Sperm motility

Sperm motility in connection with IVF and insemination. This is where you find further information on sperm motility and its significance.

Is your sperm motility good or low?

For a couple to achieve pregnancy requires much more than just good sperm motility. So it is very important for childless couples to be thoroughly examined to find out where the problem lies. If you have tried for pregnancy for more than a year and everything else has been found to be normal, it is relevant to have a sperm analysis made.

To evaluate sperm motility, a semen sample is taken for examination under the microscope. When the semen sample is delivered to the laboratory at Vitanova, bioanalysts measure how many millilitres of semen there is. Then the sperm motility in the semen is investigated under the microscope. There should be at least 20 million sperm cells per millilitre, of which at least half must be moving forwards fast. In a semen sample, there will always be a lot of sperm cells that are still, moving in circles or are deformed. Good sperm motility means that at least 30% of the sperm cells are normal.

After the first look through the microscope, the bioanalyst cleans the sample. This is to remove the sperm cells that are deformed or do not move so much. After the cleaning process, there should be at least 10 million sperm cells per millilitre left for the sperm motility to be described as good.

Low sperm motility

Low sperm motility is the most common reason for infertility in a couple. There can be several reasons for a man to have low sperm motility. Many men have no or few living sperm cells in their semen, and the reason is to be found in the testicles where sperm cells are formed. When a boy is born, his testicles lie in a channel in the abdominal cavity and, in the course of the first year of life, the testicles must fall down into the scrotum and stay there. If this does not happen, later in life the man will have low sperm motility or be completely sterile.

The sperm cells cannot survive large temperature changes, so the scrotum’s muscle is arranged so that it can contract and pull the testicles up against the body, if the surrounding temperature falls, or expand and lower them if the temperature rises to let them release warmth.

Some men form anti-bodies against their own sperm cells, which therefore die or do not develop normally, contributing to low sperm motility. In recent years, there has been a lot of focus on how low sperm motility can be caused by environmental poisons and the female hormone oestrogen. Sperm cell formation is particularly sensitive to hormone disturbances.

Questions about sperm motility?

Phone us on tel. 33 33 71 01 or contact us for further information about sperm motility.