Huisheng Xie

A REVIEW OF THE USE OF ACUPUNCTURE FOR TREATMENT OF EQUINE BACK PAIN

Summary Poor performance due to back pain is a commonproblem in the horse industry. Alternative modalities using herbal medicine and acupuncture are useful and effective for this condition. Eleven acupuncture techniques for the treatment of equine back pain are summarized in this paper. Acupuncture treatment for back muscular atrophy and acupuncture mechanism of pain relief are also discussed.

Influence of electro-acupuncture on pain threshold in horses and its mode of action

Summary Electro-acupuncture (EA) treatments varied in their effect on pain threshold in horses. EA stimulation using local acupuncture points or/and high frequency (80–120 Hz) can be more effective to relieve the experimental pain than the use of distal points and/or low frequency (20 Hz). The acupoints close to the painful areas may need to be stimulated with high frequency EA while the acupoints far from the painful areas may be stimulated with low frequency EA. The release of β-endorphin may be one of the pathways in which electro-acupuncture relieves the experimental pain.