X icon button to close sales banner

Save 25% on Clue Plus

Use code: HELLO25 at checkout

Subscribe now

Illustration by Emma Günther

Reading time: 2 min

Can tracking ovulation pain help you conceive?

A quick look at what it is and what it has to do with trying to become pregnant.

This article is part of an exclusive content series available in Clue Plus when using Clue Conceive mode. Clue Conceive provides personalized predictions for fertile days that can help you time sex or home insemination to conceive faster, based on clinically-tested technology. Find out more here.

Clue’s research shows that one in three people with cycles regularly track ovulation pain, or mittelschmerz. Other research shows that more than 40% of people experience it (1).

The exact cause of ovulation pain is not known. It most likely happens when luteinizing hormone (LH) causes muscles in or near the ovary to tighten as LH increases suddenly 24 to 36 hours before ovulation (1-3).

Some people may only feel a dull ache for a couple of hours; others may feel a severe, stabbing pain that may last longer and be more draining (1).

Are you trying to get pregnant? Clue Conceive can help.

  • Download the Clue app on the App Store
  • Download the Clue app on the Play Store
default image

If you don’t feel ovulation pain each month, it doesn’t mean that there’s a problem or that you’re not in tune with your body. Most people don’t experience ovulation pain at all, and those that do often don’t feel it every cycle (1,4). 

Since ovulation pain most likely occurs soon before ovulation happens, using it as a way to time sex with ovulation when trying to conceive could be helpful for some. It is not recommended as the only method, because many people do not feel it, and those who do may not feel it every month. Relying on just ovulation pain to time sex or insemination hasn’t really been studied and likely isn’t very efficient (1,2).

Get Clue Plus to access the new Clue Conceive mode in-app and get access to exclusive science-based tips written by healthcare practitioners.

an illustration of the Clue flower
an illustration of the Clue flower

Live in sync with your cycle and download the Clue app today.

Was this article helpful?

You might also like to read

Menstrual Cycle

Cycle tracking puts you in charge

Clue’s Chief Medical Officer, Lynae Brayboy, shares six ways tracking with Clue can really help you–and others.

Popular Articles

an illustration of the Clue flower
an illustration of the Clue flower

Live in sync with your cycle and download the Clue app today.