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Animal Holistic Health Center |
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What conditions respond well to Traditional Chinese Medicine? |
Acupuncture, herbal &
other holistic treatment modalities can be used to treat many types of
medical conditions.
- Emergency & acute
illness- such as vomiting, diarrhea, urinary obstruction, and CPR.
- Post-operative rehabilitation-
ideal for patients who have undergone spinal, hip, stifle, and other
orthopedic or neurosurgical procedures, or for patients recovering from a
major illness or undergoing cancer treatment.
- Chronic medical conditions- that respond poorly to available "Western"
treatments or patients suffering unwanted side effects from diseases, drugs or
other forms of therapy (ie. radiation). Acupuncture is especially
effective for treating severe arthritis and chronic pain syndromes.
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| Conditions that have been treated successfully
at our hospital: |
- Chronic arthritis- hips, back, knees etc (still sore
despite Rimadyl / Etogesic)
- Intervertebral disk disease- neck & back pain, hind
end weakness / paralysis
- Feline asthma & other respiratory tract problems
- Chronic constipation
- Skin problems- allergic dermatitis
- Ocular conditions
- Mega-esophagus (esophageal motility problem)
- Surgical analgesia
- Vomiting, diarrhea, parvo viral enteritis
- Pancreatitis
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| Almost all veterinary patients can benefit from
acupuncture, however as with every treatment modality, the degree of
response will be varied. Some patients may have complete recovery, many
more will show a significant improvement, and a few will not improve enough
to justify continuing the therapy. |
| How often do patients need to
be treated? |
- Frequency between sessions varies greatly between patients & is
dictated by the TCM diagnosis & clinical response
- New patients are usually started out with weekly treatments for an
initial treatment block of 4-7 weeks. Patients with emergency or acute
diseases such as sudden paralysis from spinal disk disease are best
treated daily at first.
- Most patients will show a
positive response within the first 3-4 treatment sessions,
however it can take up to 5-7 consecutive treatments to see the maximum
level of improvement.
- After the initial treatment block of 5-7 sessions, the treatments are
tapered off.
- In most patients, treatments can be tapered to every 1-3 months.
- Some pets need a treatment only 1 or 2 times a year.
- Older patients with multiple problems may need to be treated every 1-2
weeks for maintenance.
- Occasionally with a serious acute problem such as paralysis from a
ruptured intervertebral disk, we may
perform acupuncture daily until some improvement is seen, then start to
taper.
- Our goal is to treat as often as the
patient requires
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Length of Acupuncture
Treatments: |
- Length of each treatment session varies widely depending on the TCM
diagnosis and the patient’s condition
- Average treatment visit takes around 30 minutes
- Stimulation of an individual acupuncture point can take anywhere from
as little as 10 seconds up to 30 minutes with the average being 12-15
minutes
- Remainder of the visit period is spent taking a history, performing a TCM diagnostic exam, insertion of the needles, and
applying the electroacupuncture unit if applicable
- The initial visit takes about an hour in which time a very thorough
history and review of the
patient history survey is taken, “Western” & “Eastern”
physical & diagnostic exams are performed, and an initial acupuncture
treatment is given
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| Each animal is an
individual and there is
constant reassessment of the patients at each acupuncture treatment session |
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