Page 129 - September 2015

The body reacts in predictable ways when acupuncture is used to relieve pain, relax muscles, improve digestion and dissipate stress.
“These are very thin needles, much smaller than we use for giving injections, so they
don’t stimulate much response. Occasionally, however, I have a horse that tries to kick when I’m doing it. There are a few horses that do not like acupuncture. I had one patient that really hated acupuncture, but his owner liked me to work on that horse because afterward the horse really felt good. But all the time I’d be doing acupuncture on his back, I was trying to keep from getting kicked. Yet when I’d get done with that horse, he performed marvelously in the show ring.” Even though it hurt at the time, the acupuncture treatment relieved the back pain that was bothering the horse.
Connally says sore backs are often second- ary to something else like sore hocks or front foot soreness. “We are usually just treating a secondary symptom, some other problem that’s made the back sore. The pain relief helps the back, while we deal with the primary problem,” he explains.
“There are other acupuncturists who use
it more broadly than I do, but it is a good tool in my toolbox. It has helped me identify back pain in many horses. I was not very good at recognizing and pinpointing back pain in horses until I started doing acupuncture. It has totally changed my physical exam and helps me recognize and identify back pain - and made me so much better at diagnosing it. I am sure
I missed a lot of things before I started using this,” he says.
Veterinarians who use acupuncture often check acupuncture points each time they examine a horse. In horses, there is a very predictable reactivity to various acupuncture points associated with certain problems. For instance, when looking at lameness or subclini- cal problems in which the horse is not visibly lame but something is not right, acupuncture can give a wealth of information. It may show exactly where the horse is lame or where he is experiencing discomfort. If the acupuncture indicates it’s in the foot, they can then x-ray the foot. This gives a place to start.
Acupuncture works very well for mares with excess fluid in the uterus after breeding. Electro-acupuncture stimulates fluid release, with obvious and quick results. Within 15 minutes of finishing the acupuncture, we can ultrasound the mare and see the difference. Usually, the mare will posture and urinate right after the acupuncture and the uterus will cramp a little. When you ultrasound the mare 15 minutes later, the extra fluid is gone.
Acupuncture is also effective in some cases of head-shaking, and is amazingly affective
for anhidrosis (inability to sweat). Like any other treatment for anhidrosis, it works much better if the horse is only mildly affected or only recently developed this problem. It doesn’t
work quite as well if the horse has had the problem for several years. Acupuncture works for back pain, neck pain, and navicular disease, though this requires multiple treatments. The needles are put into soft tissue at the back of the foot and stimulated by electro-acupuncture for 30 minutes.
Acupuncture is also helpful for horses that have damage to the facial nerve due to a blow to the face or dental surgery. It also helps horses with radial nerve damage in the foreleg due to a kick from another horse, sweeney (damage to the suprascapular nerve at the point of the shoulder), or “roaring” due to laryngeal nerve damage.
The western medical approach to these conditions includes injecting steroids or other anti-inflammatory drugs, but has limited success. Acupuncture, just with needles or
with electro-acupuncture or injecting vitamin B12 into the affected area, will increase the success rate tremendously. Most acupuncture points are located on nerves, and knowing their location allows the practitioner to treat the damaged nerve.
Acupuncture is helpful for skin problems and itching. Just inserting any needle into any tissue in the horse’s body will lead to an open- ing of the blood vessels. Acupuncture can help with any disease that has caused constriction of blood vessels, such as laminitis.
Dr. Connally wraps the needles with a copper wire so they conduct electricity to create a micro- current at the spot in order to stimulate nerves.
Dr. Connally uses traditional acupuncture dry needles, which are very small in diameter, sticking them through the skin or into the tissues and then he works the needle up and down in the trigger point.
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equine health