Using Chinese Medicine to treat male infertility (fighting “Spermageddon”) with Dr. Olivia Pojer, MD(AUT)

Course Description

On average one out of 6 couples experience infertility, defined as one or two year of unsuccessful attempts of trying to conceive a baby. Due to this fact, the fertility clinics popularity is increasing. Talking statistically, in every Western world classroom there is at least one pupil that was fathered with the help of assisted reproduction. Looking at the reasons of unfulfilled parenthood, 40% are female issues and 40% are male issues.

Interestingly our society as well as our medicine (both conventional but also Chinese Medicine) focus quite exclusively on treating the female part of the childless couple. Thus the percentage of male issues for infertility-the so called male factor- is the same as the female one, treating the male partner is very underrepresented.

Despite the fact that the seminal quality has declined within the last 30 years by more than 60%, it downgraded so dramatically that the WHO had to correct and adapt the standard value for the semen analyses in 2010 and 2021 to make sure that one could get non-pathological semen analyses results at all. On top of that the male factor plays an important role in early pregnancy loss and should be treated in any case to prevent abortion.

In this seminar, we will extensively examine the obligatory treatment of the male factor as well, whenever an infertile couple enters the Chinese Medicine office in future.

To enable participants to treat their male fertility patients properly, there will be an introduction on andrology from a biomedicine perspective, talk about research-based causes of infertility, diagnostics and the limitation of the treatment with conventional medicine which will need be examined and discussed.  Biomedicine knowledge is essential to understand how sperm is produced and what can damage its proper development to apply the best treatment to help. In the Chinese Medicine portion, focus will be on specific and targeted pattern discrimination, diagnostics, acupuncture treatment and herbal prescription to support sperm quality. We will then be able to use the best Yin and Yang tools out of the toolboxes of Chinese and conventional Medicine

Course Outline

Day 1 Course Schedule

• • 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM: Registration and Introduction
  • 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM: Introduction to male infertility issues
  • 10:30 AM – 10:45 AM: Break
  • 10:45 AM – 12:00 PM: Diagnosis and diagnostic tools of Western Medicine (semen analysis & its interpretation, DNA Fragmentation Index)
  • 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Lunch Break
  • 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM: TCM andrology overview and Western medicine anatomy of male reproductive system and sperm production
  • 2:30 PM – 2:45 PM: Break
  • 2:45 PM – 4:00 PM: What is needed to fertilize an egg-fertilisation step by step (from a spermatozoa´s point of view)

Day 2 Course Schedule

• • 9:00 AM – 10:15 AM: Common causes of male fertility problems-research
  • 10:15 AM – 10:30 AM: Break
  • 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Causes and pathomechanism of male infertility from a Chinese Medicine
    point of view. Pattern discrimination of the most common TCM syndromes for male infertility
  • 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Lunch Break
  • 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM: Proper pattern-based acupuncture protocols with point explanations
  • 2:30 PM – 2:45 PM: Break
  • 2:45 PM – 4:30 PM: Pattern based Chinese herbal therapy using the most common formulas &
    modifying herbal formulas with special herbs according to the results of the sperm test

About the Dr Olivia Pojer 

Olivia Pojer is a Medical Doctor , chairwoman and course instructor of the OGKA (Austrian Acupuncture Society), academic at the Medical University of Graz and Co-organizer of the TAO Congress.

She holds a TCM diploma and an acupuncture diploma from the Austrian Medical Association, is trained for ear acupuncture, took a special training Master Tung Acupuncture with H. McCann. She holds a diploma in Integrative Medicine in Assisted Reproduction (ART) from the German Association for Reproductive Medicine as well as a Diploma for Advanced Training in TCM from the Universities of Nanjing and Wuhan (China).

Olivia is a fellow member of the American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine (ABORM) and a book author: “Integrative treatment of male infertility with Chinese Medicine” (2022) Singing Dragon and “Secrets from the Jade Chamber – treating erectile dysfunction and loss of libido with Chinese” (2017) Verlag Müller&Steinicke. She is co-owner of the center Femme&Fertile near Graz where she specialized on treating male infertility. She is an international speaker on male infertility topics. Currently is is doing a Masters degree on clinical embryology at the University of Graz.