Acupuncture has been an actively used health modality for over 3,000 years. Only in the last 30 years—and especially in the last 10 years—western medical research has been done to investigate how acupuncture actually works and to demonstrate its worth in medical trials. The National Institute of Health, American Medical Association, and American Veterinary Medical Association all recognize acupuncture as a valid modality useful for a variety of diseases.
Acupuncture has been used increasingly on horses in the U.S. over the last 20 years. In the last five years, it has moved to the forefront as a treatment modality for musculoskeletal problems, chronic obscure lamenesses, and other health problems.
The earliest recordings of acupuncture points date back to the 5th century BCE. The use of therapeutic acupuncture was further developed during the Chou dynasty in China 1100-200 BCE. Taoism and Confucianism emerged around the same time and had a strong impact on the development of traditional Chinese medicine. Horses, due to their importance in warfare, transportation and farming, were among the first animal species to be treated with acupuncture.
Acupuncture remained an active medical treatment modality in China, Japan, and other Asian countries over the centuries. President Nixon’s trip to China in the 1970’s and exposure to acupuncture anesthesia reignited the Western world’s interest in this ancient art.
Numerous recent research studies and articles have given us a rudimentary understanding of how acupuncture works. Acupuncture treatments effect the body neuro-physiologically by stimulating specific sites rich in blood vessels and nerves which respond with feedback to the Central Nervous System. This, in turn, elicits a response from the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous Systems (which control nerves and muscles to many organs and blood vessels). In response to acupuncture, neurotransmitters, such as endorphins and serotonins, are released into the bloodstream, helping to reduce pain and provide relaxation.
Medical research, often combined with double-blind placebo-controlled studies, has shown that acupuncture can decrease back pain, stimulate immune function, decrease stomach acidity, help to heal nerve paralysis, decrease blood pressure, and improve kidney function in various species. A number of studies indicate that acupuncture stimulates neural pathways in the central nervous system, which regulate neurotransmitter systems such as endorphins (the substances in your brain which induce feelings of euphoria after exercise).
In fact, brain-scanning techniques have linked changes in cerebral blood flow associated with the pain-killing effects of acupuncture. These changes are evidence that acupuncture involves both the neurotransmitter systems and the central nervous system.
Even without these recent studies, a medical practice that has been in use and passed down over 3,000 years has to have some efficacy or it would have been discarded over the years. Now our Western medical minds are more accepting of this modality because we have studies showing its effectiveness and a fundamental medical understanding of how it works.