Electroacupuncture is also for dogs

In recent years, the use of electroacupuncture in veterinary medicine has grown significantly, particularly in dogs and horses. More and more clinical studies seem to support this non-pharmacological analgesic method, but what is the reality? Researchers conducted a comprehensive review of twenty years of literature to assess the actual effectiveness of this treatment.   Electroacupuncture is a complex and specialized technique that involves applying electrical stimulation to acupuncture needles. It stimulates specific points on the skin to treat various painful conditions, including neurological and muscular disorders. Studies highlighting the therapeutic effects of electroacupuncture, compared to standard acupuncture, are increasing in number and encouraging the use of this technique to treat animals, particularly in veterinary medicine for dogs and equines. A new study has therefore examined this topic and sought to gather evidence of its effectiveness. It provides in-depth findings on the benefits of electroacupuncture in dogs with spinal cord injuries—specifically involving the intervertebral discs—based on a review of the literature from the past twenty years.

All existing publications agree that electroacupuncture provides better analgesia than standard acupuncture by increasing the release of opioids in the spine and blood flow to the spinal cord and nerve roots.

Acupuncture is well known for its analgesic effects, such as relieving back pain. It is believed to not only stimulate axonal regrowth and regeneration at the site of injury but also to have anti-inflammatory effects, which would significantly reduce compression of the spinal cord and thus the pain caused by the potential formation of fibrous tissue. In addition to being able to produce the same effects as standard acupuncture, electroacupuncture applied to specific points on the body could also facilitate tissue repair after an injury by stimulating mesenchymal stem cells and the release of immune macrophages into the peripheral blood, the hypothalamus, and the sympathetic nervous system. This so-called “alternative” medicine could thus be used to treat acute or chronic conditions associated with inflammation. The beneficial analgesic effects of electroacupuncture are particularly noticeable when combined with conventional drug therapy. The combination of the two treatments allows for faster recovery and reduced pain perception compared to when medication alone is used. Electroacupuncture could therefore be an excellent complementary therapy for pain management in animals. However, the authors caution that the literature, while generally supportive of this alternative method, also has obvious gaps. Some areas remain unexplored, and the results sometimes appear insufficient. Since many studies have used electroacupuncture in combination with corticosteroids, the anti-inflammatory effects of corticosteroids must also be acknowledged and taken into account in the conclusions. The authors call for greater specificity regarding the protocols implemented, based on the animals’ condition, and for accurate diagnoses. More importantly, these protocols should always be based on expert consensus. Further studies are therefore needed to fully determine the effects of electroacupuncture in the treatment of spinal cord injuries in dogs.