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Pilot Study: Reducing IVF Failure Rates
with a Manual Physical Therapy Technique*
Belinda F. Wurn, PT; Lawrence J. Wurn, LMT; C. Richard King, MD; Marvin
Heuer. MD; Amanda S. Roscow, MPT; Eugenia S. Scharf, PhD; Jonathan J.
Shuster, PhD
ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a site-specific manual
soft-tissue therapy in improving in vitro fertilization (IVF) pregnancy
rates in women who failed to become pregnant via two or more prior IVF
embryo transfers.
Design and Intervention: Based on a previous study in which
clinical pregnancies were documented in 19 of 25 (76%) women who underwent
IVF following a specific manual therapy, a data subset of 7 patients was
selected for further analysis. These 7 patients met the additional
criterion of failure to ever become pregnant via (2 or more) IVF embryo
transfers, prior to therapy. Treatments were designed to improve
biomechanical function of the reproductive organs and adjacent structures
by restoring visceral, osseous, and soft-tissue mobility.
Main Outcome Measure: Clinical pregnancy on the first
post-treatment IVF embryo transfer.
Results: Of this subset of “challenging” patients (median age,
35.1), clinical pregnancies were documented in 5 of 7 women vs. the US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) age-adjusted estimate of
2.1. The estimated odds ratio for a successful pregnancy in a cycle
(manual treatment vs. no treatment) is 5.8 (P = .025, 2-sided).
Conclusions: Since 71.4% of these previously unsuccessful patients
became pregnant on their first post-treatment IVF and 57% had full-term
births, it appears that this nonsurgical, noninvasive manual soft-tissue
therapy facilitates fertility in "challenging" IVF patients. With no risks
and few, if any, complications or adverse effects, it should be considered
as an adjunct to current infertility treatments.
* Wurn Technique®, patent pending |
