Laseracupuncture in

Veterinary Medicine
Dr. med vet Uwe Petermann, prakt Tierarzt, Akupunktur, Germany e mail:
DrUwePetermannMelle@t-online.de

horse, dog, laser, acupuncture

Acupuncture: The oldest form of therapy in the world, newer than ever.

First, there's great scepticism

When acupuncture is mentioned, there seem to be two schools of thought. On one side of the
fence are the acupuncture
devotees, for whom acupuncture treatment is always their first choice, because they have
already been convinced of the
astonishing efficacy of acupuncture. On the other side are all those who may either have tried
it without success or simply reject
the idea of learning more about it because they view acupuncture as unscientific nonsense.
Thus, for example, I was recently
contacted by a patient's owner, who wrote that her horse, who had been previously treated
several times for back problems
and was finally given up as no longer suitable for riding, was now – following acupuncture
treatment – easily clearing
M-obstacles, something it had not been capable of even prior to the onset of back trouble.
She, too, had been highly sceptical
of acupuncture treatment, and found it difficult to believe that in general, back problems in
horses respond well to acupuncture
treatment. She wrote further that she had suggested acupuncture to several others whose
horses were suffering from similar
problems, but had not been able to overcome their scepticism. Such sceptism of things not
encountered every day is clearly
difficult to overcome, but when the patient is a horse, it is truly worthwhile.

The use of acupuncture is now growing rapidly

This article is sure to be of interest to both sceptics and the supporters. First, because I will
demonstrate that acupuncture is in
no way unscientific and second, because so few are aware what a multitude of diseases can be
successfully treated by using
acupuncture. In (human) medicine, acupuncture has become increasingly part of the medical
scene over the past ten years. The
German Society for Acupuncture and Auricular Medicine (Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Akupunktur und Auricolomedizin)
included well over one thousand physicians among its members in 1997. This makes clear
that acupuncture can no longer be
considered an outsider in the field of medicine, and the day is coming when that role will be
played by the sceptic and no longer
by acupuncture itself. The primary reason for this development is that modern acupuncture as
practiced today has been freed
from any mystical ideas by intensive, scientific research, and that the essential principles of
the way in which acupuncture works
are now well understood. In addition, acupuncture does not stand still; rather, it is being
continuously developed further in order
to successfully treat even more cases which have been resistant to therapy.

How does acupuncture work?

It is now possible to easily explain the underlying principles of acupuncture; here, they will be
presented in highly compressed
and simplified form. The structure of the acupuncture point looks like this: the body fascia,
made up of collagen-rich connective
tissue (also described as corium) has numerous breakings, through which vascular nerve
bundles enter the skin. These are
deposited in electrolyte-rich, loosened-up connective tissue, which has a strong
electronegative charge surplus. If I either insert
a needle here or expose the area to laser rays, the result will be a point-short circuit and
through that, excitation of the nerves
and moving nerve impulses forward, first to the spinal cord. From there, various control
mechanisms of the body are selectively
addressed, e.g. organs and hormonal control centers as well. Thousands of years of experience
in traditional acupuncture have
given us the knowledge today of which nerve points in the skin can be used to stimulate
which functions. In the same way,
so-called bioactive substances, which include the endorphins (hormones which raise the pain
threshold) are activated by means
of hormonal control systems. As a rule, we can differentiate between the following,
scientifically established effects of
acupuncture:

· 1. neurophysiological effect = reflex effect which takes place in seconds

· 2. neurochemical effect = through stimulation of various neurotransmitters and endorphins

from within minutes to several hours

· 3. cybernetic effect = when the vicious circle is finally broken after several treatments and
the control mechanisms function
once more

As ultimately all body functions, from coughing to the repair and healing of wounds, are
controlled by such vegetative, nervous
and hormonal regulation, it is helpful to understand that acupuncture can have such a
regulatory effect in attacking so many
types of disease.

