A married couple desperate for a baby have been told they've been having sex the wrong way for four years - which is why they failed to concieve.

The pair who have not been named, but are aged 26 and 24, sought out professional advice after having no joy getting pregnant, despite having intercourse regularly.

But alarm bells rang when medics discovered the wife was a virgin. She then admitted sex was "usually painful" for her every time.

Obstetrician Liu Hongmei said: "The couple were very young, the man 26 and the woman 24. They were very healthy, but, despite being married for four years, couldn't conceive.

Their families were putting pressure of them to produce offspring (stock image)

"Their family was giving them a lot of stress because of it," she added.

While asking about the wife's medical history during the visit, Liu was told that the couple had sex regularly.

The wife also revealed that the experience was "unusually painful" for her every time, but she suffered through it in the hope of becoming pregnant.

The woman's symptoms led Doctor Liu to believe that she may have had some sort of gynaecological disease.

But Liu said she was "shocked" when an examination revealed the wife to be a virgin.

According to China's Guiyang Evening Post, Liu's "experience" led her to inspect the woman's anus.

The couple said they were having sexual intercourse regularly

It was then that the medic is said to have learned the couple had been mistakenly having anal sex for four years, resulting in their failure to conceive.

Doctor Liu reportedly handed the couple, from Bijie city in China's south-western Guizhou province, each a sex-education handbook.

She also gave them "guidelines" before they were sent home.

The advice appeared to work, as news of the wife's pregnancy arrived just a few months later.

The couple had been having sex the wrong way for four years

They reportedly informed the now retired doctor that they were finally expecting - by sending 100 eggs and a live hen as gifts to her former hospital.

Liu said: "Four years of marriage and neither the husband nor wife knew how to get pregnant. Couples so lacking in general knowledge are very rare."

She added: "But it is not uncommon for people to lack or have misconceptions regarding sexual knowledge."