Acupuncture could help boost sex drive, experts say

Failing libidos may be cured with a few pricks, according to experts.

Researchers believe acupuncture may help cure women’s lack of libido, claiming the Chinese treatment helped every woman who participated in the research.

Twenty-four female volunteers — between 28 and 45 and with regular sex partners — were recruited for the Chinese study, published in the journal Sexual Medicine in August.

All of the women involved suffered sexual dysfunction, or persistent problems stopping a person from experiencing satisfaction from sexual activity, thought to affect around 43% of women and 31% of men in the US.

For the research, which ran between October 2018 to February 2022, the women underwent two to three 30-minute sessions a week, with acupuncture needles inserted on the top of their head, stomach, above their ovaries, under their knee, on the ankle, foot and lower back.

The women were instructed to answer questions before and after acupuncture treatments, which the Mayo Clinic describes as a traditional Chinese medicine technique for balancing the flow of energy or life force in your body by applying acupuncture needles in target areas of the body.

Using the Female Sexual Function Index, a way of measuring how pleasurable and satisfying sex is to women, they rated subjective sensation, sexual desire, sexual arousal, vaginal lubrification, orgasm, sexual satisfaction and dyspareunia (vaginal pain).

After the treatment, all the women saw an improvement in their FSFI scores. In fact, desire was the biggest improvement, with 23 out of 24 women saying they noticed a difference and 100% of the cohort saying they were more aroused.

Although it appears to be an effective treatment, experts from the Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital of Zaozhuang in Shandong, where the study took place, admitted they aren’t 100% sure why it appeared to boost libido, but said they believe it has something to do with acupuncture increasing estrogen.

There are varying reasons for women’s lack of sexual desire, the Mayo Clinic noted, which can be affected by emotional welfare, pregnancy, menopause, illness, medications or in some circumstances cancer and other serious illnesses.

The questionnaire was scored out of a potential 36 points, with the total representing their FSFI. An FSFI score of less than 26.55 indicated a risk of sexual dysfunction.

Almost half of the participants (11 out of 24) said their FSFI scores reached a “normal level,” showing an average increase from 18.5 to 26.3.

While promising, researchers cautioned the treatment is to help symptoms — not cure any sexual disorders — noting it’s still in the infancy of determining whether or not it is an effective treatment. Limitations include the small sample size and lack of further detailed controlled sub-groups, including the pre- and post-control study of sex hormones.

“Additionally, all participants with [female sexual disorders] showed a significant improvement, which could be due to the small sample size,” the study reads. “With the increase in the sample size, the effective improvement rate may decrease.”