Acupuncture: What's the Point?

Our patients here at PAWS Veterinary Center enjoy having three doctors on staff offering acupuncture as a treatment modality for various conditions and not just for our rehabilitation patients! This complementary modality is a safe, non-invasive, and successful way to treat pain as well as many other illnesses and conditions such as those listed below.

Veterinary medical acupuncture is science-based and is the application of very slender, sterile needles to specific points on the body near nerves and vessels leading to improved comfort and function of specific muscles, organs and nerves through neuromodulation and enhancing blood flow.

Acupuncture is an important component of many of our rehabilitation patients’ treatment plans for injuries such as:

• Orthopedic injury including arthritis in joints, hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, knee injury, shoulder pain, tendonitis and much more.
• Neurologic disease including neck and/or back pain, unsteady walking, and limb weakness.
• Soft tissue injury including muscular spasm, knots or pain.
• Fecal and/or urinary incontinence.
• Post-operative recovery for pain management (decrease oral medications needed).
• Limb swelling or edema.
• Local pain and anti-inflammation.

We can also target many other disease processes through acupuncture and improve comfort and recovery such as:

• Gastrointestinal disease causing nausea, decreased appetite, diarrhea, and constipation.
• Emotional anxiety/stress.
• Rhinitis/sinusitis.
• Reproductive problems.
• Eye illnesses including glaucoma, dry eye, and others.
• Kidney and/or liver disease.
• Seizures.
• Cancer.
• Auto-immune diseases.

Acupuncture is well tolerated by nearly all patients, and once they realize that they are more relaxed and comfortable afterwards patients begin to get excited to come in for more treatments!

Interested in learning more about veterinary acupuncture? Check Out These Websites:

American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture

Vetstreet.com: Acupuncture Demystified by Dr. Narda Robison DO, DVM, MS, DABMA, FAAMA, 2012