Help Your Horse with Acupuncture
horse. Scientific integrated medicine and acupuncture is as much about internal medicine, neurology, and anatomy as any other form of health care for your horse. Your veterinarian is best trained to assist you with the medical needs of your horse.
The theory of acupuncture is very simple. Very fine sterile needles are inserted into the body at specific locations. Those needles stimulate the nervous system and cause the body to respond. That’s it! The complex part of this treatment is knowing where those specific points are, and what the complicated responses will be. Becoming certified in veterinary acupuncture is more about studying the muscular and neurologic systems than anything else.
Acupuncture points are found along lines or “channels” on the body. Originally these paths were named after body organs, and that naming system has stuck to this day. Humans, dogs, horses, etc., all have these channels such as bladder, kidney, liver, stomach, and gall bladder (although the horse doesn’t have the latter organ). For the most part the location of these channels and points has nothing to do with the organ it’s named after, but keeping this same terminology allows for consistency when recording and discussing treatments for your horse.
The central nervous system (CNS) is made up of the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system is made up of all other nerves connecting to the CNS; for example, hitting your funny bone is stimulating your ulnar nerve of your peripheral nervous system. Placement of acupuncture needles is used to stimulate the peripheral system in this same way. The goal is for the peripheral system to “talk to” the central system and let the body regulate function itself.
Horses have two great design features for acupuncture – long spines and long legs. While you might think this just makes for more areas to get sore, it actually gives us lots of access points to treat many problems. Nerves exit the spinal vertebra at different segments and travel to locations on the body. For example, the lower neck is innervated by C4-C5-C6 spinal nerves. This same segment gives rise to nerves that travel down the forelimb. This allows us to use acupuncture points distant from the actual problem, and treat lower-right-side neck pain with needles down lower on the leg. The big advantage to this is that we can use multiple acupuncture points to treat the same area, and increase the stimulation from our treatment
Believe it or not, you have done a form of acupuncture on yourself, or acupressure at least. What’s the first thing you did when you hit your thumb with a hammer? You shook or grabbed your thumb and squeezed it. The hammer hurt, but the squeeze – not so much. This is the “Gate Control Theory of Pain” which states that “non-painful input [squeezing] closes the ‘gates’ to painful input [bad hammering], which prevents pain sensation from traveling to the central nervous system. Therefore, stimulation by non-painful input is able to suppress pain.” Another way to think about it is the first input to the “gate” at the spinal cord wins the race
The same input happens with acupuncture needles in your horse. Mild, non-painful stimulation from the needles can override the pain input from a variety of conditions. Depending on the severity of the pain, relief may be immediate and last a variable length of time. Some cases of tense muscular pain respond very quickly and relax once the needle stimulation wins the “race to the gate.”
What’s a Typical Acupuncture Visit?
As with any procedure, the first thing your vet will do is examine your horse. There are several different types of exams depending on the presenting complaint. For acupuncture we use a myofascial palpation exam (MPE). This MPE is a very thorough hands-on palpation and manipulation of the entire body to identify areas of discomfort and dysfunction. If problems are identified that require other types of exams, such as lameness or neurological, your veterinarian will discuss those and formulate a plan with you.
