Male infertility and Chinese Medicine

Male infertility and Acupuncture
Understanding male reproductive function and the importance of male factor infertility has advanced over the last decade. Today both female and male are the focused of infertility treatments in many couples, it has been shown that male factors causing infertility in approximately 20% of infertile couples and male factor is an important contributor in 20-40% of couples with reproductive failure. Male patients who have been trying to conceive by having unprotected sex for at least one year and have ruled out female caused infertility should have a semen analysis to determine male infertility factors. Among the known causes of male infertility, 15-35% are caused by Varicocele, 8-10% are caused by primary testicular failure, and 1-5% are caused by other factors such as chromosomal disorders, radiation damage, undescended testes.
Normal male has 600 million spermatogonia at puberty produces 100-200 million spermatozoa produced daily and he will produce one trillion sperm in his life time.
Semen analysis is very important to rule out male factor infertility, standard but detailed instructions for semen collection should be followed to get the best reading in the analysis. Abstinence period of 2-3 days is recommended, shorter intervals of abstinence causes a decrease in volume and longer intervals causes a increases proportion of dead, immotile and increases poor morphology of sperms due to Oxidative damage.
The earliest mention of male infertility in Chinese medicine is found in Nei Jing, for example in chapter one of Su Wen it states: “At seven times eight a man’s essence is scant, at eight times eight heavenly tenth is expired and he is unable to have children” . Other references to male caused infertility have been mentioned in Zhu Bing Yuan Hou Lum which was written in Chao Yuan-Fany’s Tang dynasty. Other detailed discussions are in Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fany ( a thousand gold pieces emergency formulary).
In Chinese Medicine, there are several physiological factors that must come together to enable a man to be fertile. He must have adequate kidney essence, his life gate fire must be sufficiently warm too power the engenderment and transformation of kidney essence into semen and sperm, he must have free flowing liver qi to regulate kidney qi transformation and maintain normal ejaculation, he must be free of obstructions such as phlegm and blood stasis so that the seminal pathway is sufficiently patent to allow normal ejaculation, he must be free from damp heat and heat toxins in the essence chamber that might otherwise scorch and decoct the semen and damage the sperm, and he must have adequate qi and blood to ensure the constant cultivation of the later heaven essence which can be stored in the kidney and can supplement early essence heaven.