Your health changes throughout your life, and what needs attention at 18 may look very different at 38 or 58. Fertile Ground offers naturopathy, acupuncture and massage for women’s health, with care shaped around your health history, symptoms, stage of life and what matters to you now.
Fertility and pregnancy may be what Fertile Ground is best known for, but women have always come to us with a much broader range of health concerns too.
Your health includes how you sleep, digest, move and recover; your energy, mood, skin and metabolic health; the way your menstrual cycle changes through different stages of life; and the health questions that can appear long before or long after having children.
At Fertile Ground, reproductive health has been at the heart of our work since 2001, but we have always understood it as part of a much bigger health picture. One of our founding beliefs is that “there is nothing good health is not good for”, and more than 25 years later, it still describes our approach well.
You do not need to be trying to conceive, pregnant, unwell or at any particular stage of life to come and see us. You may have a specific health concern, several things that seem to be connected, or simply a sense that you would like to understand your health better and give it some attention.
Health rarely stays neatly in one category. Menstrual cycles, nutrition, sleep, stress, digestion, movement, medications, family history, reproductive history and changing hormones can all form part of the picture, and their relevance changes throughout life.
For adolescents and younger women, questions may begin with periods, skin, energy, nutrition, digestion or the changes that arrive with puberty and early reproductive life. Through the twenties, thirties and forties, menstrual health, contraception, fertility, pregnancy, work, relationships, stress and changing nutritional needs can become part of an increasingly busy health picture.
Later reproductive life brings its own questions. Cycles can begin to change during perimenopause, sometimes years before the final menstrual period, while sleep, mood, body composition, cognition, cardiovascular, metabolic and bone health become increasingly important considerations through menopause and beyond.
There is no single version of women’s health, and no requirement to wait until something is seriously wrong before paying attention to yours.
Your menstrual cycle can tell you a great deal about what is happening in your body, but periods are not always predictable or uneventful. People come to Fertile Ground with painful periods, heavy or irregular bleeding, absent or infrequent periods, premenstrual symptoms and changes to their cycle at different stages of life.
We also see people living with diagnosed reproductive health conditions including endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids and polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS, formerly PCOS), as well as people who are still investigating symptoms and do not yet have a diagnosis.
If you are trying to conceive, undergoing IVF or preparing for pregnancy, you can see the same Fertile Ground practitioners, with your appointment focused on fertility and preconception care. You can explore our fertility pages if you’d like to read more about how we work with people at this stage.
Perimenopause can change much more than your periods. Sleep, temperature regulation, mood, concentration, memory, energy, body composition, joints, sexual health and the way you experience your cycle can all change during these years.
Menopause also brings a different long-term health picture into view, including cardiovascular, metabolic and bone health. Your own experience, medical history, family history, pathology, nutrition, movement, medications and other treatments all help determine what deserves attention.
Some women arrive knowing they are in perimenopause. Others come because their sleep has changed, their periods have become unpredictable, they are suddenly getting hot at 3am, or they simply do not feel quite like themselves and want to understand what may be contributing.
Our practitioners can work alongside your GP and other healthcare practitioners where medical investigation, diagnosis, monitoring or treatment is needed.
Hormones are part of women’s health, but they are not the explanation for everything.
People also come to Fertile Ground with questions about fatigue, sleep, stress, digestive health, skin, headaches, nutritional status, blood sugar and metabolic health, cardiovascular health, immune health, muscular tension and other ongoing health concerns.
Looking at the broader picture can be particularly useful when several things are happening at once. A consultation gives your practitioner time to understand your health history, current symptoms, diet and lifestyle, medications and supplements, pathology and investigations, and the other factors that may be relevant to why you have come.
Naturopathy gives us the opportunity to look broadly at your health and then decide what actually deserves attention.
Your naturopath may review your health and reproductive history, menstrual cycle, diet, digestion, sleep, stress, medications and supplements, pathology and other investigations. Depending on what is appropriate for you, care may include nutrition and lifestyle recommendations and the prescription of nutritional supplements or herbal medicines.
Our naturopaths work with women across the reproductive lifespan, including those seeking care for menstrual and reproductive health, perimenopause and menopause, digestive and metabolic health, sleep, stress, energy and general wellbeing.
Read More About Women’s Health Naturopathy
Our registered acupuncturists see women at many different stages of reproductive life, with treatment planned according to your individual health history, current concerns and Chinese medicine assessment.
People come to our acupuncturists with menstrual and reproductive health concerns, during perimenopause and menopause, and for broader areas of health and wellbeing including stress, sleep and physical tension.
If you are trying to conceive or pregnant, we have dedicated fertility and pregnancy acupuncture pathways so your care can be tailored to that particular stage.
Read More About Women’s Health Acupuncture
Massage offers a hands-on approach to women’s health, with treatment shaped around your body, health history and what is happening for you at the time.
People come for muscular tension, pain and discomfort, recovery from exercise or the physical demands of work and everyday life, as well as the opportunity to rest and support their physical wellbeing.
Your massage is adapted to your comfort, health history and individual needs. We also offer dedicated pregnancy and postnatal massage for the particular physical changes and demands of those stages of life.
Read More About Women’s Health Massage
One of the advantages of caring for women across different stages of life is that we often know the story that came before the appointment you are having today.
Someone we first meet for painful periods may later return for preconception care. Someone we know through IVF may continue with us during pregnancy. Years later, the reason for coming might be sleep, digestion, perimenopause or something completely unrelated to reproductive health.
Your reproductive history remains part of your health history without having to define your healthcare forever.
If you have several health concerns, would like to review the bigger picture, or are unsure which kind of care would be most useful, naturopathy is often a good place to begin. Your naturopath can spend time understanding your health history, symptoms, pathology, nutrition, medications and supplements and can recommend whether another type of care at Fertile Ground may also be useful.
You are equally welcome to book directly with one of our acupuncturists or massage therapists if you already know that is the care you are looking for.
And if your health concern needs medical investigation, diagnosis or treatment, we will encourage you to involve your GP or relevant specialist and work alongside that care where appropriate.
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