Progress through the use of laser technology

The introduction of laser technology into acupuncture treatment has definitely brought great
progress. With laser technology, the
acupuncture point can not only be treated without inducing pain and even without touching
the area, in addition, the healing
effect of the laser light can be utilized. The substantial therapeutic effect of the laser light is
based on its physical specialty,
coherence; this means that there are synchronously oscillating light waves of equal length,
which can penetrate the tissue through
their convergence. These light-induced pulses can now be used directly for cell energy
production in the cells' power stations,
the mitochondria. The cells' synthetic power (such as in the healing of wounds or the
formation of collagen fibers in case of
tendon damage) can be given an enduring start. Although none of this information is new, or
at least it can be looked up, there
are – and this applies in particular to veterinary medicine, veterinarians and equestrians –
many sceptics, who in their ignorance
continue to view acupuncture as either a kind of "voodoo magic" or just plain nonsense. And
yet, as I have just explained, the
working mechanisms of this regulatory therapy, are based on facts taught at all universities.
Furthermore, anyone who makes
the effort to discover a bit more about this type of therapy will be convinced that definite and
regular therapeutic success can be
achieved with acupuncture. This holds particularly true for diseases which – even with great
effort in terms of the diagnosis and
therapy -- can only be treated over a lengthy period, with only partial or even without any
success whatsoever if standard
medical treatments are employed. In contrast, acupuncture involves regulatory therapy, and
thus one can say that in principle,
therapy is possible for combating any disease, as long as regulation is still possible. In other
words, therapy can be used for
diseases where irreparable damage has not yet occurred and where organic functions can be
stimulated into running again. This
is indeed possible with a far greater number of diseases than one might think. Therefore
acupuncture is also successfully used
for chronic disease, where permanent regulation failure can often lead to very serious
problems. This especially includes allergic
and rheumatic diseases.

Numerous tests have verified the outstanding efficacy of acupuncture.

By now, a multitude of tests with acupuncture and/or laser acupuncture have been conducted
on horses. These include over
500 patients with back complaints (see Treatment of the thoracic part of the spinal
column...Treatment of back complaints...),
more than 100 patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis (see Treatment of COPD...),
patients with infected arthritis and
tendosynovitis (see Treatment of infected tendinitis...) as well as numerous publications on
individual cases of lameness, dental
purulence, and skin diseases. On a case by case basis, these may be of lesser significance, but
viewed in their entirety they are
a remarkable proof of acupuncture's effects, which at first truly seem at least somewhat
unbelievable. Keeping this in mind,
pictures have been included as photographic proof. Picture 1 shows a patient with an infected
hock joint inflammation
(following a chip operation) after six months of treatment in various clinics. The horse was
unable to stand on its foot. Picture 2
shows the patient fourteen days later, following six treatments with laser acupuncture. The
horse is now able to walk
and even trot to some extent. Picture 3 shows a patient six weeks after an operation on the
palmar annular ligament of the
fetlock with an infection in the digital synovial sheath of the fetlock and a purulent wound in
the area operated on which is
growing larger. The clinic saw no other possibility but to recommend euthanasia for the
previously valuable horse. Picture 4
shows the same horse ten days later (after ten laser acupuncture treatments); the wound has
closed up. Incidentally, purulence
ceased after just two treatments with laser acupuncture. (Picture 5)

Which diseases can be treated successfully with laser acupuncture?

