Acupuncture and the pain of long-backed dogs
By Dr. Narda Robinson
July 9, 2009
I see a lot of Dachshunds and other dogs with disk problems in my practice at Colorado State University. Since I focus on integrative medicine and the treatment of pain, dogs with disk disease naturally comprise a large segment of my patient population.
Because not all veterinarians are aware of what acupuncture can do or how it can help patients with disk disease, it is important for caregivers to empower themselves with the scientifically based information that veterinarians want before referring patients to a veterinarian acupuncturist.
Recent reports in the veterinary literature demonstrated that for dogs with thoracolumbar intervertebral disk disease, acupuncture plus steroids accelerated return to walking and restoration of sensation over steroids alone. A recent review article from the Mayo Clinic reported that, in humans, there was a “much larger effect of electroacupuncture on ultimate neurologic recovery from acute spinal cord injury than any pharmacologic intervention to date.”
Dogs with disk disease usually exhibit back or neck pain as the connective tissue that holds the disk in place breaks down. The inflammation that ensues leads to swelling, tension and pain. Dogs with disk disease often limit the amount of movement they’ll engage in voluntarily, and as such may refuse to walk or jump into the car. They sometimes cry out suddenly if they move a certain way, or begin to show postural changes. That is, dogs with back pain arch up or sink down where they hurt, and those with neck pain tend to have stiffness in the neck. You’ll see that they tend to not turn their head to one side or the other, or they won’t extend their neck to look up, but rather just look up instead.
Ultimately, if the disk ruptures and compresses the spinal cord, you have an emergency on your hands, one that possibly requires surgery. Nerves hate pressure like that from a herniated disk, and when disks bulge or rupture, they can compress the spinal cord, leading to paralysis in the limbs. In order to salvage neurologic function, dogs experiencing this require veterinary attention ASAP!
Even if it does get to that point, however, acupuncture can assist dogs in their recovery in significant ways. It works best when started right away. You don’t have to, and shouldn’t, choose between acupuncture and conventional approaches, because acupuncture does not interfere with the actions of either drugs or surgery. They work well together, as a team.
Acupuncture is a natural partner for nervous system problems. The points and channels coincide with nerve pathways, and stimulating acupuncture points changes nerve signaling throughout the body; this assists neurologic recovery. Pain and swelling subside, and nerve communication improves, facilitating return of ambulation. Acupuncture relaxes muscle tissue, which makes dogs more comfortable and may reduce the amount of pain medication they require. If your dog has urinary or fecal incontinence, acupuncture may help there as well.
Usually a dog needs twice weekly treatments to start, and after a week or two, weekly visits. I usually suggest starting the acupuncture as soon as the diagnosis is made. I may add electrical stimulation (i.e., electroacupuncture), gentle massage, and low level laser therapy.
I encourage clients to consult with a careful and well-trained canine rehabilitation expert as soon as it is prudent after the injury, in keeping with the referring veterinarian’s or neurologist’s recommendations. I steer clear of canine rehabilitation centers that move dogs through up to 10 modalities in an assembly line fashion, because one must pay close attention to each dog’s capabilities and restriction.
Finally, the outdated notion that dogs should be kept in a cage, in pain and off of pain medication in order to keep them inactive is now fortunately considered by most to be archaic and injurious for the long-term.
A friend’s Cardi went down in the back several weeks ago. Accupuncture has made a HUGE difference in the early stages of his recovery.
Comment by Cait — July 9, 2009 @ 3:59 pm
How do you feel about chiropractors for long backed dogs? When one of the family Dachshunds started having back probs, my mom took him to our chiropractor. This was YEARS ago, but it really helped him, and also straightened out his back a good bit (he was becoming more “hump backed” as time went on) and his quality of life in his senior years seemed much better than we could have hoped. My mom would prob do either in this day and age, but back then, our chiro was a good “alternative” treatment, and iirc, he specifically trained in kids and pets. Yes, I went to him also, lol!~ Beat the heck out of what the “reg” docs wanted to do with my spine! {thanks mom!!}
My current vet does acupuncture and holistic/eastern approaches along with traditional services. One of the reasons I love going there. And this is not some larger vet operation, but a smaller ‘hood indie vet (I’m in NYC). I haven’t needed the acupuncture treatments with my pets, but I like the approach of what they offer. I have been there when pet owners are “checking out” with their dogs that just had acu, and they seem so grateful for the treatment their pets receive. Me, I’m just happy they offer me treatments beyond the “standard”. :)
Comment by straybaby — July 9, 2009 @ 7:09 pm
I have heard some very good success stories with smaller dogs being treated with Accupuncture. I am surprised that it is not more commonly known, especially considering the back issues so many various breeds of dogs experience. Hopefully we see more holistic treatment providers for pets!
Comment by Bill Beck — July 9, 2009 @ 8:02 pm
Hi all,
Nice comments, and thanks for your feedback!
About chiropractic — my feelings are mixed. I have heard about good outcomes and bad, including deaths in animals.
I will elaborate a little bit more about the injury potential, because too often it seems like that gets overlooked in discussions with clients about chiropractic for animals.
We definitely need research into the field in order to assess safety and effectiveness. Not just MORE research, as we usually hear regarding holistic modalities, but for chiropractic on animal companions and horses, etc., there’s practically NONE.
This is in contrast to acupuncture where we have a solid and growing body of evidence regarding its safety and effectiveness.
In humans, there are widespread reports of serious neurological injury, including stroke and paralysis, following chiropractic. Because of these concerns, I generally will not recommend chiropractic for dogs with disc disease.
SO much depends on the practitioner (and amount of force s/he uses and how much training and awareness s/he has about non-human anatomy, physiology, pathology, etc.), as well as what’s really going on with the animal.
As such, the more disastrous outcomes in animals have at times related to an incomplete understanding on the part of the practitioner about what the underlying disease process entails, or whether there are, in fact, contraindications to applying sudden, forceful movements to an animal’s structure. Maybe there is an unstable spine, or a tumor in the back, or a disc about to herniate. In those cases, chiropractic thrusts applied to those locations could indeed cause trouble.
I’ve written a few articles on chiropractic in animals. If anyone is interested, here are the links:
http://csuvets.colostate.edu/p.....ractic.pdf
http://csuvets.colostate.edu/p.....tients.pdf
http://csuvets.colostate.edu/p.....nimals.pdf
Comment by Dr. Narda — July 10, 2009 @ 7:48 am
I’ve always wondered about this. I noticed it not only on Dachshunds but also on basset hounds.
Good to know there is a treatment for them.
Comment by pdx1138 — July 14, 2009 @ 4:20 pm