The Top Five Reasons to Add Medical Acupuncture to Your Equine Practice

by Narda G. Robinson, DO, DVM, MS, CRPM, FAAMA

Do you feel “stuck” by having limited ways to address pain? Are your clients asking for safer and more effective options to improve their horses’ performance?

Here are five ways in which adding medical acupuncture to your practice can help:

• Learn how to assess and treat equine back and neck pain.
• Expand treatment options for chronic laminitis.
• Reduce generalized soft tissue pain.
• Improve gait and reduce lameness.
• Add non-pharmacologic analgesia for acute and chronic pain after trauma or surgery.

References

1. Riccio B et al.  Two multicenter surveys on equine back pain 10 years apart.  Front Vet Sci. 2018; Aug 23:5:195.
2. Dunkel B et al.  A pilot study of the effects of acupuncture treatment on objective and subjective gait parameters in horses.  Vet Anaesth Analg. 2017; 44(1):154-162.
3. Xie H et al. Evaluation of electroacupuncture treatment of horses with signs of chronic thoracolumbar pain. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2005;227(2):281-286.
4. Faramarzi B et al. Response to acupuncture treatment in horses with chronic laminitis.  Can Vet J. 2017;58(8):823-827.
5. Lee D et al.  Comparison of first and second acupuncture treatments in horses with chronic laminitis.  Iran J Vet Res. 2019;20(1):9-12.
6. Still J.  Acupuncture treatment of pain along the Gall Bladder Meridian in 15 Horses.  J Acup & Meridian Stud. 2015;(5):259-263.
7. Xie H.  Can acupuncture be used in equine practice?  AAEP Proceedings. 2018; 64: 320-329.