When I first started my studies in veterinary acupuncture and found myself at the Chi Institute in Reddick, FL in 2019. I was out in the boonies, horse country with little or no cell service. I had to fly into FLL or MIA to get a car rental to drive another 2 hours to get to the country. Don’t get me wrong, the country was definitely beautiful. Large pastures and farms with Spanish moss that adorned the large Sycamore trees, armadillos crossing the dark roads at night (beware!), few restaurants until you get into the next town. I stayed a nice lady’s house along with other students renting the rooms.
I sat in the lecture hall with all these like-minded students wanting to dive into what TCVM and acupuncture had to offer. That’s when I had an aha moment! My path of spirituality and veterinary medicine came to a full circle . I knew I had to do better for the pets and at the same time, gained another tool for my tool belt of veterinary knowledge to offer our beloved pets.
Let me attempt to summarize what skill I learned (more details later in another blog) from this great school. Forgive me if it’s a bit dense.
Acupuncture and TCVM go together as it is rooted in primitive Chinese history dating back to ~8000 yrs ago. Hard to believe, I know! The spread of using sharp objects and now refined to small needles spread from China to Japan and Korea. It has only been more recent that we are seeing this type of treatment for our pets in the states.
If you have had the privilege of receiving acupuncture, you know that it can heal many illnesses, but most importantly is also utilized for preventative care. Most commonly the needles will be inserted along meridian channels (energy pathways along the entire body, 14 major ones) to stimulate the nervous system. It is thought that illness or disease is caused by this blockage of energy and hence releasing the flow will alleviate inflammation and pain.
There are a number of different ways to do acupuncture. There is dry needling and acupressure which are the most common. Acupressure is the most non-invasive way to treat pets by using your fingers to apply pressure to the meridian points. Dry needling is simple insertion of the needles into acupoints. Moxibustion is when a Chinese herb Artemesia vulgaris, or liverwort is burned over the needles to help with inflammation (smells like marijuana). Aqua-acupressure utilities a sterile fluid such as saline, vitamin B12, Adequan, lidocaine to be injected into the acupoint to cause constant stimulation or an extended period of time. Hemo-acupuncture drives the needle or hypodermic needle into a blood vessel over an acupoint to draw out heat and or toxins. Laser-acupuncture utilizes a probe attached to the laser unit to send through photon energy. Lastly, my favorite is electro-acupuncture which is dry needling, but probes are clamped onto certain needles to send through electrical energy 1-200 Hz in order to stimulate nerve fibers causing a cascade of neurochemical effects that increase healing and pain management.
There are so many different options, which do I choose? That is dependent on what your pet allows me to do. We will discuss that at consult.
It will be remised to say that solely acupuncture can balance the body out. It requires a lifestyle change to include diet and exercise (like most things). Do it together! Improve not only your life, but your pets, too.
