A scoping review of chiropractic management of female patients with infertility.

BACKGROUND: Debate concerning chiropractic management of female infertility occurs largely in the absence of reference to the extant literature.

METHODS: A scoping review was conducted of primary (original) data publications on the chiropractic management of female infertility based on searches of the Index to Chiropractic Literature and Pubmed, supplemented by papers from one author's archive.

RESULTS: Ten articles, all case studies, met the review's inclusion criteria and documented the experiences of 11 women (mean age 31 years; mean period of infertility 3 years). Pregnancy occurred, on average, after 5 months of treatment with spinal manipulation and adjunctive modalities. No adverse events were reported.

DISCUSSION: There are very few original data articles documenting responses of infertile females treated with spinal manipulation.

CONCLUSIONS: In the absence of a robust body of primary data literature, the use of spinal manipulation the management of female infertility should be approached with caution.