A person with low sperm motility means that most of his sperm can’t swim properly, meaning they might not be able to fertilize an egg. Low sperm motility is caused by several factors, such as smoking, injuries to the genitals, or as a result of infection. Treatments for low sperm motility include implementing simple lifestyle changes, medicines, and assisted reproductive methods.
What does having low sperm motility mean?
Sperm motility is one indicator of a person’s sperm health. Motility refers to how effectively sperm moves through the reproductive system to reach and fertilize an egg.
Low sperm motility is also known as asthenozoospermia. If a person is diagnosed with low sperm motility, most of their sperm aren’t moving properly. This is bad news for fertility because the sperm don’t swim well enough to reach the female egg to fertilize it.
However, it’s important to note that not all sperm always moves perfectly well and that having a few slow-swimming sperm is perfectly normal. However, reproductive health issues might emerge if a large portion of your sperm starts moving ineffectively.
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What is the difference between low sperm motility and low sperm count?
A low sperm count refers to the amount of sperm in a person’s semen, and like low sperm motility, it could have negative effects on your semen quality and overall fertility.
This means that you can have normal, healthy sperm counts but still have problems with how your swimmers move. On the other hand, your sperm motility might be perfectly fine but lack enough sperm in your semen.
Ultimately, if you experience fertility problems, sperm motility is just one of the factors you and your healthcare provider should be looking at.
What factors can cause low sperm motility?
Plenty of factors play into reduced sperm motility, such as the following:
- Environmental toxin exposure such as heavy metals
- Excessive heat from being in hot temperatures, such as fever, being in a sauna, or wearing tight, restrictive clothing
- Lifestyle choices such as tobacco, alcohol, and recreational drug use
- Being overweight or obese
- Living with high-stress levels
- Injuries or infections involving the testicles
- Advancing age
- Cryptorchidism or undescended testicles at birth
- Anabolic steroid use
- Enlarged scrotal veins (varicoceles)
- The immune system makes antibodies attacking sperm which affects motility
How is low sperm motility diagnosed?
Consult your healthcare provider if you and your partner cannot conceive after at least a year. It takes 12 months to diagnose infertility between couples. After that, your healthcare provider might recommend testing your semen. The latter is a non-invasive and useful test to determine a man’s fertility, including his sperm motility.
The semen analysis will require you to ejaculate into a container. Your semen sample will be sent to a lab for further analysis. The semen test will also be able to provide information about your sperm count, the shape of your sperm, semen pH levels, ejaculate volume, and more.
If there is a chance that you or your partner have anti-sperm antibodies, then a specific test for that condition may be performed during the semen analysis.
How is low sperm motility treated?
Fortunately, several approaches treat low sperm motility and help you and your partner conceive. This includes lifestyle changes, medicines, and assisted reproductive technologies.
Lifestyle changes and dietary supplements
It isn’t always easy to implement lifestyle changes, but reproductive health and fertility involve complex bodily processes tied to overall health.
Here are some lifestyle changes and dietary supplements you can use to boost fertility and overall health:
- Quitting tobacco and recreational drug use
- Reducing or curtailing alcohol consumption
- Exercising more regularly and keeping a healthy weight
- Reducing heavy metals exposure
- Wearing loose-fitting pants and underwear or avoiding overheating of testicles
Certain male sexual health supplements may boost sperm motility, such as vitamin A, vitamin E, coenzyme Q10, L-carnitine, and selenium. They are a low-cost, low-risk option if you suffer from sperm motility issues.
Medicines
No drugs have been specifically developed for low sperm motility. However, certain medicines may be prescribed off-label to treat low sperm motility, such as the following:
- Clomiphene citrate. Clomiphene citrate influences hormone production typically used to treat infertility in women.
- Pentoxifylline. Boosts blood flow and has antioxidative properties.
Antibiotics may also help you if you have an underlying medical condition that causes low sperm motility, particularly if it is caused by an infection.
For instance, you might be prescribed antibiotics to treat epididymitis, an infection of a tube connecting to the testicles that helps produce and transport sperm. Epididymitis is sometimes treated by anti-inflammatory drugs in certain cases.
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Assisted reproductive methods
These tools help couples conceive through sperm and egg manipulation and can be extremely effective in helping couples conceive even if the man has low sperm motility. This includes in-vitro fertilization techniques (IVF).
Oftentimes, intrauterine insemination (IUI), also known as artificial insemination, is the first step of assisted reproduction methods before in-vitro fertilization. Here’s a quick rundown about IUI:
- Procedure: A male sperm donor provides a sperm sample processed and deposited by the fertility clinic to a woman’s uterus with a tube.
- Why it is effective: IUI is a short, painless procedure that ensures the maximum amount of sperm reaches the egg without having them swim too far to get there.
- How it increases chances of conceiving: Couples increase their chances of pregnancy if the female partner undergoes fertility treatments.
- Outcomes: The chances of conceiving using IUI may be as much as 50%.
IVF is typically suggested as the next step if artificial insemination doesn’t work too well. IVF involves taking the eggs from the female partner and taking a semen sample from the male partner. Then, the embryo is fertilized in a laboratory. After this, the healthy embryo is inserted into the woman’s uterus.
IVF can take longer and be more expensive than IUI, but it is only 45% effective in conceiving. Another assisted reproductive technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) can be added to the stack, which improves success rates to 60%.
The bottom line on conceiving with low sperm motility
Male infertility is a real threat, and it’s easy to feel consumed with worry and stress if you and your partner cannot conceive.
Just remember that plenty of factors play into fertility, and reining in your stress levels and keeping the flame of passion burning with your partner makes the ordeal much easier.
If you’re concerned about reproductive health issues, consult your healthcare provider to determine the next steps to address them.