Now we come to the diseases in their specifics: the diseases which are most commonly treated
in horses are concentrated in
the entire area of the back. With just a few exceptions, acupuncture has been used to give
fundamental and long-lasting
freedom from pain to over 500 horses with back problems. Following the first treatment, a
spontaneous, definite improvement
in movement coordination could be seen, even in horses suffering from an ataxia. Complete
healing where the horse could train
again was achieved with approximately one half of these patients. Treatment of acute
lameness caused by sprains, contusions
and strains appears quite promising. In addition, nearly all the cases of infected arthritis and
tendosynovitis could be completely
healed. A significant improvement was also seen for chronic lameness such as tarsal
osteoarthropathy, podotrochlea, and
arthroses; here, too, it can be anticipated that the patient will regain its previous usefulness.
Acupuncture treatment is also very
helpful in cases of chronic obstructive bronchitis.(the extreme form is called given the name
"Dämpfigkeit" in German, referring
to the shortness of breath). Significant improvement in breathing is often noticed during the
first treatment. The severity of the
disease plays no role in the prognosis of therapeutic success. It often happens that patients
with acute breathing problems react
in a most spectacular fashion, whereas less severe cases show no improvement or just the
reverse. Much depends on how
precisely the focus of the allergy can be determined and halted. Here, just as with
conventional therapy, it is of course extremely
useful to change the affected horse's posture. Acupuncture can also be employed to great
benefit in treating the various forms of
colic. Both strong cramps and total intestinal overextension can result from the build-up of
gas, fluids or accumulated intestinal
contents. Here, too, acupuncture proves how useful it can be to shift the irritant back into the
right direction; the expanded
intestinal sections are tonicized, the cramped areas are sedated. Thus a physiological function
is quickly put back into action. In
general, the effect is spontaneous; at most, within ten minutes. Acupuncture treatment is also
successful in the area of
gynecology. The most common problems requiring therapy are ovarian disorders as well as
postpartum behavioral problems. A
further possibility for acupuncture is for roaring. This involves a functional nerve disorder
which controls the function of the
larynx. In particular with young horses, where the disorder has not existed for long and where
a residual function of the larynx
can be recognized, the outlook for success is excellent. In these cases, acupuncture treatment
is far preferable to an operation,
as a physiological function of the larynx is ensured once more. As a rule, dental cysts and
maxillary sinus purulence can also be
successfully treated with laser acupuncture. In the majority of cases, this can also spare horses
the stressful and usually
long-term healing process involved in tooth extraction. In this connection, it is also worth
mentioning that laser acupuncture also
possesses a very strong inflammation-suppressing and demarcating effect and can of course
also be used to great effect in the
maturation and healing of abscesses. (See Picture jaz1, jaz2, jaz3). Laser acupuncture can also
be used for healing the eye in
certain cases of corneal abscesses and corneal edemas which resist therapy. Of additional
interest is the possibility of using
acupuncture to optimize performance and stamina in the patient. This is usually achieved by
concentrating on specific points to
eliminate slight functional disorders in individual organs, which can add up and prevent an
optimum overall function. As various
systems feeding back into one another are involved, individual body systems cannot be
overburdened with an accompanying
breakdown, as happens with doping. Just the opposite: overall health is enhanced. There have
been many positive results from
treating all of these illnesses with acupuncture. One must also keep in mind that the patient
brought in for acupuncture has in
many cases already been through a long period of "normal" treatment, and without success. In
these cases, one could say that
acupuncture was a kind of "last attempt," and very often brought the long-hoped for success.
There are certainly many other
areas where acupuncture treatment methods could be used, but these must be decided from
case to case.

Acupuncture is meeting with growing interest from veterinarians

It must be stressed one more time that acupuncture is neither a miracle treatment nor a
panacea. Nonetheless, it is a highly
effective healing method which can be applied in many areas, with the additional advantage
of having no side effects. The chief
problem currently faced in using acupuncture to treat horses is the fact that there are still
relatively few veterinarians not only
highly trained in diagnostic skills but equally highly trained in acupuncture. For only when
both are combined can unusual
success be attained. Fortunately, interest in acupuncture is increasing tremendously, and I
don't believe it is too much to imagine
that in ten years the majority of both veterinarians and physicians will be offering highly
competent acupuncture.

