History

Acupuncture, as part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), owes its origins to the Chinese from anything up to 4,000 years ago. The oldest medical text book we know is the Huang-ti Nei-jing Su-wen, which describes the philosophy and rationale in question and answer form. Chinese medicine advocates the use of herbs, nutritional input (diet) and lifestyle modification, as essential companions to acupuncture. This may explain some of the failures of acupuncture done in a non-holistic and Western way.

There are very early records of the use of acupuncture in animals, but charts are still being devised for the main domestic animal species. The theory behind acupuncture is rooted in Taoist and yin-yang culture. Energy, composed of a balance between yin and yang, flows through the body in meridians or channels. These channels are related to the internal organs and disease can reach those organs via their meridian. Imbalances between yin and yang, or interruptions or disturbances in the flow of energy (qi), will give rise to disease. Acupuncture may be carefully integrated with homeopathy, provided certain aspects are carefully considered and observed.

Practical Application

Acupuncture generally uses needling for stimulation of points along the meridians. These are called acupuncture points. The points to be treated may be located far from the perceived focus of trouble.

In individual animals, many chronic and refractory diseases can respond, where conventional medication may have failed. Injuries, lameness, arthritis, paralysis and other painful conditions are most often presented for acupuncture. Other diseases may respond, however, to holistically applied Chinese Medicine.

Pain control by acupuncture is now widely accepted as a valid procedure. Research has demonstrated several known mechanisms. The deeper holistic effects of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine remain an enigma to modern medical minds, however. This does not seem to obstruct the popularity of the therapy, when modern medicine has failed.

Animals accept acupuncture very well, clearly perceiving that it is done for their benefit. If they object or show marked fear, something is wrong with the technique used for that animal. They should happily present themselves for a repeat treatment, if not upset by the technique. They may show relaxed drowsiness during (and sometimes for one or two days after) treatment or they may become activated or energised soon after. We have found out, from experience, that if treatment has failed after three sessions to relieve the symptoms, acupuncture is probably not going to help that animals problem.

From experience, we have found that acupuncture will often fail, if proper chiropractic work has not been performed alongside it. This phenomenon is not difficult to reason, once discovered, since normal nerve function and energy communication can be seriously disrupted by misalignments and resulting spasm. In fact, the Ancient Chinese were using spinal manipulation in therapy, possibly from as early as 2700 BC! It is sad that this synergy is not more widely exploited.