By treating certain reflex points, sometimes located far from the site of symptoms, the veterinary acupuncturist can assist the body to heal itself by balancing its own vital energies. This balancing is now known to be mediated primarily via the nervous system, but other physiological mechanisms including hormonal and humoral factors are also involved. This balance in turn may be used to adjust blood flow, nervous and muscle tone, hormone levels or the function of the organs. This discovery has since been confirmed by many western studies. Specific treatment, usually the prescribing of medication, is given to correct that specific health problem.
Treatment consists of active or other carefully selected points.
This treatment may be localized but often is generalized to the whole body and may then improve other concurrent conditions. In clinical practice, veterinary acupuncture is utilized for its diagnostic, therapeutic and hypoalgesic properties. Hypersensitivity at particular points involved in cutaneo-somatovisceral reflexes can be used as a diagnostic aid in conjunction with diagnostic approaches routinely used in western veterinary medicine. It is well known that acupuncture hypoalgesia can be used for the induction of surgical hypoalgesia in both animals and people and may be the analgesic method of choice for certain surgical cases, such as those in shock, in severely toxic cases, or for caesarian section. Therapeutic uses of acupuncture are discussed in the following section.