Back home

Laser acupuncture in
competition horses
Dr. med.vet. Uwe Petermann, E-mail: DrUwePetermannMelle@t-online.de

Summary:

A presentation of modern laser acupuncture treatment for horses. All relevant horse diseases
are given for which treatment with laser acupuncture has been used, in part with case studies.
A look into the scientific foundations of acupuncture and laser therapy is given.

Key words: laser, acupuncture, horse

Acupuncture: The oldest form of therapy in the world, newer than ever.

First, there's great scepticism

When acupuncture is mentioned, there seem to be two schools of thought. On one side of the
fence are the acupuncture devotees, for whom acupuncture treatment is always their first
choice, because they have already been convinced of the astonishing efficacy of acupuncture.
On the other side are all those who may either have tried it without success or simply reject
the idea of learning more about it because they view acupuncture as unscientific nonsense.
Thus, for example, I was recently contacted by a patient's owner, who wrote that her horse,
who had been previously treated several times for back problems and was finally given up as
no longer suitable for riding, was now – following acupuncture treatment – easily clearing M-
obstacles, something it had not been capable of even prior to the onset of back trouble. She,
too, had been highly sceptical of acupuncture treatment, and found it difficult to believe that
in general, back problems in horses respond well to acupuncture treatment. She wrote further
that she had suggested acupuncture to several others whose horses were suffering from similar
problems, but had not been able to overcome their scepticism. Such sceptism of things not
encountered every day is clearly difficult to overcome, but when the patient is a horse, it is
truly worthwhile.

The use of acupuncture is now growing rapidly

This article is sure to be of interest to both sceptics and the supporters. First, because I will
demonstrate that acupuncture is in no way unscientific and second, because so few are aware
what a multitude of diseases can be successfully treated by using acupuncture. In (human)
medicine, acupuncture has become increasingly part of the medical scene over the past ten
years. The German Society for Acupuncture and Auricular Medicine (Deutsche Gesellschaft
für Akupunktur und Auricolomedizin) included well over one thousand physicians among its
members in 1997. This makes clear that acupuncture can no longer be considered an outsider
in the field of medicine, and the day is coming when that role will be played by the sceptic
and no longer by acupuncture itself. The primary reason for this development is that modern
acupuncture as practiced today has been freed from any mystical ideas by intensive, scientific
research, and that the essential principles of the way in which acupuncture works are now
well understood. In addition, acupuncture does not stand still; rather, it is being continuously
developed further in order to successfully treat even more cases which have been resistant to
therapy.

How does acupuncture work?

It is now possible to easily explain the underlying principles of acupuncture; here, they will be
presented in highly compressed and simplified form. The structure of the acupuncture point
looks like this: the body fascia, made up of collagen-rich connective tissue (also described as
corium) has numerous breakings, through which vascular nerve bundles enter the skin. These
are deposited in electrolyte-rich, loosened-up connective tissue, which has a strong
electronegative charge surplus. If I either insert a needle here or expose the area to laser rays,
the result will be a point-short circuit and through that, excitation of the nerves and moving
nerve impulses forward, first to the spinal cord. From there, various control mechanisms of
the body are selectively addressed, e.g. organs and hormonal control centers as well.
Thousands of years of experience in traditional acupuncture have given us the knowledge
today of which nerve points in the skin can be used to stimulate which functions. In the same
way, so-called bioactive substances, which include the endorphins (hormones which raise the
pain threshold) are activated by means of hormonal control systems. As a rule, we can
differentiate between the following, scientifically established effects of acupuncture:

· 1. neurophysiological effect = reflex effect which takes place in seconds

· 2. neurochemical effect = through stimulation of various neurotransmitters and endorphins

from within minutes to several hours

· 3. cybernetic effect = when the vicious circle is finally broken after several treatments and
the control mechanisms function once more
As ultimately all body functions, from coughing to the repair and healing of wounds, are
controlled by such vegetative, nervous and hormonal regulation, it is helpful to understand
that acupuncture can have such a regulatory effect in attacking so many types of disease.

