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Acupuncture is one of the 5 pillars that make up Tradition Chinese Medicine, or in our case, Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM). These 5 pillars include acupuncture, herbal medicine, diet, Tui-Na, and Qi-Gong. In TCVM we often use acupuncture in conjunction with herbal therapy and food therapy to treat disease patterns and pathologies.
TCVM has been used in China for thousands of years to treat animals. TCVM is what we call a wholistic or circular approach medicine in that it treats the animal as a whole, rather than treating a specific symptom of a disease.
Acupuncture follows the basic principle that the energy in the body ‘Qi’ should be in balance and move freely through the meridians. The meridian system is the connection between the acupuncture points ‘Shu Xue’ and the internal and external function of the whole body. The meridians is also described as a pathway in which Qi is circulated. We can therefore use acupuncture points on the meridians to treat all kinds of imbalances within the body.
In recent years, as acupuncture has become a more commonplace in western culture, there has been a lot of research into how it works from a western medicine perspective.
We know for example that acupuncture points are in areas where there is a high density of free nerve endings, arterioles, lymphatic vessels and mast cells. We also know that acupuncture works through a series of interactions between the nervous system, the endocrine system and the immune system. There has also been studies showing the increase in beta-endorphins (pain relief pathway) and serotonin from acupuncture.
There are lots of papers and theories out there if you are interested in learning more.
What Acupuncture Can and Cannot Treat
The Validity of Acupuncture in Veterinary Medicine
Biophysical Characteristics of Meridians and Acupoints: A Systematic Review
