Acupuncture Meridians in Animals

Acupuncture meridians are thought channels in which the body's energy Qi flows. A special acupuncture chart for each species needs to be used by veterinary acupuncturists. Some meridians, like the Conception vessel, are not used as often as in acupuncture for humans.

A acupuncture diagram shows how all parts of the body are connected between each other.

Acupuncture or acupressure points are allocated along these channels.

In both, human and veterinary acupuncture these channels are located similarly throughout the body.

However, the anatomy of humans and animal species varies considerably and therefore the location of acu points can be very different.

Channels, Points and Qi

There are 12 meridians for acupuncture running
parallel along both sides of the body. Each of them connects to a specific organ.

Eight extra acupuncture meridians, so-called vessels or channels, do not link to specific organs. They are functioning as a pathway for "Qi" or energy flow.

The two most important vessels are the Governing and Conception vessel.

The Conception vessel starts at the head and runs down the center of the body at the front.

The Governing vessel runs upwards along the centre of the back to the head.

The traditional Chinese system identifies every acupuncture point by its name and function.

For simpler understanding, a numerical identification is now globally accepted.

 

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The 12 Major Meridians

• Governor Vessel (GV)
• Conception Vessel (CV)


• Heart (HT)
• Pericardium (PC)
• Lung (LU)
• Small Intestine (SI)
• Large Intestine (LI)
• Kidney (KI)
• Stomach (ST)
• Liver (LR)
• Spleen (SP)
• Gallbladder (GB)
• Bladder (BL)
• Triple Energiser (TE)

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Why Are Acupuncture Points on Meridians Numbered Differently?

Points are numbered according to the direction of flow of Qi.

That means where Qi flows from the body towards an extremity, numbering of the acu points will increase towards the end of the extremity.

On the other side, if Qi flows alongside a meridian from the extremity (e.g. hand or paw) towards the body, numbering of the points increases towards the body.

According to this numbering system the location of acu points can be exactly described.

Example

GV 14 is the name of the fourteenth point along the Governing vessel. This point can be found on the posterior or dorsal midline between the spinous processus of the last cervical and the first thoracic vertebrae.

Western acupuncture uses this numeric system. It allows us to write down the exact treatment in a very short manner. It is a simple and efficient way of communicating and describing placement of needles during a treatment.

However, sometimes it is hard to understand why, e.g. the Large intestine meridian runs up the forearm (or in animals the front leg) and not somewhere over the abdomen.

Also, in Western medicine, we don't know an organ called Triple Energizer.

Transpositional Points and Acupuncture Meridians

In acupuncture meridian charts the location of acu points is transpositioned from the human body to the equivalent anatomic site in animal species.

Transpositioned meridian locations cause controversy in the veterinary field: the variety of species and their specific anatomy questions the importance of some acu-points in animals.

The LI 4 (fourth point on the Large Intestine) is a very important point in humans and is located in the first dorsal interosseous muscle (muscle between thumb and fore finger).

This same muscle is found in the dog within the tiny tissue connected to the dewclaw or at the place where the dewclaw should be/has been. In equines is no muscle at all at this location.

This questions the importance of such a point for these species compared to the undoubtedly known effects when stimulating the same in humans.

There are 366 acupuncture points described for humans. Out of the above-mentioned reason, the number of useable points in dogs or horses is much smaller: in the dog 76 points, in horses 173 points can be needled effectively.