Bun in the Oven: Infertility Awareness
June is Infertility Awareness month. It’s an interesting month to choose considering Father’s Day is also in June. About 10-15% of couples struggle with infertility issues. Infertility is the term used for couples having trouble conceiving after on year, less if you’re over 35.
Eggs are fertile for up to 48 hour period and menstrual cycles on average are 28 days; it means you’ve got about 12 chances a year to conceive. But there’s a lot of room for error when you just “pull the goalie”.
So where can things go wrong?
Sperm and egg production can be a concern. Even with healthy cells, they have to meet in the right spot. Some eggs don’t make it past the fallopian tubes because of a blockage. If fertilization occurs the fertilized egg has to make it past the fallopian tube into the uterus to implant or it’s also a concern. Sometimes the sperm’s ability to fertilize the egg is compromised. The sperm can be malformed or have slow motility. Men sometimes don’t produce enough sperm. Also, the uterus may not have a suitable environmental for implantation.
Lastly the embryo itself can be genetically incompatible to life. Many miscarriages happen before the embryo is 8-9 weeks old because of a serious genetic error. Creating life can be difficult. And this is just the first chapter.
In general 1/3 of the issues are related to women, 1/3 to men and 1/3 are situational or due to genetics. Age can also be a big factor.
Where does physical therapy come into play?
For women, conditions such as endometriosis, PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), fallopian tube occlusion, pelvic inflammatory disease or elevated FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) can be helped with manual therapy performed by a specialist physical therapist. Visceral mobilization as well as specific manual therapy techniques (functional mobilization or the clear passage approach) have been shown to assist women with fertilization. The focus of manual therapy is to reduce adhesions and the biomechanical blockages present so the egg can reach the uterus and implantation can occur.
In recent studies specialized manual therapy techniques assisted women 40-60% of the time for issues such as PCOS, endometriosis, elevated FSH and/or fallopian tube occlusion. IVF was done in this study and was shown to be more effective with the manual therapy treatments than without.
At Body Harmony Physical Therapy, our therapists can educate you on your condition and how it may be affecting your ability to conceive. After an evaluation we will be able to advise on whether pelvic floor physical therapy can help with your specific infertility issues. Call us at 212-233-9494 to schedule an appointment or to answer any questions you have about your pelvic floor condition.
Written by: Keely Faridi, PT
References
American Pregnancy Association
https://americanpregnancy.org/infertility/what-is-infertility/
Accessed 6/17/29
Rice AD, Patterson K, Wakefield LB, Reed ED, Breder KP, Wurn BF, King CR, Wurn LJ. Ten-year Retrospective Study on the Efficacy of a Manual Physical Therapy to Treat Female Infertility. Alternative Therapies. 2015.(21)3;32-40.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26026143
Accessed 6/17/29