Progress through the use of laser technology

The introduction of laser technology into acupuncture treatment has definitely brought great
progress. With laser technology, the acupuncture point can not only be treated without
inducing pain and even without touching the area, in addition, the healing effect of the laser
light can be utilized. The substantial therapeutic effect of the laser light is based on its
physical specialty, coherence; this means that there are synchronously oscillating light waves
of equal length, which can penetrate the tissue through their convergence. These light-induced
pulses can now be used directly for cell energy production in the cells' power stations, the
mitochondria. The cells' synthetic power (such as in the healing of wounds or the formation of
collagen fibers in case of tendon damage) can be given an enduring start. Although none of
this information is new, or at least it can be looked up, there are – and this applies in particular
to veterinary medicine, veterinarians and equestrians – many sceptics, who in their ignorance
continue to view acupuncture as either a kind of "voodoo magic" or just plain nonsense. And
yet, as I have just explained, the working mechanisms of this regulatory therapy, are based on
facts taught at all universities. Furthermore, anyone who makes the effort to discover a bit
more about this type of therapy will be convinced that definite and regular therapeutic success
can be achieved with acupuncture. This holds particularly true for diseases which – even with
great effort in terms of the diagnosis and therapy -- can only be treated over a lengthy period,
with only partial or even without any success whatsoever if standard medical treatments are
employed. In contrast, acupuncture involves regulatory therapy, and thus one can say that in
principle, therapy is possible for combating any disease, as long as regulation is still possible.
In other words, therapy can be used for diseases where irreparable damage has not yet
occurred and where organic functions can be stimulated into running again. This is indeed
possible with a far greater number of diseases than one might think. Therefore acupuncture is
also successfully used for chronic disease, where permanent regulation failure can often lead
to very serious problems. This especially includes allergic and rheumatic diseases.

Numerous tests have verified the outstanding efficacy of acupuncture.

By now, a multitude of tests with acupuncture and/or laser acupuncture have been conducted
on horses. These include own investigations with over 500 patients with back complaints (see
Treatment of the thoracic part of the spinal column...Treatment of back complaints...), more
than 100 patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis (see Treatment of COPD...), patients
with infected arthritis and tendosynovitis (see Treatment of infected tendinitis...) as well as
numerous publications on individual cases of lameness, dental purulence, and skin diseases.
On a case by case basis, these may be of lesser significance, but viewed in their entirety they
are a remarkable proof of acupuncture's effects, which at first truly seem at least somewhat
unbelievable. Keeping this in mind, pictures have been included as photographic proof.
Picture thieb 1 + 2 shows a patient with an infected hock joint inflammation (following a chip
operation) after six months of treatment in various clinics. The horse was unable to stand on
its foot. Picture thieb3+4 shows the patient fourteen days later, following six treatments with
laser acupuncture. The horse is now able to walk and even trot to some extent. Picture 1
shows a patient six weeks after an operation on the palmar annular ligament of the fetlock
with an infection in the digital synovial sheath of the fetlock and a purulent wound in the area
operated on which is growing larger. The clinic saw no other possibility but to recommend
euthanasia for the previously valuable horse. Picture 3 shows the same horse ten days later
(after ten laser acupuncture treatments); the wound has closed up. Incidentally, purulence
ceased after just two treatments with laser acupuncture. (Picture 2)
Which diseases can be treated successfully with laser acupuncture?

