“My husband and I are having difficulty conceiving … can chiropractic help?”

It’s very possible, I’m happy to say.

Just about every chiropractor has a story in which he has had an infertile patient suddenly conceive while under chiropractic care.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 7.3 million women in the United States were classified as infertile.  Just over one million of these women sought medical attention for it.

While there are a variety of reasons a woman’s ability to conceive can be thwarted, up to 20 percent of the time medical testing shows no clear answer — which may be one of the reasons that medical intervention for infertility has a modest 34 percent success rate.  Even so, many — as is evidenced by the dramatic increase in our nation’s fertility clinics — will shell out up to $30,000 per menstrual cycle for the chance to conceive.

Enter chiropractic.

Your nervous system controls everything in your body, including your reproductive organs. A spine that is functioning appropriately is more apt to support a healthy nervous system devoid of health-robbing interference. What’s more, a healthy spine and nervous system are bolstered and better able to combat the everyday insults of physical, emotional, and chemical stresses that are thrown at it.

What this means for a woman who is looking to conceive and carry a child is that through regular chiropractic care she is able to optimize her body’s ability to function and thus is able to create an environment in which pregnancy is more likely to occur.

The Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics reviewed 10 different case reports that looked at a total of 11 women suffering from infertility. Many had symptoms ranging from lower back pain to ulcerative colitis. The result: All 11 became pregnant shortly after starting chiropractic care. A similar review study was published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research and in the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal and Family Health-Chiropractic.

Bottom line: If you are trying to conceive, having your spine checked for nervous system interference by a chiropractor makes sense.

— Dr. Thomas R. Lamar is a chiropractor at Anchor Chiropractic and hosts SpinalColumnRadio.com.   You can contact him at 360-297-8111.