Veterinary acupuncture

Introduction: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severe disease of the central nervous system with a very high disability rate that seriously affects the daily life of patients. Acupuncture is one of the rehabilitation therapies that has shown significant efficacy in treating post-SCI complications such as motor disorders, neuropathic pain, and neurogenic bladder. Current studies have focused on the effectiveness and mechanisms of acupuncture for SCI, but no studies are available to analyze the bibliometrics of publications related to this area...

Dachshunds are at significant risk of experiencing thoracolumbar intervertebral disk herniation (IVDH) during their lifetimes. Standard of care includes advanced imaging, surgical intervention, and postoperative rehabilitation. Conservative management is commonly recommended for cases where the standard of care is declined, and little is known about the prognosis of treatment with conservative management and rehabilitation (nonsurgical rehabilitation). This retrospective cohort study assessed 12-week functional outcome and recurrence of clinical signs in 40 dachshunds with T3-L3 myelopathy presumed to be due to Hansen's Type I disc herniation, treated with nonsurgical rehabilitation...

The use of veterinary acupuncture for pain relief is expanding among small animal practitioners. Although acupuncture was developed as part of the medical system in Ancient China, research into the scientific basis of its effects is expanding rapidly. Acupuncture is very effective for analgesia on a local, segmental, and suprasegmental level. Many forms of acupuncture can be used independently or as part of a balanced multi-modal approach for the control of acute and chronic pain. In the hands of a skilled practitioner, acupuncture can be a safe and effective modality for treating pain in companion animals...

The use of complementary and alternative veterinary medicine (CAVM) continues to become more widespread, especially for the management of chronic pain conditions such as canine osteoarthritis. Many patients have comorbidities that preclude traditional medical options, have not adequately responded to conventional therapies, or have owners interested in pursuing a complementary approach. Evidence-based CAVM can serve as a safe and effective adjunct to manage chronic pain conditions. There is growing evidence in the veterinary literature for the use of acupuncture and some herbal supplements in the multimodal management of canine osteoarthritis...

BACKGROUND: In humans, multiple researchers have not only determined that there is a relationship between urinary incontinence (UI) and lower back pain (LBP), but that by treating the LBP, clinicians are able to improve or resolve the UI. Up until now, no equivalent canine research has investigated whether treatment of LBP can improve the clinical signs of acquired, non-neurologic UI in dogs. AIM: To determine if a relationship exists between LBP and urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence (USMI) in dogs...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the use of a customized 3-D-printed titanium prosthesis as adjunctive treatment for foramen magnum decompression (FMD) in dogs with Chiari-like malformation (CM) and syringomyelia (SM). ANIMALS: 8 dogs with clinical signs and MRI findings of CM-SM. PROCEDURES: 3-D reconstruction of CT images of the head was used to simulate an occipital craniectomy and design the prosthesis. FMD was performed, and the prosthesis was implanted...

To reduce the circulation path of the output current of traditional electroacupuncture (TEA) process in the body, a simple single-acupoint electroacupuncture (SEA) frame was designed and the acupuncture effect of SEA was evaluated through Hou-san-li (ST-36) and Qian-san-li (LI-10) acupoints. Forty-two healthy New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into seven groups and underwent acupuncture for 20 min in an awake state. Blood samples aseptically collected from the ear vein 3 h before acupuncture and 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 24 h after acupuncture were used for the detection of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatine kinase MB (CK-MB) and motilin (MTL) in serum...

Some complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) are frequently criticised for being based on faith rather than scientific evidence. Despite this, researchers, academic departments, and institutes teach and investigate them. This article assesses whether the scholarship produced by four CAMs is valued by the academic community in terms of citations, and whether the level of citations received might be detrimental to academic authors' careers. Based on an analysis of acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, and osteopathy journal articles indexed in Scopus 1996-2020, the results show that the prevalence of the four areas vary substantially internationally, with acupuncture eclipsing the others in East Asia but homeopathy being more common in India and Brazil...

As one of the conventional treatment methods, acupuncture is an indispensable component of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Currently, acupuncture has been partly accepted throughout the world, but the mechanism of acupuncture is still unclear. Since the theory of the neuro-endocrine-immune network was put forward, new insights have been brought into the understanding of the mechanism of acupuncture. Studies have proven that acupuncture is a mechanical stimulus that can activate local cell functions and neuroreceptors...

The practice of acupuncture is becoming increasingly popular in veterinary medicine, especially as a method of providing pain relief. Originally based on principles derived from centuries of observation, conventional scientific mechanisms of action for acupuncture as a pain-relieving modality have recently been elucidated. Acupuncture points allow access to multiple regions of the body via the peripheral nervous system and its connection with the central nervous system. Local, segmental (spinal), and suprasegmental (brain) effects of acupuncture involve enhanced release of pain-relieving endogenous substances (e...

