Aspen Creek Veterinary Hospital in Conifer provides exceptional and compassionate veterinary care

Aspen Creek Veterinary Hospital - formerly known as Aspen Creek Large Animal Clinic - Dr.Ashleigh Olds, DVM

Aspen Creek Veterinary Hospital is happy to announce that we are now offering acupuncture consultations for dogs and cats, as well as horses and farm animals. Dr. Anna Rosenberg, who joined the practice last fall, has completed an extensive veterinary acupuncture course at Colorado State University, and passed the certification exam for the American Association of Veterinary Medical Acupuncture.

What is Acupuncture? Acupuncture is part of complementary medicine, which means that it is an additional tool to increase your animals’ health and wellness, together with traditional Western medicine, appropriate nutrition, and other modalities.

What problems can Acupuncture benefit? In horses, acupuncture can be very beneficial in the treatment of gastrointestinal problems such as chronic colic, recurring gastric ulcers, and chronic diarrhea. Additionally, horses recovering from colic surgery may benefit from acupuncture during the recovery, as it has been clinically shown to restore normal intestinal function. Acupuncture is also very good for neurologic problems, such as peripheral nerve injury (e.g. facial nerve paralysis, radial nerve injury, and Sweeney), and for treatment of neurologic signs and incoordination due to problems such as cervical (neck) arthritis or other sources of spinal cord or nerve compression. In addition to gastrointestinal and neurologic problems, acupuncture can be very useful in the treatment of musculoskeletal problems such as back and neck pain, sacroiliac (SI) pain, laminitis, and arthritis. It can also be an important part of a wellness program for equine athletes who are asked to perform at high levels or to work especially hard, due to its ability to treat subtle problems before they significantly affect performance.

In dogs and cats, acupuncture shines as part of the treatment of urinary and fecal incontinence, chronic gastrointestinal problems such as inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis and other sources of chronic pain, and neurologic problems such as neuropathic pain following amputation (“Phantom limb pain”), spinal cord compression due to disk disease, and peripheral nerve issues (such as facial nerve paralysis, brachial plexus avulsions, etc). It can also be helpful to animals who are living with chronic pain due to cancer or other chronic illness, animals recovering from surgery, and canine athletes such as agility dogs.

Q: What can I expect from an acupuncture session?
A: During your first acupuncture session, your animal will have a thorough physical exam to assess him/her for neurological dysfunction and pain. This exam is non-invasive and not stressful. Following this, very thin needles are used to stimulate the tissues according to your animal’s individualized treatment plan. The needles stay in for up to 20 minutes. In some cases, the effect of the needles on the tissues may be enhanced with very low-level electrical stimulation, which is non-painful.

Q: Do the needles hurt?
A: Because the needles are much smaller than hypodermic needles used for injections, acupuncture is generally very well tolerated. In fact, most animals relax noticeably over the course of the treatment, due to the effect of the needles on the parasympathetic nervous system, and many animals seem to look forward to their treatments and actually enjoy them. That being said, there are a few places on the body, such as “myofascial trigger points” (the medical word for severe muscle knots), where needling may be more sensitive than usual. These points are helpful, but optional depending on the animal’s general response to needling.

Q: Will my animal improve after the first session?
A: Every animal reacts a little differently to acupuncture. Some animals are dramatically better immediately after just one treatment, but most require additional treatments to maintain the improvement. A few animals are actually worse for 24-48 hours, prior to improving. It is for this reason that we do not recommend performing acupuncture treatments within 2 days of a horse show, agility trial, etc. As with any medical treatment, there are also non-responders, who do not improve after acupuncture.

Q: Can acupuncture cure cancer, kidney failure, diabetes, or arthritis?
A: No. Acupuncture generally cannot cure diseases that Western medicine cannot cure. What it can often do, however, is increase the quality of life of the animals living with these diseases by decreasing their pain and anxiety, increasing function, and in some cases, slowing the progression of the disease, especially in conjunction with conventional medicine.

Q: What is the biomedical basis for acupuncture? Do we understand how it works?
A: While there are still things we do not understand about how acupuncture affects the body, much of the way it works has begun to be understood through research in the last 10-20 years. Acupuncture works on several levels to promote healing and analgesia (decreased pain). On a local level, acupuncture improves blood flow, increasing the supply of oxygen, nutrients, and regenerative factors at the site of the injury. It also works on peripheral nerves, the spinal cord, and the brain via a mechanism called neuromodulation, which changes the way the nervous system transmits and processes information about pain or dysfunction. One common natural example of neuromodulation is the way people under the influence of adrenaline can sustain severe injuries without feeling pain at the time, such as in war or other stressful situations. Lastly, acupuncture works to balance the sympathetic (function: “fight or flight”) and parasympathetic (function: restorative) nervous systems and bring the animal back into homeostasis (balance). Chronic pain or disease can make the sympathetic nervous system hyperactive, preventing the body from normal functions such as wound healing, immune system function, proper digestion, etc. When the sympathetic nervous system is no longer in overdrive, the body is better able to heal.

For more information about whether acupuncture may be appropriate for your animal or to set up an appointment, please contact your veterinarian. Aspen Creek Veterinary Hospital offers acupuncture consultations at the clinic as well as on house calls or farm calls.