Infertility Treatment Study

This post was written by H&W instructor Ramona C. Horton, MPT. Ramona will be instructing the courses that she wrote on "Visceral Mobilization" this month.

A recent blog post on NPR highlighted an innovative option for dealing with the exorbitant cost of infertility treatment. According to The American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) the average price of an in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle in the U.S. is $12,400. Perhaps physical therapist can offer an alternative to these high costs as well.

In a case series recently published in the journal of the American Osteopathic Association 10 infertile women were treated with 1 to 6 sessions of manual therapy applied to the pelvic region by a physical therapist. Techniques included muscle energy, lymphatic drainage, and visceral mobilization. Six of the 10 women conceived within 3 months of the last treatment session, and all 6 of those women delivered at full term. The important thing to note is that fecundancy rates over 3 months in a normal population is 57%. Current literature estimate that 30-50% of infertility can be linked to mechanical causes.

The author of this study is currently collaborating with Herman & Wallace faculty member and developer of the visceral mobilization and myofascial curriculum Ramona Horton on an innovative research project to further document the effectiveness of physical therapy intervention in the field of infertility. The study MISS, Mechanical Infertility Systematic Study: a Randomized Multicenter Trial of Manual Therapy Interventions for Females with Somatic Pelvic Dysfunction and Infertility has been submitted for its initial funding grant through the APTA. MISS will be a randomized clinical trial comparing pelvic manual therapy (PMT) to global massage therapy (GMT) over a 3 month treatment period. At the time of this writing, 15 therapists at multiple sites have completed the training to participate as a researcher in MISS. The infertility protocol that will be utilized in MISS is a component of the visceral mobilization for the reproductive system course. Stay tuned for more information on the progress of MISS, the goal is to have as many as 25 sites participating.

Ramona's Visceral Mobilization of The Urologic System and Visceral Mobilization of the Reproductive System are both taking place this month!