How the Ancient wisdom of acupuncture will boost your Four-legged soul mates health span.

Is your animal companion struggling to keep up? Are your adventures cut short by the tug for home?

Acupuncture is the tool that veterinarians learn to increase life force or Qi.

Qi is related to the season, the movements of the planets and the food we eat. Qi determines how our companion greets the morning and their response to stress.

Modern science explains how Qi responds to acupuncture treatment to 

• Relieve pain

• Accelerate tissue healing

• Reduce emotional and physical stress

• Reduce inflammation and balance the immune response
  

Acupuncture treatment achieves these goals by recruiting the natural chemicals and body systems your animal was born with.

The treatment acts as a switch to allow the Qi to flow.

How the nervous system acts as a switch for healing when an acupoint is stimulated.

The reduction of physical and emotional stress occurs due to the release of endorphins, particularly beta endorphins which have a potent pain-relieving effect. This effect is mediated by the limbic system in the brain which is responsible for homeostasis in the body. This has a relaxing effect on the muscular system and in turn the circulatory system producing physiological homeostasis and autonomic nervous system homeostasis. Improving the circulation allows tissue perfusion and accelerates soft tissue healing. The initial pain relief is mediated by the nervous system, and the later pain relief is due to tissue healing.

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Direct observation of the human brain via PET and fMRI imaging has expanded our understanding of acupuncture analgesia. A study performed in 2015 observed the activation of the cingulate cortex, the thalamus and the motor areas in the brain when a painful heat stimulus was applied to a finger. When an acupuncture needle was placed in the acupuncture point close to the deep peroneal nerve in the leg the fMRI revealed a significant decrease in activation of the cingulate cortex and thalamic nucleus and the human experienced less pain.(Ma et al,2015)

The efficacy of acupuncture is supported by modern science. A meta-analysis of 29 random controlled trials with a total of 17,922 patients concluded that acupuncture was superior to both sham and no acupuncture controls for many pain conditions. (Vickers. A et al 2012).

Choosing the best acupoint guided by Veterinary Digital Infrared Thermal imaging (DITI)

Medical DITI involves taking images with a camera containing an infrared scanning device to evaluate change in skin surface temperature. The camera converts infrared radiation to electrical impulses which are viewed as a thermogram. DITI has been recognised as a valuable diagnostic tool since 1987 by the AMA Council on Scientific Affairs, by US Congress of Neurosurgeons in 1988 and by the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Active acupuncture points show an increased surface temperature and when treated results in a rapid response and change in the patient’s pulse. 

A study which used DITI to guide acupuncture treatment in patients with peripheral facial paralysis recorded a significantly larger cure rate in a shorter period than the control group (Zhang, 2007)

Digital thermography along with pulse diagnosis allows me to create the most effective individualized acupoint prescription for your animal.

A study in Germany investigated the efficacy of DITI in distinguishing the response to needling of Hegu(LI4) metatarsal 2 point and a sham cutaneous and muscular point in healthy human volunteers. Needling LI4 resulted in a significant increase in surface temperature of 2 degrees C after 10 minutes of needling whereas sham point needling resulting in cooling of the monitored area. (Agarwei-Kozlowski et al, 2009) 

Digital Thermography helps me scientifically choose the best switch to activate the Qi, or life force and then confirm your animal’s response to the acupuncture treatment. 

References

Agarwal-Kozlowski, Kamayni, Ann-Christin Lange, and Helge Beck. "Contact-free infrared thermography for assessing effects during acupuncture: a randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled crossover clinical trial." The Journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists 111.3 (2009): 632-639.

Casas-Alvarado A, Ogi A, Villanueva-García D, Martínez-Burnes J, Hernández-Avalos I, Olmos-Hernández A, Mora-Medina P, Domínguez-Oliva A, Mota-Rojas D. Application of Infrared Thermography in the Rehabilitation of Patients in Veterinary Medicine. Animals. 2024; 14(5):696. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14050696

Ma, Yun tao et al. Biomedical Acupuncture for Pain Management. (2015) Ch 4 The Neural Basis of Acupuncture. Ebook published by www.clinicalgate.com accessed 9 March 22

Vickers AJ, Cronin AM, Maschino AC, et al. Acupuncture for chronic pain: individual patient data meta-analysis. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2012 Oct;172(19):1444-1453.

Zhang, Dong. "A method of selecting acupoints for acupuncture treatment of peripheral facial paralysis by thermography." The American journal of Chinese medicine 35.06 (2007): 967-975.