RE: [RC] Vitamin E deficiency in horses - Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.
Susan, what conditions respond best
to acupuncture?
Dyane (home of many lame horses
The very best responses are chronic or
acute muscle spasms/inflammation secondary to overwork, poor saddle fit, poor
equitation, things like that. One session is usually enough to get the muscles
to relax and give the horse some relief. The elctro stim works on the same
principles as a TENS unit, the primary difference being that a TENS electrode
pad is placed on the skin---so it has to overcome the resistance of hair and
skin before the current can reach muscle, and so does so fairly poorly and
superficially. If the electrical pulses are sent down through a thin needle
instead, there’s no skin/hair resistance to overcome, the placement is
very specific and exact and the current can be delivered up to eight inches
below the skin. Pretty powerful stuff.
General arthritis issues also respond to
acupuncture, but it generally takes more than one session, and may just be too
expensive for multiple visits. I’ve used it for horses that are having
some pretty serious for different inflammatory conditions, but wouldn’t
use it exclusively without other therapies as well (bute, fentanyl, whatever).
I used it in one horse with terrible acute laminitis, and it may or may not
have helped, but I was also using every other anti-inflammatory available, the
acupuncture was not in any way the only therapy used.
I don’t use it myself for acute
colic, but I know some other vets that swear by it. You’ll never catch
me throwing away my supplies of banamine or buscopan in favor of acupuncture.
I work pretty often at a barn full of dressage
horses and they can get pretty darn sore. The acupuncture seems to really help
if they’re treated for general muscle ouchiness (none of them show on
bute), especially for the 4th and Prix St George level horses. At
least, the owner says they don’t pin their ears and swish their tails when
she touches their back and hindquarters and they can handle much longer and
harder training sessions (yes, these guys really do work for a living).
So I think it’s terrific for muscle
problems, useful but maybe not economically feasible for chronic arthritis, and
less-valuable-than-pharmaceuticals for acute medical issues.