Now we come to the diseases in their specifics: the diseases which are most commonly treated
in horses are concentrated in the entire area of the back. With just a few exceptions,
acupuncture has been used to give fundamental and long-lasting freedom from pain to over
500 horses with back problems. Following the first treatment, a spontaneous, definite
improvement in movement coordination could be seen, even in horses suffering from an
ataxia. Complete healing where the horse could train again was achieved with approximately
one half of these patients. Treatment of acute lameness caused by sprains, contusions and
strains appears quite promising. In addition, nearly all the cases of infected arthritis and
tendosynovitis could be completely healed. A significant improvement was also seen for
chronic lameness such as tarsal osteoarthropathy, podotrochlea, and arthroses; here, too, it can
be anticipated that the patient will regain its previous usefulness. Acupuncture treatment is
also very helpful in cases of chronic obstructive bronchitis.(the extreme form is called given
the name "Dämpfigkeit" in German, referring to the shortness of breath). Significant
improvement in breathing is often noticed during the first treatment. The severity of the
disease plays no role in the prognosis of therapeutic success. It often happens that patients
with acute breathing problems react in a most spectacular fashion, whereas less severe cases
show no improvement or just the reverse. Much depends on how precisely the focus of the
allergy can be determined and halted. Here, just as with conventional therapy, it is of course
extremely useful to change the affected horse's posture. Acupuncture can also be employed to
great benefit in treating the various forms of colic. Both strong cramps and total intestinal
overextension can result from the build-up of gas, fluids or accumulated intestinal contents.
Here, too, acupuncture proves how useful it can be to shift the irritant back into the right
direction; the expanded intestinal sections are tonicized, the cramped areas are sedated. Thus a
physiological function is quickly put back into action. In general, the effect is spontaneous; at
most, within ten minutes. Acupuncture treatment is also successful in the area of gynecology.
The most common problems requiring therapy are ovarian disorders as well as postpartum
behavioral problems. A further possibility for acupuncture is for roaring. This involves a
functional nerve disorder which controls the function of the larynx. In particular with young
horses, where the disorder has not existed for long and where a residual function of the larynx
can be recognized, the outlook for success is excellent. In these cases, acupuncture treatment
is far preferable to an operation, as a physiological function of the larynx is ensured once
more. As a rule, dental cysts and maxillary sinus purulence can also be successfully treated
with laser acupuncture. In the majority of cases, this can also spare horses the stressful and
usually long-term healing process involved in tooth extraction. In this connection, it is also
worth mentioning that laser acupuncture also possesses a very strong inflammation-
suppressing and demarcating effect and can of course also be used to great effect in the
maturation and healing of abscesses. (See Picture jaz1, jaz2, jaz3). Laser acupuncture can also
be used for healing the eye in certain cases of corneal abscesses and corneal edemas which
resist therapy. Of additional interest is the possibility of using acupuncture to optimize
performance and stamina in the patient. This is usually achieved by concentrating on specific
points to eliminate slight functional disorders in individual organs, which can add up and
prevent an optimum overall function. As various systems feeding back into one another are
involved, individual body systems cannot be overburdened with an accompanying
breakdown, as happens with doping. Just the opposite: overall health is enhanced. There have
been many positive results from treating all of these illnesses with acupuncture. One must also
keep in mind that the patient brought in for acupuncture has in many cases already been
through a long period of "normal" treatment, and without success. In these cases, one could
say that acupuncture was a kind of "last attempt," and very often brought the long-hoped for
success. There are certainly many other areas where acupuncture treatment methods could be
used, but these must be decided from case to case.
Acupuncture is meeting with growing interest from veterinarians

It must be stressed one more time that acupuncture is neither a miracle treatment nor a
panacea. Nonetheless, it is a highly effective healing method which can be applied in many
areas, with the additional advantage of having no side effects. The chief problem currently
faced in using acupuncture to treat horses is the fact that there are still relatively few
veterinarians not only highly trained in diagnostic skills but equally highly trained in
acupuncture. For only when both are combined can unusual success be attained. Fortunately,
interest in acupuncture is increasing tremendously, and I don't believe it is too much to
imagine that in ten years the majority of both veterinarians and physicians will be offering
highly competent acupuncture.

