Physical Therapy May Help You Get Pregnant

Women trying to conceive often hear the unsolicited advice, “You just need to relax; get a massage.” A massage can promote relaxation in the body, theoretically improving the chance of conception. But a unique manual physical therapy, called the Wurn Technique®, has proof that it can treat female infertility.

A study published in Medscape General Medicine found that the Wurn Technique® helped 71% of women diagnosed infertile by their physicians to become pregnant. A subsequent study published in 2008 by Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine showed that the technique opened fallopian tubes in 61% of women with totally blocked tubes – and many went on to become pregnant naturally.

What is the Wurn Technique®?

Physical therapist and co-developer Belinda Wurn explains, “The Wurn Technique is a unique refinement of manual physical therapy techniques developed into a treatment to reduce adhesions and restore function in various areas of the body.” Most physical therapists rely on machines, exercises and electrical modalities, but Belinda and her therapists use their hands to identify areas of tension, restricted mobility and mechanical and soft tissue imbalances. They use manual techniques they developed and refined to slowly and gently break apart adhesions. Scientific studies show this work has restored mobility and function in the body, improved fertility and decreased pain.

Belinda first started using manual physical therapy after she developed cervical cancer over 20 years ago. “Although surgery and radiation therapy saved my life,” Belinda explains, “they left my organs and pelvic tissues adhered. They were bonded together by adhesions in a condition called ‘frozen pelvis’.” When Belinda’s doctors recommended more surgery, Belinda and her husband, Larry, felt they should search for a different treatment.

Belinda and Larry took several years of post-graduate classes in advanced manual physical therapy. As they used the techniques they learned to treat Belinda, her pain began to decrease and resolve. Larry states, “Once I saw my wife was finally getting some relief from her excruciating pain, I couldn’t stop taking classes. I wanted to learn every technique I possibly could to help her.” Larry and Belinda expanded on the work they were learning from many talented therapists and osteopathic physicians, and then developed new techniques to help decrease Belinda’s pain, improve the function of her organs, and return her to an active lifestyle.

When Belinda was finally free of pain, the couple opened a small physical therapy practice to treat men and women with chronic pain. “We wanted to use our techniques to help others,” Belinda said.

A few years later, a woman diagnosed with blocked fallopian tubes came to their clinic in hopes of relieving her chronic pelvic pain after a neck and back injury. Shortly after treatment, the patient learned she was pregnant – her previously blocked fallopian tubes had been opened by the therapy.

The Wurns were shocked and approached a local physician with their results. The physician then referred two other women who had been trying to get pregnant unsuccessfully for two years. He also referred a woman with just one blocked fallopian tube (one had already been removed surgically) – his wife. The Wurns opened her remaining tube with their therapy. All three women went on to deliver healthy full-term babies.

Since then, the Wurn Technique ® has helped hundreds of women with blocked fallopian tubes, endometriosis, hormonal or unexplained infertility, and many other conditions to become pregnant. These and other conditions are examined thoroughly in the book Miracle Moms, Better Sex, Less Pain, which chronicles the 20-year adventure of discovering and developing their unique therapy.

How do you know if the Wurn Technique® is right for you?

The technique is based on the fact that adhesions, tiny strands of collagen, form after any injury to the body as a normal part of the healing process. Whether due to an infection, inflammation, trauma, or surgery, collagen crosslinks (the building blocks of adhesions) rush in to the injured area to protect it and aid in the healing process. Like the strands of a nylon rope, these tiny but powerful strands of collagen bond together to form adhesions. Adhesions can form within structures, or on their surfaces. Adhesions can also bind any structure in the body to nearby tissues and organs, causing pain or decreasing function.

When adhesions form in the delicate tissues of the reproductive tract, infertility often results. Adhesions can impair the reproductive tract in multiple ways, such as blocking the fallopian tubes, restricting the ovaries, or pulling on ligamentous support structures of the uterus and cervix, causing spasm or impeding embryo implantation.

Many women who experience adhesion-related infertility have histories that include prior infection (PID, yeast, bladder, etc.), pelvic or abdominal surgeries, inflammation (STD, endometriosis, etc), trauma (abuse, car accident, falls onto the buttock, etc.), or radiation therapy.

Another common sign of adhesion formation is intercourse pain. Belinda explains, “The same adhesions that impair fertility often restrict the vaginal walls, cervix, tailbone and nearby tissues – resulting in painful intercourse.”

One of the main side-effects of the Wurn Technique® is decreased intercourse pain. “Many women come to us hoping to achieve pregnancy,” Belinda explains. “We’re very happy to not only treat female infertility, but also help women achieve a new intimate life with their husbands.”