The Benefits of Acupuncture for Horses
Looking for a simple way to enhance your horse's health, comfort, or performance? All-natural acupuncture may offer the perfect solution.
How Does Acupuncture Work?
Acupuncture treatments relieve pain and other symptoms by restoring balance to your horse's body. Acupuncturists insert thin needles into your horse's skin to eliminate blockages that affect the flow of Qi. In Chinese medicine, Qi is an invisible energy force necessary for good physical and mental health. Qi travels through the body in a system of pathways called meridians.
Inserting needles into specific acupuncture points on a blocked meridian restores normal Qi flow and may be helpful in treating a variety of symptoms and conditions. Although you might notice an improvement in your horse's symptoms after the first acupuncture treatment, three to five treatments may be needed for best results. Treatments are painless, thanks to the hair-thin needles your veterinarian uses.
Acupuncture Relieves Pain
Acupuncture relaxes and soothes sore muscles and tissues and decreases inflammation. Treatments trigger the release of endorphins and serotonin. These hormones decrease pain and provide a calming effect. Acupuncture can be helpful for many painful conditions, including arthritis, back pain, degenerative joint disease, neck pain, lameness, and laminitis.
Treatments Boost Performance and Recovery
Acupuncture also offers performance-enhancing benefits for horses. Treatments improve muscle tone and flexibility, reduce muscle aches and stiffness after competitions or long rides, aid in recovery, and spur healing. In a preliminary research study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2023, researchers reported that acupuncture improved back mobility at the trot and free jumping at the canter in steeplechase racehorses.
Acupuncture Offers a Solution for Stress and Anxiety
Acupuncture calms the nervous system, relieves stress and anxiety, and can be helpful if your horse has a behavioral issue. You may notice that your horse is noticeably calmer just a few minutes after the insertion of the acupuncture needles.
Acupuncture Offers Natural Treatment for Health Conditions
Acupuncture offers important health benefits without any negative side effects. Treatments improve blood flow, which could start the healing process in laminitis and other conditions. Acupuncture's ability to relieve pain and regulate the digestive system may ease discomfort in horses with colic.
Treatments may also help you manage anhidrosis, a condition that occurs when sweating stops or decreases drastically. Horses with anhidrosis are at increased risk for potentially deadly heatstroke.
A case study published in EquiManagement in 2023 examined the benefits of acupuncture for a Quarter Horse gelding that didn't sweat after intense exercise. Researchers noted that some sweating resumed just one hour after an acupuncture treatment. The horse continued to receive annual treatments during early spring and summer to maintain the results.
Acupuncture can be helpful for many other conditions, including:
- Cushing's disease
- Thyroid disease
- Renal failure
- Uveitis
- Skin conditions
- Wounds
- Tendon Injuries
- Infertility
- Lameness
- Age-related weakness
Horses with Lung Conditions Could Benefit from Acupuncture
Acupuncture may improve lung function and reduce inflammation in the lungs. The treatment may be a good choice if your horse has heaves, also called equine asthma and recurrent airway obstruction. Heaves is an allergic condition that causes coughing, nasal discharge, and the inability to exercise.
Neurological Disorders May Improve with Acupuncture
Treatments calm the nerves and regulate the nervous system. Acupuncture may be helpful in improving the symptoms of suprascapular neuropathy, laryngeal hemiplegia, nerve injuries, nerve paralysis, and other neurological disorders.
Wondering if acupuncture is a good choice for your horse? Contact our office to schedule an appointment with the veterinarian.
Sources:
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association: Acupuncture Has Potential in Preliminary Study Managing Axial Stiffness in Steeplechase Racehorses: A Blinded Prospective Randomized Preliminary Study, 12/1/2023
https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/261/12/javma.23.04.0197.xml
UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Center for Equine Health: Acupuncture in Horses, 7/29/2019
https://ceh.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/health-topics/acupuncture-horses
PubMed: Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice: Clinical Application of Acupuncture in Equine Practice, 12/2022
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36244942/
Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine: Auburn Equine Veterinarian Uses Acupuncture to Treat Horses for Chronic Pain, Other Conditions, 6/12/2018
The Horse: Getting to the Point: Equine Acupuncture, 11/22/2020
https://thehorse.com/181626/getting-to-the-point-equine-acupuncture/
EquiManagement: Treating Equine Anhidrosis with Acupuncture, 3/29/2023
https://equimanagement.com/research-medical/treating-equine-anhidrosis-with-acupuncture/
