Comprehensive Investigation on Acupuncture at ST-36 (Zusanli), SP-6 (Sanyinjiao) and PC-6 (Neiguan) in Veterinary Studies

Abstract

One of the basic concepts of traditional Chinese medicine is pain emergence from stagnation of energy [chi] and/or blood [Xue] flow along different meridians. From this point, acupuncture was arisen to remove the blockage and promote free flow of energy and blood over meridians and consequently suppress pain phenomena [1-3]. Acupuncture is frequently used to mitigate pain in different animal species [4,5]. Several clinical conditions like acute abdominal pain in large animals [6], pain of musculoskeletal and cervical neurological disorders in dogs [7], chronic back pain in performance horses [8], surgical pain in cattle, cats and dogs [9,10]have been managed with success using acupuncture. In veterinary studies, acupuncture was also successful in providing considerable analgesia against experimental pain [7,11,12]. As a pain control therapy, acupuncture is advantageous as it allows the treated patients to heal rather than suppress the existing signs along with being a minimally invasive and less risky therapy [4,[13][14][15]. This could be supported by absent or minimal pain and discomfort when acupuncture treatment is used as well as limited, infrequent adverse effects which could be encountered [accidental needle breakage, hematoma and period of excess of energy or fatigue] [14].