Electroacupuncture and Back Pain

Currently, much acupuncture practice in horses is based on limited evidence, such as small-scale research, case studies, and clinical experience. High-quality research is essential to the long-term development of “evidence-based practice.” As there
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Currently, much acupuncture practice in horses is based on limited evidence, such as small-scale research, case studies, and clinical experience. High-quality research is essential to the long-term development of "evidence-based practice." As there are few controlled studies on the effect of acupuncture on thoracolumbar (relating to the thoracic and lumbar portions of the vertebral column) pain in horses, Huisheng Xie, DVM, PhD; Patrick Colahan, DVM, Dipl. ACVS; and Edgar A. Ott, PhD, all of the University of Florida, performed a prospective study which was published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (2005; 227:281-286) which compares electroacupuncture treatment of horses with signs of chronic thoracolumbar pain to treatment with phenylbutazone or treatment with saline.

Fifteen horses were randomly allocated to one of three treatment groups. Initially, four horses received electroacupuncture stimulation (Group 1), seven horses received phenylbutazone (Bute, Group 2), and four horses received saline solution (Group 3, the control group). After a washout period of four weeks, three horses randomly chosen from Group 3 (controls) and one horse randomly chosen from Group 2 (formerly receiving Bute) were reallocated to Group 1 for electroacupunture stimulation, and one horse randomly chosen from Group 3 (controls) was reallocated to Group 2 (receiving Bute). Overall, eight horses received electroacupuncture (four horses after the initial allocation and four additional horses that were reallocated), eight horses received Bute (seven horses after the initial allocation and one additional horse that was reallocated), and four horses received saline solution.

Thoracolumbar pain scores were determined for each horse by grading the behavior in response to continuous digital pressure (the examiner presses with their hands) moving from the thoracic region, through the lumbar, to the sacral region in three lines: on the dorsal midline from the withers to the base of the tail, on the muscular groove between the longissimus and iliocostalis muscles from the caudal (toward the rear) angle of the scapula to the lumbar region bilaterally, and on the depression which is 9 cm lateral to the second line bilaterally. The behavioral response was scored as follows: 0, no obvious aggressive or avoidance response; 1, local muscle contraction, lowering position of the thoracolumbar region, or avoidance response to pressure; 2, head shaking, tail wagging, and pawing the ground; or 3, violent avoidance response to pressure and kicking at the clinician. Thoracolumbar pain scores were evaluated before (baseline) and after each treatment by a blinded investigator.

Electroacupuncture was performed using four acupuncture points: Bai Hui (lumbosacral space), GV-6 (Duan Xue), BL-26 (Shen Shu), and BL-54 (Ba Shan). Each treatment was administered for 30 minutes (20 Hz for 15 minutes and 80 to 120 Hz for another 15 minutes)

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Product and information releases by various organizations and companies.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
278 votes · 278 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!