It's not unusual for a horse to have a chronic condition or lameness that doesn't respond to traditional veterinary medicine. Acupuncture is an option for treating the state through its anti-inflammatory action. At Winner's Circle Equine Veterinary Service in Ocala, FL, our veterinarian performs equine acupuncture to help horses feel better without medication. Here's a look at how equine acupuncture works.
The History of Equine Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a Chinese therapy developed over 3,000 years, with horses among the first animals treated. The Chinese found the acupoints on horses and wrote them down for posterity. Practitioners over the millennia have been using these acupoints with success, and modern science has helped refine the use of acupuncture as an alternative or complementary therapy for horses.
How Horse Acupuncture Works
Research has shown that a horse's acupoints are located in densely packed areas with structures and functions that work towards creating a pain relief response. For example, when a needle is placed on the acupoint of a horse, it stimulates a room full of lymphatic vessels, pain-relieving neurotransmitters, and nerve endings.
Stimulating an area packed with these structures causes them to go into action and create an anti-inflammatory response. Instead of holding inflammation in place, the insertion of a needle causes the body to release the inflammation and helps deliver pain relief.
What Conditions are Treatable by Acupuncture?
Acupuncture can help with musculoskeletal issues, such as tendons and ligaments, laminitis, and degenerative joint disease. In addition, the therapy has been shown in clinical trials to help with various issues ranging from neurological to chronic conditions.
The critical action of acupuncture is an anti-inflammatory response. Many disorders and chronic conditions result from inflammatory processes that slow down the ability of a horse's body to heal itself. Releasing the inflammation and stimulating the body to increase blood flow to the afflicted area slows or recovers their condition.
Acupuncture also delivers pain relief, usually immediately, to a horse living with a painful or chronic condition. It can take multiple treatments for an issue to resolve itself, but treatment with acupuncture keeps stimulating the horse's body to self-heal and return it to normal function.
Contact Winner's Circle Equine Veterinary Service in Ocala, FL, Today
Call us at our equine veterinary clinic in Ocala today to learn more about our equine acupuncture services. We can explain how it works and why it's a good treatment for inflammatory conditions. Contact us at (706) 202-5476 to schedule an appointment.
