Acupuncture
In our practice, acupuncture is used as a treatment method for horses, dogs, cats and humans.
Acupuncture is part of Traditional Chinese medicine and has been used in China for at least 3000 years on humans and animals. The word acupuncture comes from Latin: “acus” means needle and “pungere” means piercing: by puncturing certain points on the skin a certain desired physiological effect is achieved. Traditionally, extremely thin needles were used for this.
Method
The acupuncture points are part of a system of meridians that run across the body. Meridians are simply pathways that send energy (also called Chi) to all parts of the body. The acupuncture points can be described as energy pools that are used to balance the energy.
Function
The results of acupuncture in animals, such as horse, dog, cat and of course other animal groups, are often good and are often achieved faster than in humans, provided of course with the correct diagnosis and therapy. Perhaps because they do not resist therapy and carry less issues with them on a psychological level. It is striking that many animals fall asleep during treatment, or become very calm, even with animals that are difficult to handle.
Acupuncture can contribute to the cure for a wide range of diseases, or at least keep certain issues at an acceptable level, such as pain in all kinds of chronic conditions.
Acupuncture is an extremely safe method of treatment that has no lasting side effects.
Treatment
Acupuncture can be combined with other Western or Traditional medicine and other therapies, except with some drugs such as corticosteroids. Often acupuncture ointment is used, instead of needles, in order to burden the animals as little as possible. In addition, Japanese acupuncture, dry needling and laser therapy applied in practice. This technique is non-invasive: it works with Ankh needles that are not pierced through the skin; the Ankh needles are pressed against the skin to balance the point in question (or to tonise or sedate).
In veterinary medicine, acupuncture is mainly used for:
- pain complaints
- movement disorders (such as hip dysplasia, osteoarthritis and other lameness, hernia and spondylosis)
- neurological disorders
- gynecological problems
- gastrointestinal problems
- lung problems
- emotional problems.
Another additional advantage of acupuncture is that it treats the animal as a whole and not just the complaint.