 Sometimes, traditional medicine alone isn't enough to help our ailing pets. In such cases, acupuncture can be a great alternative treatment that can be used either alone or combined with traditional medicine. Acupuncture can help give your pet a longer and better life.
Acupuncture is an ancient Asian healing technique that involves inserting extremely fine needles into specific points on the body to relieve pain and cure various maladies, and also incorporates external electrical muscle stimulation and exercise. These techniques can be especially helpful in therapeutic situations.
"Just as humans require physical therapy to recuperate and rehabilitate from surgery, so do animals," explains Dr. Babette Gladstein, of Park East Veterinary in NYC. Gladstein is a certified acupuncturist and has been treating large and small animals for many years, achieving great success.
Gladstein has used acupuncture treatments to bring back mobility to animals that have been totally disabled. Her practice includes treating all types of small animals and horses with acupuncture whenever she feels it's appropriate. And she believes acupuncture is one of the best modalities to incorporate into a physical therapy regime. However, she doesn't use acupuncture to treat infections, nor does she expect cancer to remit as a result. Gladstein most often uses acupuncture as an analgesic to help with pain.
Some of the most common ailments of cats and dogs that Gladstein routinely treats are musculoskeletal problems, such as hip dysplasia, arthritis, intervertebral disc disease and neuropathies. She also treats allergies, skin problems and respiratory problems, such as feline asthma. Gladstein adds acupuncture can also prevent illness by enhancing the immune system.
"Acupuncture is believed to produce an abundance of good health effects, by enhancing or restoring the natural flow of energy [Qi] in the body," she explains.
Gladstein became convinced of the efficacy of acupuncture while attending veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania. An expensive eventing horse had been in the school's hospital for several months with complications from multiple fractures of its leg. The mare had gone through multiple surgeries and was not healing well.
"Everyone who treated the horse thought nothing more could be done," Gladstein recalls. "That is, everyone except one anesthesiologist who also practiced alternative treatments. He treated the horse every few days with acupuncture and electrical stimulation, including treatments for pain and to aid her immune system and enhance the healing process. The treatments proved to be so effective that the mare was able to return home and produce foals.
"There are thousands of stories like that," Gladstein continues. "But that was the incident that convinced me to develop an expertise in this treatment modality. I decided that I wanted to do something that did no harm, and at the same time, that would have tremendous healing potential."
Gladstein says basically any animal can be successfully treated with acupuncture provided the veterinarian is fully versed in the anatomy of the animal being treated. Treating an animal this way is no different from treating a human. In fact, the technique first began in China over 3,000 years ago in order to treat both horses and humans. However, it became more widely known as an alternative treatment for humans that quickly grew in acceptance during the later part of the last century.
After Chinese researchers published clinical veterinary studies during the 1960s that formally established acupuncture's efficacy on animals such as dogs, oxen, horses and rabbits, veterinarians in the U.S. increasingly began studying it as a treatment option.
"Today it's quickly becoming as popular a treatment technique for pets as for their owners," Gladstein says.
One of Gladstein's most satisfying experiences as a veterinarian involved treating a 5-year-old shorthaired schnauzer named Moritz. His owners brought him to Gladstein after he had undergone spinal surgery to repair a ruptured disc after an accident going up stairs caused the disc to rupture. The surgery left Moritz's hind legs paralyzed. Ten days after his surgery, Gladstein began Moritz on a physical therapy regimen that included acupuncture. Two weeks later, Moritz began walking, and within 12 weeks he walked with only a slight abnormality.
"Moritz was practically a miracle dog," says Gladstein.
Another recent case was an 8-year-old mini Pomeranian with an inoperable Chiari malformation (a constriction at the brain stem). She underwent weekly treatments for 16 weeks, including acupuncture with electrical stimulation, homeopathy and nutritional supplementation. Today she is functioning normally. Just another example of how dogs, cats and horses, among other animals, are easily treated and can benefit from acupuncture therapy.
"Acupuncture is one of the safest therapies available when practiced by a competent acupuncturist," says Gladstein. "Side effects are unusual. It balances the body's healing system, no chemicals are administered, and complications rarely develop."
As Published In Long Island Press |
