IVF
No difference in live births
The strongest trial to date (848 women across 16 IVF centres) compared acupuncture with sham acupuncture during a cycle: 18.3% live births versus 17.8%. The gap is not significant.
Smith et al., JAMA, 2018
Reasons for consultation · Fertility
A fertility journey, supported
Acupuncture is not a treatment for infertility, and the best studies do not show that it raises the chances of a pregnancy. What it can offer lies elsewhere: going through a long, uncertain and demanding stretch with a little more in reserve. That is what we offer, alongside your medical care.
Where are you right now?
One word, four very different situations
“Fertility” covers stretches of life that share neither their pace nor their questions. Here’s what changes, from one to the next, in what we can do together.
You have been trying for a few months
The medical calendar comes first. After twelve months of trying, or six from age 35, ask for a fertility workup without waiting. Acupuncture has no business delaying that step: it supports you through the wait, it does not fill it.
You are in the middle of testing
Blood work, imaging, appointments, results that take their time. Sessions fit around that calendar rather than taking its place. Many people come first for the sleep and the nervous tension of this period.
You are in IVF or IUI
The period is dense and tightly timed. The pace of sessions is coordinated with your fertility clinic’s dates. What the research says about success rates is further down this page, stated plainly.
After a cycle that did not work
The body has taken a lot, and so has morale. You owe no one the story. Sleep, fatigue and physical tension are often what gets worked on first.
If your situation fits none of these boxes, that’s common. It gets clearer in consultation, not on a page.
The evidence, unrounded
What the research shows, and what it does not
This is where candour matters, including where it costs the clinic. The strongest trials do not support using acupuncture to improve the outcome of fertility treatment.
Assisted reproduction
No evidence of benefit
A Cochrane review pooling twenty randomised trials finds no evidence that acupuncture improves pregnancy or live-birth rates in assisted reproductive technology.
Cheong et al., Cochrane, 2013
Ovulation and PCOS
The medication makes the difference, not the needles
Among 1,000 women with polycystic ovary syndrome, acupuncture did not increase live births compared with control acupuncture. The ovulation-inducing drug did.
Wu et al., JAMA, 2017
The nuance that gets misread
A benefit against nothing, none against a placebo
A meta-analysis of 29 studies reports an advantage for acupuncture compared with no treatment, and none at all against sham acupuncture. When an effect vanishes in front of a credible placebo, it points to the context of care rather than to the needles.
Zhou et al., 2022
Trial quality remains uneven and study protocols sometimes sit far from real practice: Cochrane speaks of low-quality evidence. But the best data converge clearly, and we don’t sidestep them.Read the detailed analysis of the four studies
What remains, and counts
The weight of the journey can be worked on
A fertility journey stretches over months. It brings waiting, short nights, a vigilance that never quite comes down, and a load that those around you rarely see in full. That is the ground where acupuncture can offer support: not to raise any odds, but to help you keep going through a demanding period.
What is reliably documented concerns relaxation and the autonomic nervous system. Chinese medicine reads fertility through Kidney energy and free circulation: a traditional framework, presented as such, not as a biomedical explanation.
Further reading, in three directions:
Worth knowing
Do not put the medical workup on hold
In fertility, time counts. If any of these apply to you, a medical assessment should come first, and acupuncture after it or beside it, never instead of it:
- Twelve months of trying without a pregnancy, or six months if you are 35 or older
- Absent, highly irregular or very painful cycles
- Known endometriosis or polycystic ovary syndrome
- Previous pelvic surgery or sexually transmitted infection
- A suspected male factor, or a semen analysis that has never been done
- Repeated miscarriages
Your family doctor can start the workup and refer you to a fertility clinic.Info-Santé 811 also answers 7 days a week. This section informs; it does not replace medical advice.
What a first appointment looks like
75 to 90 minutes, depending on the practitioner: your history, your cycle, your sleep, the tests already done and the medical calendar under way, then a treatment adapted to it. You decide what you share. Follow-up sessions run 60 to 70 minutes and adjust to your pace.
First acupuncture visit $110 (75 to 90 minutes)Follow-up session · adult $95 (60 to 70 minutes)Receipt issued on site. All rates
Frequently asked
Your questions, plainly answered
Does acupuncture improve my chances of conceiving?
The best available evidence does not show that it does. Trials comparing acupuncture with sham acupuncture find no increase in live births, both in IVF and in polycystic ovary syndrome. What we offer is support for well-being during the journey, presented as exactly that, with no promise of result.
When in my cycle, or in an IVF round, should I come?
There is no universal schedule. In practice we start from yours: transfer, retrieval and trigger dates, or simply the days when the load is heaviest. Bring your fertility clinic’s calendar to the first session and we’ll adjust from there.
How many sessions, and how often?
The first session runs 75 to 90 minutes, follow-up sessions 60 to 70 minutes, depending on the practitioner. The pace depends on your situation and on the medical calendar; it is set in consultation rather than in advance. No package is sold and nothing commits you beyond the session you booked.
Do I need to change anything about my medical care?
No, and this matters: acupuncture adds to your care, never replaces it, and is never a reason to change a treatment. Any decision about medication or protocol belongs to your physician or your fertility clinic.
Can my partner come as well?
Yes, on the same terms and with the same limits: support for stress and sleep, with no claim to act on semen analysis parameters. A male factor is investigated medically, through a prescribed semen analysis.
Is it covered by insurance?
Care given by a member of the Ordre des acupuncteurs du Québec is reimbursed by many private plans. A receipt is issued on site at every session; exact coverage is worth confirming with your insurer.
Sources
What this page rests on
- Smith et al. (2018), JAMA (opens in a new tab): acupuncture versus sham acupuncture in IVF, 848 women.
- Cheong et al. (2013), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (opens in a new tab): twenty randomised trials in assisted reproduction.
- Wu et al. (2017), JAMA (opens in a new tab): acupuncture and clomiphene, 1,000 women with PCOS.
- Zhou et al. (2022), Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice (opens in a new tab): meta-analysis of 29 studies, no effect against placebo.
Let’s talk about your situation
If support for your well-being through this period interests you, the first step is a conversation. No commitment, and no promises.
Book an appointment (opens in a new tab)