Before I begin this blog I should tell you that I love everything abut this topic. I love the history and lore. I love the gradual evolution of a therapeutic modality based on the cycles of nature. And I love that there is a mummy involved. But I will try to contain my excitement and my verbiage to make this brief - as promised…

Legend has it that, thousands of years ago, a Chinese soldier developed a stiff shoulder. Nobody could find a cause or relieve the stiffness, so he learned to live with it. Eventually he went into battle. In the course of the fight he was hit in his leg with an arrow, and his shoulder miraculously improved. He survived the battle and, when he got home, he described the phenomena to his village doctor. The next time his doctor saw somebody with a stiff shoulder, he poked the patient in the leg with an arrow, and the shoulder improved.

It is said that this is how our system of acupuncture evolved - thousands of years of people manipulating one part of the body and affecting change elsewhere in the body. This information was passed along through generations and was eventually recorded in approximately 100 BCE in The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine. This document contains the first known description of a system of diagnosis and treatment that we recognize as acupuncture. Acupuncture has developed a lot since then, but this gives you an idea of how old this form of treatment is.

Over time, acupuncture and other forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) fell out of favor in China. They were considered folk medicine and abandoned in favor of more modern western ideas. In fact, in 1929, acupuncture was outlawed. But when the communist party took over in the 1940s, TCM was revived. This may have been in an effort to create a renewed sense of history and nationalism, but it may also have been a practical way to provide some form of health care to the large population. Whatever the reasoning, acupuncture has flourished in China and is now a commonly used therapy.

Interest in acupuncture in the US took off in 1971 when President Nixon visited China. One of the members of his press core needed an emergency appendectomy. Acupuncture was part of his post-operative pain management, and he as astounded by how well it worked. He came back to The States and wrote about his experience in The New York Times. The rest, as they say, is history.

Otzi, the 5,300 year old mummy found in an Italian glacier

Interestingly, Otzi, the 5300 year old mummy found nestled in a glacier in the Italian Alps in 1991, may give us even more insight into the history of acupuncture. Otzi has 61 distinct tattoos. They were made by making small incisions in the skin and rubbing charcoal into the wounds. Researchers have scanned Otzi’s body and found that he suffered from osteoarthritis. Most of his tattoos are located over his arthritic joints. We may never know if these tattoos themselves had some therapeutic value or if they served as markers for Otzi to preform massage or some other form of treatment. But researchers believe that they may offer evidence that some form of acupuncture developed independent of China in the ancient world.

Modern science is still evaluating acupuncture. In 2012, The Journal of the American Medical Association, published a meta study looking at other studies that had evaluated the efficacy of acupuncture for painful conditions including shoulder pain, neck pain, osteoarthritis, and chronic headache. What they found was that acupuncture performed better than no treatment or sham treatments for these specific ailments. The NIH has also issued a statement that acupuncture may be helpful for certain types of pain.

So we accept that acupuncture can be helpful. The problem is that we still do not know how it works. In the theory of TCM, acupuncture works by keeping Qi moving freely. Qi is an unfamiliar concept for us in the west. We sometimes refer to it as energy, but, ultimately, we can’t define, isolate, or measure it. So modern researchers are looking at things that we can conceptualize. Some research is focused on the limbic system, which could modulate how we experience the suffering associated with painful stimuli. Other research is looking at nerve endings and the affects of acupuncture needles on these delicate fibers.

One of the most common arguments that I hear against the efficacy of acupuncture is the idea that it works in us because of a placebo effect; our brains are tricking us into thinking that we are improving. And I can see that. When I go to my acupuncturist, I lie in a darkened room. It is warm. There is music. And I generally fall asleep. One could postulate that I feel better after treatments because they serve as an oasis of calm in my otherwise hectic day. But I think that my patients provide a counterargument to this. Animals, as far as we know, are not susceptible to the placebo effect. So the fact that my patients show improvement after treatment seems like a more reliable indicator of the potential of acupuncture than my own response.

Oliver relaxing on his couch with his acupuncture needles

I am a true believer in acupuncture. I have used it for many conditions in companion animals. Orthopedic injuries and osteoarthritis are the most common indications, but I have also seen it work to great effect in such varied conditions neurologic problems, GI issues, and anxiety. I am constantly impressed with how acupuncture, particularly when combined with more conventional treatments, can dramatically improve the clinical outcome and quality of life for my patients.

In conclusion, when I am placing needles in the comfort of my patients’ living rooms or back porches, I am using a treatment that has been growing along with us for thousands of years. Yes, there is still a lot that we don’t know about how it works. But I believe that, in the not too distant future, researchers will figure all of that out, and acupuncture will get the credit and acceptance that I think it deserves.

Barbara L. Butchko, DVM, CVA | Meridian Mobile Veterinary Care | Charlotte, NC

Sources

Engelking C, Scientists Have Mapped All of Otzi the Iceman's 61 Tattoos, Discover. January 30, 2015

The National Institute of Health - Acupuncture: In Depth

Vickers A, et al, Acupucnture for Chronic Pain Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis, JAMA. October 22, 2012; 172(19)

White A, Ernsy E, A Brief History of Acupucnture, Rheumatology. 43(5)