History of Acupuncture - An Ancient Therapy Rediscovered

History of acupuncture shows for how long humans have been practising this form of medical treatment: people wwere treated and cured already about 3500 - 5000 years ago in China and India.

Even people of the Stone Age must have known and practised it as an effective pain treatment: Oetzi, the famous "ice-man", has got tiny skin tattoos over typical acupuncture points.

Chinese sources describe how acupuncture works for animals: horses, cows, camels, pigs donkeys and birds, have been treated successfully.

It was during the Zhou dynasty ( around 950 BC) when a veterinary practitioner was mentioned for the first time in the history of acupuncture in written records.

Since around 600 AD, during the T'ang dynasty veterinary acupuncture is recognized as a stand-alone speciality within Traditional Chinese Medicine.

In the 17th century French Jesuits brought acupuncture to Europe and finally in 1836 veterinary acupuncture was first described in written form.

History of acupuncture in the Western world and in modern veterinary medicine is rather short: Only about 35 years ago three American veterinarians started to re-discover and study this therapeutic possibility in China, introduced it to veterinarians and practised it on countless animal patients.

The majority of veterinary scientists stays sceptical. So far, they can not make acupuncture points visible through diagnostic imaging and therefore their presence is questionable.

What has been known for thousands of years as a way to resolve pain needs still proof of effectiveness.

However, you might be aware of the increase of complementary and alternative medical treatments offered for humans nowadays.

You might be surprised to hear that despite of the criitique and discussions amongst scientists and researchers, veterinary practitioners discover its benefits for the animal patient and simply apply it.

Acupuncture can be used to treat painful conditions. Skeptics say it would work in humans as long as one "believes" in it.

On the other hand countless veterinary patients are treated successfully and animals are likely not able to believe or wish the outcome of a treatment.

Veterinarians started to treat horses against founder (laminitis). They reported a 90% success rate, which was a major improvement over traditional Western treatment.

Other conditions that responded favorably in horses were navicular disease, tying-up syndrome, epistaxsis, arthritis, tendinitis, hepatic dysfunction, back pain, general neuralgia and facial paralysis.

In dogs, acupuncture showed dramatic success in treating hip dysplasia and certain arthritic problems, in addition to allergic and neuro-dermatitis, intervertebral disc syndrome, arthritis, spondylitis, and paralysis.

Today, veterinary acupuncture is used to treat a wide range of conditions in both small and large animals.

However, you need to be aware that every individual animal is different and about 10% of patients (humans or animals) will not or not sufficiently respond to treatment.