Acupuncture
Once you try it, you’ll wonder what took you so long.
Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years and is the mainstay of our fertility treatments here at Oona in in Toronto & Newmarket. Acupuncture is also an essential service for prenatal and postnatal care and can be a great help with perimenopause and menopause symptoms.
If you’re not yet familiar with acupuncture, it involves putting tiny needles in different active energy points on the body. Most of us know someone who has tried acupuncture at some point, even if we haven’t tried it ourselves. If you haven’t tried it yet, now is your chance.
Acupuncture for every part of your journey
Preconception & Fertility
Acupuncture, when done in the months leading up to conception, can give you the best possible chance of getting pregnant.
Perhaps you are thinking of starting a family and want to give your potential new baby the best possible start, as well as make sure that you are as fertile as you would like to be. Maybe you’ve been on birth control for many years and you’re worried that it will take a while to conceive. Or maybe you’ve been trying to conceive for a while without success. Acupuncture can help.
Acupuncture will not only set the stage for optimal fertility, but can help encourage a healthy pregnancy. It may also help you avoid some of the common complications like elevated blood pressure or fetal positioning issues that may lead to unwanted medical interventions.
Acupuncture for Fertility
If you are planning an IVF cycle, preparing ahead will help you make the most of the opportunity to use IVF. The success of an IVF cycle rests on the ability of your body to respond to the treatment. Preparing ahead with acupuncture for 2-3 months before your cycle has the benefit of improving blood flow to your uterus and ovaries which may make them more responsive to medication.
Preconception / fertility issues commonly treated with acupuncture:
- Painful intercourse
- Vulvodynia
- Low libido
- Sexual dysfunction
- Egg count and quality
- Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOS)
Acupuncture for Men's Fertility
Fertility issues don’t only affect women. Please feel free to send your partner in for acupuncture if you are having any kind of fertility issues.
Male reproductive health can benefit from acupuncture. Men’s reproductive issues are very responsive to acupuncture treatment and usually involve either clearing too much “heat” or supplementing and supporting a depleted system.
Men’s reproductive conditions commonly treated with Acupuncture:
- Low sperm count
- Problems with sperm motility
- Problems with sperm morphology
- Low testosterone
- Varicocele
- Erectile dysfunction
Prenatal Acupuncture in Toronto & Newmarket
Acupuncture can help make the experience of being pregnant easier, and more enjoyable.
The books tell you that by the mid-to-end of your third trimester, your baby will be in a head down position, readying themselves for birth. When your baby doesn’t drop or is in the wrong position, we call it “malposition” or “malpresentation”. You might have also heard the words breech, transverse, posterior, or even sunny-side-up. Regardless of what you call it, we can help create the ideal situation for your baby to move into position.
Even though you might have thought that pregnancy would have you feeling amazing with glowing skin, sometimes that’s not the case. If you’re feeling queasy at any time in your pregnancy, suffering from swollen joints, or if you want to get your body ready to deliver your baby, acupuncture can help. Acupuncture is safe and effective in pregnancy.
Pregnancy concerns commonly treated with acupuncture:
- Morning sickness
- Back and pelvic pain
- High blood pressure
- Swelling and edema
- Baby position issues
- Labour prep for a more efficient birth, starting at week 36 (this is essential for all pregnant people!)
- Acupuncture inductions past 40 weeks of pregnancy
Postnatal Acupuncture in Toronto & Newmarket
Being a parent isn't easy!
Being a new parent comes with massive amounts of exhaustion, a fair dose of stress, and to top it off, our hormones are usually a bit unbalanced for a while after giving birth. Acupuncture can help get all of that sorted out – and the relaxing treatments give you some much-needed downtime while you enjoy your “acu-nap”.
Postpartum conditions commonly treated with acupuncture:
- Painful periods
- Heavy periods
- Irregular periods
- Absent periods
- Midcycle bleeding
- PMS
- Endometriosis
- PCOS
- Uterine Fibroids
- Sleep issues
- Milk supply issues
Peri/Menopause Acupuncture in Toronto & Newmarket
Supporting Your Menopause Transition with Acupuncture
Navigating the shifts of perimenopause and menopause can feel like a whirlwind. From hot flashes and mood swings to sleep disruptions, these changes can impact your daily life in surprising ways. Acupuncture offers a natural approach to help bring calm and balance, supporting you through this transition. Plus, each session gives you the chance to unwind with a relaxing restorative reset.
Common perimenopause and menopause symptoms supported by acupuncture:
- Hot flashes and night sweats
- Mood changes
- Sleep disturbances
- Low libido
- Brain fog
- Dry or itchy skin
- Muscle and joint pain
- Irregular or heavy periods (perimenopause)
Start your journey with Oona
Book your perimenopause / menopause acupuncture appointment
Commonly Asked Questions About Acupuncture
Acupuncture helps with many reproductive conditions. The needles stimulate the nervous system to send messages to the brain that change the hormonal output from the brain to the ovaries and uterus.
For example, there is a point on the hand that has the effect of calming down the sympathetic nervous system and reducing nervous tension. This in turn allows blood flow to return to the digestive and reproductive organs and has the effect of improving digestion and reducing both abdominal and menstrual pain. So we say the point improves digestion and eliminates pain in the abdomen.
We feel you — those first few months or pregnancy can be pretty rough – and for some it never seems to end. But, we’ve got good news! Acupuncture is commonly used to treat morning sickness, and many mamas find that it helps. In addition to nausea, acupuncture can help alleviate some of the other less pleasant pregnancy symptoms such as heartburn, hemorrhoids, sciatica, joint pain and even carpal tunnel syndrome.
Acupuncture isn’t usually an instant fix — but it can help. Acupuncture helps to prepare your cervix for labour and delivery and, in many cases, this helps to naturally speed things along.
Because we’re in the business of better births, at Oona we recommend starting acupuncture at week 36 of your pregnancy for labour preparation. The goal is that when labour does finally start, it’s more efficient. We believe babies should usually “cook” as long as they need to, but we’d like to give you the best chance of having a more efficient labour once your little one is ready to meet you.
Postpartum acupuncture has many benefits for our postpartum patients. However, it’s important to get the green-light from your physician or midwife before receiving your first postnatal acupuncture treatment. Some of our patients can have acupuncture 1-2 weeks after having a baby, while others may be advised to wait longer.
No, acupuncture shouldn’t hurt. In fact, when we are using it to affect the hormonal system, it needs to be gentle in order to be most effective.
The most useful points on the body are below the elbows and below the knees and often we only use a few points in a treatment.
No, acupuncture will work whether you are a true believer, a skeptic or anywhere in between. Acupuncture may be new to you, but it’s an old medicine with a long history of safety and effectiveness.
Cancellation and Late Policies
Direct insurance billing
Oona works with insurance companies to do online billing for treatments, whenever possible. Simply ask if your insurance company is compliant when you book your appointment.
Complementary Services
