engleski

The role of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine in Western practice - a report from Croatia

The term Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) is in western practice often identified with the term acupuncture. Although acupuncture today is widely known and accepted by both, doctors and patients, it was not the case in the 1970s when it started to spread as an alternative method of healing in western countries. Europe was first introduced with the acupuncture in the 16th century by missionaries who returned from China. The first study of treating rheumatoid joint disease in humans was published in London in 1682. Due to George Soulie de Morant, a diplomat who dedicated his life to researching the acupuncture, the International acupuncture society was founded in Paris in 1946. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recognised acupuncture in 1979 as a method of healing and published a list of conditions that can be treated by acupuncture. The same year, Croatian Acupuncture Society was founded, consisting mainly of human doctors that gained knowledge in acupuncture from China or working with Chinese doctors that came to Croatia. First introduction of acupuncture in veterinary medicine in Croatia was in late 1980s, when a professor and a master student from faculty of Veterinary medicine applied the learned technique on animals. First master thesis in the field of veterinary acupuncture was published in 1993. Since 1997 TCVM has been described as the part of „Physical therapy“ undergraduate course, and since 2000 as a part of elective course „Holistic medicine“ In that period, they faced a bit of controversy, as traditional methods of therapy were not widely accepted in human practice, especially not in animals. Today, the position of TCVM in everyday life has quite changed, and people are more aware of its possibilities and advantages. Patients are prone to choose acupuncture treatment and many human doctors offer TCVM in their facilities. Pet owners, especially dogs and cats owners, are open to the idea of their animals undergoing acupuncture treatment, and show a great interest in the traditional approach of the treatment. The problem that we sometimes encounter , is how to explain to the owner the effect of acupuncture on the body. The TCVM theory is not always understood by the average person, as the western tradition and mentality is different from the eastern, and terms such as meridians, channels Qi, etc. are difficult to explain. But after the result is obtained, and the animal gets better, the questinons how and why the needle causes effect become less important. As in other western veterinary practices, acupuncture treatment in Croatia is commonly related with the physiotherapy and rehabilitation programme. Rehabilitation is defined as a process that includes examining and evaluating patients with impairments, functional limitations, disability, and other health related conditions to determine a diagnosis, prognosis and intervention . Physiotherapy modalities that are currently beeing used for rehabilitation of patients include: thermal therapy, electrotherapy, hydrotherapy, massage and therapeutic excersises. Depending on the desired effect or condition, we can choose one or combine several of these techniques/methods, to achieve the best result. The use of TCVM as a method of choice in the process of rehabilitation can expand the range of treatment and in some cases shorten the recovery period. At the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Zagreb, Department of Radiology, diagnostic ultrasound and physical therapy, acupuncture treatment was introduced at the end of 2008. The cases were mostly treating neurological disorders such as intervertebral disc disease (IVDD), paresis and paralyses , pain relief in cases of degenerative joint disease and other conditions of musculosceletal system. The pain relief effect of acupuncture treatment is of the greatest importance in our work, because our goal is to administer as less medications as possible. NSAID drugs are usually prescribed in cases of musculosceletal pain presence, so we use acupuncture treatment instead to diminish the pain sensation and start with the rehabilitation program. The treated animals are in most cases dogs, although cats and rabbits are also present. Best results obtained are in the cases of intervertebral disk disease, either as a conservative method or post operative rehabilitation. Disk disease is a very common condition in small, chondrodystrophyc breeds of dogs, and those cases represent the majority of our patients. Department of Surgery and Orthopaedics at our University clinic offers a wide range of operative treatments, and all of those patients need a post operative rehabilitation program. Besides the conventional acupuncture with a single use needles, we also use electroacupuncture and laser puncture with a He-Ne laser machine. Since the introduction of the TCVM, an average of 5 patients per day is being treated in the clinic. The number of referring animals is getting bigger everyday, as colleagues are more aware of the positive effect of TCVM in veterinary clinical treatment. My personal belief is that the use of TCVM in a western practice opens new possibilities of treatment and thus increases the ability of practitioners to obtain a greater recovery rate.

TCVM; acupuncture; Croatia

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