All About Equine Acupuncture

We’ve previously covered the benefits of acupuncture for both humans AND animals — further proving the efficacy, importance and versatility of acupuncture treatment. And while it’s becoming more widespread within the animal kingdom, perhaps the most success so far can be seen within the horse population.

As a recent article from Ocala.com explains, acupuncture is helping horses to heal, avoid surgeries, lessen pain, and release endorphins.

After practicing acupuncture for 35 years Dr. Huisheng Xie recently opened the Equine Acupuncture Center in Reddick, Florida. It is there that horse owner Lousia Flaig sought treatment for her 14 year old horse Songline, who had previously had surgery for an injured tendon. Unfortunately, the surgery was unsuccessful, and the horse had not been able to return to his prior activities in eventing, and a s a stallion.

Flaig explained, “We were looking for an alternative. He already had surgery once. I feel doing this, we can’t go wrong, and with surgery we can make it worse.”

So, Xie performed acupuncture treatment on Songline, inserting acuneedles along points in the horse’s back and leg, and connected them to electric stim. Perhaps surprisingly or perhaps not for true acupuncture believers, “Within minutes the horses lower lip began to droop, a sign of a relaxed horse.”

Xie explained this as the release of endorphins having a morphine-like effect.

In further support of veterinary acupuncture, recent vet school grad Emily Roth said that throughout her experience with the practice being used on animals, “I really saw very profound results. Predominantly, pain relief in a lot of lameness cases and chronic pain issues. It treats the whole body and helps the body heal itself and ultimately that should be the goal in medicine versus using more invasive techniques.”

Instead of subjecting animals to surgeries that require extensive healing time and further rehabilitation, more and more anecdotal evidence as well as research supports . the notion of trying acupuncture first, or in conjunction with more traditional therapies.