Increase Fertility and Decrease Endometriosis Pain Naturally

Endometriosis is recognized as a primary cause of female infertility.¹ In fact, 30-40% of women with endometriosis who are trying to conceive are diagnosed with infertility.² As an adjunct or substitute for surgery, a new manual physical therapy is now being investigated as a non-surgical treatment for endometriosis-based infertility.

In endometriosis, the tissue that normally lines the uterus is found in other areas of the body. The most common areas are on and near the uterus; endometriosis frequently implants on the reproductive organs, and sometimes binds them to other structures via adhesions.

This misplaced endometrial tissue responds to the menstrual cycle as if it were in the uterus – endometriosis tissues swell during each monthly cycle. But unlike menstrual fluid that leaves the body every cycle, implanted endometriosis cannot exit the body. The inflammation that accompanies the swelling may cause adhesions or scar tissue to form at the site of endometrial implants.

Adhesions act like glue, binding reproductive structures in curtains or ropes of collagen, and sometimes attaching them to their neighbors. Bound as they are in adhesive straight-jackets, the reproductive organs cannot move or function normally.

How does Endometriosis Cause Infertility?

Many theories exist to explain why endometriosis causes infertility. Some suspect that endometriosis is linked to an idiosyncrasy in a woman’s immune system that creates an autoimmune disorder, or makes the woman more likely to miscarry. Others believe irregular hormone levels in women with endometriosis contribute to infertility.³

One cause that nearly all physicians can agree on is mechanical dysfunction. This occurs when endometriosis and its subsequent adhesions attach to the delicate structures of the reproductive tract. Endometriosis adhesions may attach to one or both ovaries, causing ovulation pain or decreasing their ability to release an egg. Adhesions can block fallopian tubes in two ways – by squeezing them closed from the outside or blocking the tubes from the inside.

Endometriosis located on or near the uterus can cause uterine spasm or painful periods, decrease the opportunity for implantation or cause miscarriage. Endometriosis which attaches to the nearby bowels may cause painful bowel movements or chronic intestinal pain. In short, adhesions within the reproductive tract can cause cycle or intercourse pain, periods, pelvic or low back pain or dysfunction, including infertility.

Click for an eBook on treating endometriosis pain and infertility without drugs or surgery.

Conventional Treatment for Endometriosis

Because medical treatments for endometriosis consist of hormones that prevent pregnancy, many women infertile due to endometriosis are encouraged to undergo laparoscopic surgery to burn or cut out the endometriosis and adhesions. Unfortunately, the surgery carries some risks:

Surgery that is meant to help is also a primary cause of glue-like adhesions

1. It carries risk from general anesthesia and infection;
2. Despite the skills of the finest surgeon, the body creates adhesions to heal from the surgery designed to remove them. These post-surgical adhesions can cause infertility;
3. Due to the recurring nature of endometriosis and adhesions, surgery may only provide a “window of opportunity” for women to become pregnant;
4. Surgeons cannot treat endometriosis and adhesions that may impact a woman’s ability to conceive. This means a surgeon may not be able to remove all of the endometriosis in areas such as the delicate fimbriae of the fallopian tubes.

Pregnancy rates after laparoscopic surgery also vary depending on the severity of endometriosis. Women with stage I-II endometriosis experience far greater success than women with stage III-IV.⁴ This is because women with stage III-IV frequently have deep endometrial implants that a surgeon cannot remove without damaging the organ or tissue.

Furthermore, a recent study published in Fertility and Sterility (Nov 2008) found that endometriosis was most likely to re-grow in the places where it was removed during laparoscopic surgery. The study also found that an unaffected region next to endometriosis was more likely to develop endometriosis after laparoscopic surgery.⁵

In another study, scientists performed a second-look surgery on women who underwent laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis. They noted that sites that had only an endometrial lesion at the time of the first laparoscopic surgery were more likely to also have adhesions attached to them after the surgery. They also noted that adhesions around the ovaries were more likely to re-grow. The scientists also found that, “most patients developed adhesions after radical surgical excision [when a surgeon must burn into the structures or tissues to remove endometrial implants] of endometriosis.”⁶

A Natural Treatment for Endometriosis and Fertility

At Clear Passage, we use a non-surgical “hands-on” approach to detach the adhesions that attach endometrial implants to various structures and tissues. We know pelvic adhesions well. We faced this situation 20 years ago when the physical therapist director of Clear Passage Physical Therapy, Belinda Wurn, developed severe adhesions after surgery and radiation therapy to her pelvis. Unable to work due to the pain, and having seen the devastating and debilitating effects of pelvic adhesions in her own patients, she was determined to find a non-surgical way to decrease pelvic adhesions.

With her husband, massage therapist Larry Wurn, Belinda took a much deeper look at the etiology and biomechanics of adhesion formation. They found that the chemical bonds that attached each of the tiny collagen fibers to its neighbor to create adhesions appeared to dissipate or dissolve when the Wurns used certain manual techniques on the adhesions. With this knowledge, they developed the Wurn Technique® to unravel the bonds between the cross-links that are the very building blocks of adhesions.

The “hands-on” work practiced at Clear Passage Physical Therapy clinics is designed to reduce or eliminate adhesions, crosslink by crosslink. It has been shown in peer-reviewed medical journals to reduce adhesions, decrease pain, and improve soft tissue mobility, without the risks of surgery or drugs. We have completed two studies on endometriosis pain and sexual dysfunction and the abstracts were published in major medical journals.⁷

Many women who came to Clear Passage with a history of endometriosis and infertility are now mothers or currently expecting. If you would like to read patient stories or read more about our work to reduce endometriosis pain, please visit our endometriosis page, or click the link at the bottom of this page now, to complete a medical history questionnaire and apply for a free, in-depth consultation.

1.  http://www.endocenter.org/EndoPPF.htm
2. http://www.ivf.com/ch17mb.html
3. http://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(08)00360-9/abstract
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19013097?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19006792?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16275244?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=2&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed
7. Wurn LJ, Wurn BF, King CR, Roscow AS, Scharf ES, Shuster JJ. Treating endometriosis pain with a manual physical therapy. Fertil Steril. 2006; 86 (Supp 2): S262. Abstract.
   Wurn LJ, Wurn BF, King CR, Roscow AS, Scharf ES, Shuster JJ. Improving sexual function in patients with endometriosis via a pelvic physical therapy. Fertil Steril. 2006; 86 (Supp 2): S29-30. Abstract.