Return to homepage/overview Acupuncture

Laser acupuncture treatment of infected arthritis and tendosynovitis in horses

(Pre-publication)

Dr. med. vet. Uwe Petermann, E-mail: DrUwePetermannMelle@t-online.de

Summary:

Laser acupuncture treatment is not yet standard at universities, although it can be used
throughout the entire spectrum of medicine. 7 equine patients were given acupuncture
treatment for infected arthritis and tendosynovitis after standard medical treatments had been
exhausted; the potential restorative benefits of laser acupuncture treatment are presented here.

Key words: laser acupuncture, horse, infected synovitis

Patient evidence and methodology

The patients were seven horses suffering from either an infected arthritis or tendosynovitis.
Three infections were the result of pitchfork wounds; one infection (in the shoulder joint) was
caused by a sharp wooden post which had broken through. A postoperative infected tarsitis
followed a chip operation (a clinically completely healthy horse), and a postoperative
infection of the digital synovial sheath of the fetlock resulted following an operation on the
palmar annular ligament of the fetlock. A purulent podarthritis resulted from a hock joint
injection in a patient with an apparent disease of the podotrochlea. Prior to the start of laser
acupuncture treatment, all of the patients had exhausted all conventional medical therapies
over a longer period of time, some of them in several clinics; the prognosis in each case was
either unfavorable or it had been suggested that the animal be put to sleep. With one
exception, all of the animals were given anywhere from 9 to 20 local treatments for
individually selected acupuncture points with an impulse laser (60 watts and 90 watts pulse
peak power, 200 nsec pulse width, from Reimers und Janssen, Berlin). Following completion
of therapy, it was possible to work again with six of the horses. One horse finally had to be
put to sleep following a long period of treatment. I would like to present 3 patient histories in
greater detail.

Case study 1: A chip in the right ankle joint was noticed during a preventive X-ray
examination of a two-year-old crossbred stallion. Following an endoscopic removal of the
fragment, an infectious tarsitis developed. This was first treated by the clinic where the
operation had taken place; intensive treatment followed at three other clinics. 6 months after
the operation, I examined the horse. The horse did not set the diseased limb down and only
with great effort could it move forward with three legs. The circumference of the joint was 61
cm (a normal tarsal joint measures 42 cm). (Picture Thieb. 1 + 2). After fourteen days or
seven treatments, the circumference of the joint had been reduced to 47 cm, and the horse
could be walked and also be exercised at a trot (Picture Thieb. 3 + 4).for about 5 minutes.
After trotting for approximately one minute, the horse was able to move without a limp. After
the third day of exercise, a new feverish inflammation of the joint appeared spontaneously,
with over 41°C body temperature and pronounced swelling of the joint. During the acute
phase, the inflammation was treated with antibiotics (parenteral and not intra-articular). After
approximately four weeks with twelve additional treatments, the patient was released and
gradually began training to full capacity at home.

Case study 2: Following a coffin joint injection, a twenty-year-old crossbred stallion

developed an infectious arthritis. The patient did not stand on that foot and was clearly in
great pain; the entire hoof area was swollen significantly. Following consultation with the
clinic, I administered an acupuncture examination to the horse (thus avoiding the need of
transportation) and the owner and/or clinic personnel gave the horse daily acupuncture
treatments at the acupuncture points I had marked. After three days, the horse could be
walked almost without limping. One week later – I am not aware of the precise cause – (the
horse was apparently again given an intra-articular injection), its condition deteriorated
considerably. Now, despite the horse's condition, it was transferred to another clinic and there
it was punctured and cleansed several times and finally drained. It was then agreed that
euthanasia was the only solution, as its condition continued to worsen despite all the efforts
made, including continued laser acupuncture by the owner and clinic personnel.

