Dr. Clayton L. Clark
WOAI.com Chiropractic Expert
Infertility. If you haven't struggled with it yourself, chances are you know someone who wants to become pregnant but can't. Infertility affects more than six million women and their partners across the country. Now, there's surprising new research that may crack the case and offer some couples new hope.
Kaycee Mogel always dreamed of becoming a mother. She and her husband struggled for years trying to get pregnant.
She was even on fertility drugs but nothing worked. Then, she took a trip to the chiropractor.
"Within a couple months, I was pregnant. Oh, we're really excited," she remembers.
Startling new research shows a possible link between spinal adjustments and increased fertility in some women.
"It lets couples who have been infertile or couples who are planning on having a family, it offers them hope," explains Dr. Madeline Behrendt.
Dr. Behrendt led a study looking at 15 women who struggled with infertility, some for more than a decade. Then, for various reasons, each went to the chiropractor.
Fourteen became pregnant and are now mothers.
"The chiropractor identifies spinal distortions, which are called subluxations, and once they were detected and corrected, the fertility function improved," Dr. Behrendt explains.
She says there's a link between chiropractic care and fertility because the nerves to your reproductive system run through your spine. And she says when the back is misaligned, the nerves misfire and cause a hormone imbalance, which can prevent a woman from getting pregnant.
Dr. Behrendt says the spinal cord is like a highway, and when there's a detour in the nerves, messages take longer to get translated throughout the body. Or, they may not get communicated at all. That, she said, is where chiropractors can make the difference, "It's noted that the women have other symptoms also. And as a chiropractor, of course we know that, because the reason why they're infertile in the first place, is because they're not healthy."
But not everyone is convinced.
Dr. Sandra Ann Carson is with the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. She says the study is too small and she worries it may give women false hope. "Until chiropractic care is compared to standard infertility treatment in a clinical trial, we don't really know what the side effects are to either treatments or the benefits of one versus the other."
Dr. Carson's advice to women trying to have a baby? "Talk with their health care professionals about all treatments available, their side effects and their success rates."
Dr. Behrendt is heading to Washington, D.C. this spring, trying to get funding for a larger, more comprehensive study on chiropractic care and fertility.
And she said it doesn't end with becoming pregnant, either.
Brandi Benson also considers her pregnancy a miracle. Though she didn't see a chiropractor before conceiving, she's making sure to see one now. "When you get pregnant, you go to the doctor more frequently because you should. This is just another way to make sure you're taking care of yourself, because you should," Benson said.
Now, for Kaycee Mogel and her husband, there's only one mystery left, “After two years, we're just, whatever we get we'll be happy, just hope that everything's healthy."
Dr. Behrendt says for the infertile women in her study, chiropractic care is what made the difference.
Click here for more information from Dr. Clayton L. Clark, the WOAI.com Chiropractic Expert.
