Horses Referred to a Teaching Hospital Exclusively for Acupuncture and Herbal Treatment: A 3-Year Retrospective Analysis

Publication date: Available online 27 September 2018Source: Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian StudiesAuthor(s): Justin Shmalberg, Huisheng Xie, Mushtaq A. MemonAbstractEquine acupuncture and herbal medicine are increasingly popular and have been anecdotally used in the treatment of a number of conditions. There is, however, a lack of data on the most commonly treated conditions in horses. The medical records of 164 horses presented exclusively for acupuncture and herbal therapy over a 3-year period from October 2012 to October 2015 were evaluated from a mixed animal integrative medicine service at a veterinary academic teaching hospital. Horses were presented primarily for musculoskeletal conditions (62.0%), gastrointestinal disorders (9.5%), and anhydrosis (6.1%). Nearly half of all treated horses were geldings, and the mean age of treatment was 10.7 ± 6.5 years. The most common breeds were Warmbloods (28.2%), Quarter horses (20.2%), Thoroughbreds (17.8%), and Arabians (8.0%). Treatments included acupuncture (90.2%), herbal supplements (79.8%), electroacupuncture (69.9%), B12 injections (aqua-acupuncture, 29.4%), or administration of autologous blood at acupuncture points (8.0%). Thirty-eight different herbal formulas were recommended during the study period. Horses that were not provided herbal recommendations were more likely to present with gastrointestinal complaints (odds ratio = 11.2). Sex, breed, and presenting complaint had no or minimal impact on the types o...
Source: Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies - Category: Complementary Medicine Source Type: research