho focuses on Sports Massage, Myo-fascial release, PNF & Lymphatic Drainage techniques.

This article was written on June 16, 2022 by me, Dr. Aaron Cashman, DAOM, Acupuncturist-Herbalist and Founder of Mind-Body Acupuncture.  

And, yes, Tho Lam is the highly-skilled therapist that I personally see almost every week.

How will I feel during the acupuncture session? And Afterwards?

Many people report feeling deeply relaxed and grounded and tranquil both during and after acupuncture treatments. And often, aches and pains that had been present do start to dissolve during the process. People also tell me often that it is their one chance in their week to escape the pressures of daily life for a while and feel complexly ‘Zen’.

Does acupuncture hurt?

Acupuncture is surprisingly very gentle and usually completely free from discomfort.
People often say to me in surprise after their first needle has been inserted- “That’s it? I didn’t even feel it!”.
We use the thinnest, highest quality needles for the most comfortable therapeutic experience.

Where will the acupuncture needles be inserted?

It really depends. It depends on the condition being treated and the style of acupuncture being administered and the patient’s sensitivity level. If someone is very sensitive to needles, for example, we do our best to choose effective points that are also comfortable. I also use the pulse and tongue to help guide my acupuncture point selection.

What is happening within the body and mind while the needles are in the body?

Your body and mind and all of its systems and processes – the nervous system, the endocrine system, etc- are ‘talking’ to the needles and it is your own innate resources of healing within the body that are effecting the change in the system. The needles are just there to help guide the process. They help instruct your system to return to its optimal, balanced state (which modern medicine refers to as ‘homeostasis’).

Can I get the same effects from therapeutic massage that I get from acupuncture and/or medicinal herbal formulas?

Herbal medicine works in a quite different way from acupuncture and massage, but massage and acupuncture are not so different in some ways. It depends on the particular condition being treated. Both acupuncture and massage can make positive, re-balancing changes to the entire mind-body-spirit system. Acupuncture is thought to be a bit more laser-focused in its approach to specifics in re-balancing the system, whereas massage often is thought to take a more all-encompassing approach.

Mind-Body is excited to announce our partnership with the highly-respected natural herb & supplement dispensary, Fullscript. 

Why partner with an online supplement & herb dispensary like Fullscript?  

Every day, Aaron and Mary field questions about supplements (like prenatal vitamins, vitamin D or magnesium) and herbs (like ashwagandha and cordyceps). 

Rather than keeping huge quantities of these products in stock or directing people to billionaire-owned companies like Amazon, we learned that we’re able to partner with this high-integrity company to help keep costs down for our patients (and for everyone who visits our site) by offering this discount.  

We’ll also contribute a portion of proceeds from supplement orders to support local charities.

Other benefits of an online dispensary, aside from supporting small, local businesses:

Fullscript offers both patients & non-patients unparalleled access to high-quality products while avoiding billion-dollar companies— without sacrificing quality, convenience or price.

• Stringent quality controls— products contain the listed ingredients, and are stored and shipped with highest product purity standards.
• We offer a discount on regular retail prices across the Mind-Body Fullscript® supplement store, making quality wellness more affordable. 

• Fullscript makes access easy, with seamless ordering and fast shipping.   HSA or FSA debit cards are also accepted.
• Fullscript offers everything from professional-grade liquid melatonin to high-quality skin care products, multi-vitamins, etc.

You can access Fullscript through our website or all of your supplement, vitamin and herb needs (for individualized herbal medicinal formulas, you’ll still need an appointment in-person with Dr Aaron or Dr Mary).  

To celebrate this new partnership, Fullscript @ Mind-Body is offering an extra 10% discount for first orders on our store.  That’s in addition to the 20% off that is already offered on an ongoing basis. 

You do not need to be a Mind-Body client/patient to make orders through our site, so feel free to tell family members or friends, if interested.

One of my favorite yoga teachers often like to tell her classes that we practice yoga not just to feel more comfortable and at ease in our bodies, but in our minds as well.  Yoga, she would say, makes us stronger and more flexible on both a physical level as well as a mental one.  And when the mind and body are both strong and at ease, it becomes easier to cultivate a nourishing spiritual life.  This is why many yoga traditions emphasize the idea that the mind-body practice of asanas (physical movements of the body along with intentional breathing), is traditionally thought of as preparation for deeper states of well-being found through sitting meditation or ‘raja yoga’.

She liked to tell us that “the issues are in the tissues”.  Although I’m not sure if she was the originator of this quote, it was a statement that I’ve always held close to my heart.  As a practitioner of acupuncture and herbal medicine, it is crystal clear to me just how inextricable and interwoven the mind-body connection is for healing and optimal wellness.  

Acupuncture and herbal medicinal formulas are the primary modalities that I’ve been trained to use to promote balance of the body’s physiological, biochemical and energetic systems.  But these aren’t the only pathways towards optimal mind-body balance.  

Massage therapy is a powerful modality that I’ve also turned to frequently over the years to help me maintain and improve health. Personally, I often look to massage therapy when I feel my shoulder’s rotator cuff starting to feel restricted and in need of greater mobility.  Or when I have physical aches and pains.  Or when I feel in need of a ‘reset’- physically or mentally- and just want to feel more comfortable in my body and mind.  

To highlight the many therapeutic benefits of massage therapy, I’ve created my own list here.  11 Important benefits of Massage Therapy:

1. Stress and Anxiety relief
2. Better sleep
3. Pain reduction (especially Chronic Pain)
4. Range of Motion and Mobility enhancement
5. Toxin release 
6. Immune system benefits
7. Energy increase (reduces fatigue)
8. Workout-related recovery
9. Circulation and Lymph improvement 
10. Post-surgical recovery (helps expedite the healing process after surgery)
11. That radiant ‘Glow’ (after a massage)

Special thanks to The Cleveland Clinic, Penn Medicine and the Mayo Clinic for some helpful reminders about the many benefits of massage therapy.  See links below to learn more about additional benefits of massage therapy not included in the list above.

1. https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/health-and-wellness/2020/february/4-ways-massage-therapy-can-benefit-your-health
2. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/therapeutic-massage-can-great-addition-treatment/
3. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/massage/art-20045743