SemenBoost

Sperm health

Total motile sperm count

Total motile sperm count multiplies volume, concentration and motility. It is not a WHO reference limit and does not decide fertility.

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Short answer

Total motile sperm count (TMSC) estimates how many moving sperm are in the whole ejaculate: volume in ml × concentration in million per ml × the motility percentage divided by 100. The result is in millions. WHO and NICE do not publish TMSC as one of the semen reference limits, and a calculated TMSC does not say whether you are fertile.

Key takeaways

  • Use total motility or progressive motility deliberately. They produce different totals.
  • Some clinics use TMSC when discussing IUI. Their cut-offs are service rules, not SemenBoost diagnoses.
  • A low TMSC can come from volume, concentration, motility, or a combination.
  • The calculator does not store the numbers you enter.

The calculation

Example, using total motility: 2 ml × 20 million/ml × 0.50 = 20 million motile sperm. The same sample with 30% progressive motility gives 12 million if you use progressive motility instead. Both calculations can be honest. They are not the same result, so the calculator asks which motility figure you are using.

There is no SemenBoost cut-off

You will see clinic protocols that mention a total motile count when they discuss intrauterine insemination or IVF. Those thresholds differ, they were chosen for a treatment pathway, and they are not the WHO lower reference limits for concentration or motility. SemenBoost will not relabel your calculation as “suitable for IUI” or “needs ICSI”.

What to do with a low figure

Check the inputs against the report, including whether any of the sample was lost. If concentration, motility or total sperm number is below the reference limit, the usual clinical response is the one NICE describes for an abnormal semen analysis: confirm it, sooner if sperm are absent or extremely low, and interpret it with an examination and history. The motility page and the count page explain the inputs.

Questions

Is total motile sperm count the same as total sperm number?

No. Total sperm number counts all sperm. Total motile sperm count counts only the moving fraction. A total sperm number of 40 million at 50% motility is a TMSC of about 20 million.

Related

Sources

  1. WHO laboratory manual for the examination and processing of human semen, 6th edition — World Health Organization, 2021
  2. Fertility problems: assessment and treatment (NG257) — NICE, 2026
  3. Diagnosis and Treatment of Infertility in Men: AUA/ASRM Guideline (amended 2024) — American Urological Association, 2024
How this page was prepared

Drafted with automated research assistance and checked against the cited primary sources. A named clinician has not reviewed this page. Medical review is pending. Changes to reference values are not published automatically.