Dr Hao Xiang Tay

In short, the answer is yes. Research conducted by cellular biologist Dr. Shahar Lev-Ari, head of the integrative medicine unit of Tel Aviv University’s medical school, and Keren Sela, a TCM practitioner specialising in women’s health have found that when combining IUI with TCM treatments, 65. 5% of the test group was able to conceive, compared to 39. 4% of the control group, which received no herbal or acupuncture therapy. In the test group, 41. 4% delivered healthy babies as compared with 26. 9% of the control group.

When a patient visits a TCM physician for treatment, the TCM physician would start diagnosing the patient just like a Western doctor. We would listen to the symptoms affecting you and examine you for signs such as complexion, movement of your body, tongue and pulse. Once sufficient information is gathered, we would assess the patient’s situation in its entire context to get a more holistic understanding of your condition. TCM physicians use a set of diagnostic principles to identify the imbalance in the patient’s body.

From a TCM perspective, there are two main types of causes for infertility: An abnormality in the reproductive organs, which are not treatable with medication. An imbalance of Yin and Yang in our system, causing dysfunction to our reproductive system. From TCM perspective, your “kidney" can affect your reproductive system (肾主生殖) and that energy from our “kidney" (qi) is critical in the development of our reproductive abilities. Therefore, the main cause of infertility in both men and women is usually “kidney deficiency” (肾虚).