Naturopathic and complementary procedures attain increasing popularity in veterinary medicine. A common understanding of definitions and contents of these fields is crucial for communication between pet owners and veterinarians. This paper reviews the existing definitions and the various contents of naturopathy and complementary veterinary medicine as well as their assigned treatment options. Naturopathy includes phytotherapy, hydro-therapy, thermotherapy, electrotherapy, manual therapy/chiropractic/osteopathy, and dietetic treatment...

Background: The objective of the study to evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture during laparotomy in goats. Aim: To study the abdominal anesthesia in goats by electroacupuncture using the physiological variables, vital parameters, hematological, biochemical, cortisol hormone, pain threshold, and wound healing for laparotomy in goats. Methods: Fifteen healthy adult bucks were used to receive electroacupuncture in 10 newly selected acupoints...

This study aims to determine the effect of laser puncture shooting on the reproductive acupuncture points of Japanese quail ( Coturnix coturnix japonica ) egg quantity (egg production) and internal egg quality (Haugh unit, yolk index, and yolk colour). This research was conducted for 30 days using a sample of Japanese quail aged 4 weeks because for the first 2 weeks, the quail did not produce and it was in production in the last 2 weeks. There were 4 treatments and 25 replications each. So, there were a total of 100 quails...

The management of chronic pain is an integral challenge of small animal veterinary practitioners. Multiple pharmacological agents are usually employed to treat maladaptive pain including opiates, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, anticonvulsants, antidepressants, and others. In order to limit adverse effects and tolerance development, they are often combined with non-pharmacologic measures such as acupuncture and dietary interventions. Accumulating evidence suggests that non-neuronal cells such as mast cells and microglia play active roles in the pathogenesis of maladaptive pain...

In this controlled, blinded, randomized block pilot study, the main objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of intravenous flunixin meglumine, phenylbutazone, and acupuncture on ocular pain relief using a multifactorial pain scale in the horse. Four experimental horses underwent corneal epithelial debridement in four sessions, when a randomly selected treatment or a control was used. All horses were pain scored before corneal wounding, then at 18 time points, when 11 parameters were allocated. Differences in the area under the curve of pain scores between the treatment groups were analyzed using a paired t-test...

A captive female Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus ), approximately 30 yr old, was struck by lightning and displayed obtundation, dysphagia, drooling, and muscle weakness. A physical examination, hematologic test, blood gas analysis, and electrocardiogram were performed. Treatments included the administration of mannitol, dexamethasone, antibiotics, analgesics, vitamins, and intravenous fluid. Conventional therapy resulted in improvement but not complete resolution of clinical signs. Therefore, acupuncture was integrated into the treatment protocol...

In recent years, the use of acupuncture and electroacupuncture has been increasing as more clinical research has been conducted showing positive results in the treatment of animals, particularly dogs. Electroacupuncture is a more complex and specific acupuncture technique that involves electrical stimulation on acupuncture needles. Most of the studies have shown that the beneficial effects of electroacupuncture are more evident than in acupuncture alone. This review included studies focused only on dogs with spinal cord injury...

An 11-year-old spayed female West Highland terrier dog was evaluated because of a 2-month history of progressive hind limb weakness and ataxia. The dog was bright, alert, responsive, and showing no signs of pain but was moderately ataxic in both hind limbs, and was experiencing intermittent fecal incontinence. Computed tomography and myelogram led to a diagnosis of constrictive myelopathy secondary to thoracic caudal articular facet dysplasia. The dog was discharged without undergoing decompressive surgery, and has remained stable with a combination of acupuncture, laser therapy, and physical therapy...

CASE REPORT: A 12-year-old castrated male dog with nonambulatory tetraplegia was diagnosed with spinal stenosis at C3-C4 through X-ray examination and with ventral extradural spinal compression at C3-C4 through myelography and computed tomography. The diagnosis of traditional Chinese veterinary medicine was local Qi and blood stagnation, spleen Qideficiency, blood deficiency, and kidney Yang deficiency. We initiated treatment using a combination of acupuncture and Chinese medicine iontophoresis with laser therapy...

Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners believed that the maintenance of the health status of any individual or animal is by the harmonious flow of Chi (life force) along a pathway known as the meridian. Interruption or blockage of Chi brings about disorders, pain, and diseases. Acutherapy, therefore, aims at correcting the interruption or blockage of the harmonious flow of Chi along the meridian to restore the healthy condition of the body system. This correction could be accomplished by either acupuncture or acupressure, and are both collectively referred to as acutherapy...