Case study 3: Following a routine endoscopy of the digital synovial sheath of the fetlock in a
six-year-old crossbred gelding, which took place within the scope of an operation on the
palmar annular ligament of the fetlock, the healing of the wound was disturbed by a
continuous discharge of synovia. Despite intensive therapy by the clinic where the operation
had been performed, there was at first an infection of the tendon sheath and a necrotizing
inflammation in the area where the operation took place. Six weeks after the operation, the
clinic decided to suggest euthanasia to the owner, as continued deterioration of the horse's
condition seemed definite and the infection of the tendon sheath could not be controlled.
However, the owner decided to try acupuncture treatment for the horse, a decision which was
strongly opposed by the clinic. These were the findings: approx. two 5 DM coin-sized wounds
with escaping synovia and a necrotic center. (Picture 5). A brisk walk was indeed possible,
but only with a high degree of lameness. The foot was set down only at the tip of the toe. Due
to the adhesions of the tendon sheath, it was not possible to use the fetlock joint to press
down. The circumference of the fetlock joint was 49 cm (a healthy joint measures 43 cm).
After two treatments (two days, see Picture 6), no further secretion from the tendon sheath
could be determined). A marked necrotic area of approx. the size of a 1 pfennig coin was
considerably reduced (circumference still 46 cm). After five days (five treatments), the wound
was completely dry and had shrunk to half its original size. After ten days the wound had
almost completely closed (Picture 7); there was now only a slight lameness when walking,
which gradually disappeared. Even in trotting, only a slight to medium limp was noted. After
a total of fourteen days of treatment, the patient was released, where it is currently receiving
additional treatment from its owner; the horse is gradually increasing its walking and trotting
in order to further loosen the adhesions and to continue reducing the tendon's contracture.

Discussion: In all the patients, it could be seen that laser acupuncture had a rapid influence on
demarcation and inflammation. On the other hand, restitution of the degenerative
consequences of the inflammation, including adhesions, defects in the cartilage and similar
problems presented considerably greater difficulty and required far more time. Nonetheless,
healing was eventually achieved in all cases but one. These cases clearly demonstrate how it
is possible to expand the limits of therapy with the help of laser acupuncture, and I do not
wish to exclude the possibility that in the case of the patient with podarthritis, healing might
have been possible with immediate and continuing laser acupuncture without the irritation
caused by puncture, cleansing and drainage. Still, one must keep in mind – particularly when
discussing acupuncture, which has not yet been fully integrated scientifically – that one
cannot refuse an owner's wish to combine acupuncture with conventional medical therapy.
This can be a significant factor in case the therapy fails; otherwise one may well be held
responsible for the failure. I have therefore reached the conclusion that, in a similar case, I
would not attempt an additional laser acupuncture treatment.

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Ear Acupuncture Map of the

Horse
Dr. med vet Uwe Petermann, prakt Tierarzt, Akupunktur, Germany e mail:
DrUwePetermannMelle@t-online.de

Ear map of the horse, left ear

Summary

At 3 horses the orthopedic localizations at the ear were verified independently with the help of
the double laser technology of the controlled Acupuncture. One by one all joints were
irradiated therapeutically with the laser. Nogier frequency C was used.
A second laser was used to find out the appropriate points of resonance at the ear. This
happened under RAC check.
Identical points were found on each single horse. The possibility of the lamesnessdiagnostic
over the ear-acupuncture-points is explained. A 10-years-experience in handling this method
is present.
Keywords: Earacupuncture, horse, laser, lamenesdiagnostic.

Introduction

Orthopedic diagnostics on animals are more difficult than on humans, for the doctor has no
information about place, severity level of the pain and above all, he has no information which
special movement causes the pain-reaction in which place of the body. The veterinary merely
can see , on which foot the
animal has the lameness. Further, he can try to provoke a pain or reaction e.g. by stretching,
bending or palpating of the leg. In this way, he can draw conclusions on the point of the
lameness. Finally, the point of the lameness can be limited by joint or line anaesthesias on a
certain section. The following Roentgen diagnostics is only limited by one’s fantasy,
especially if it is done without the time-consuming anaesthesias. Through this, the place for
the local therapy is often chosen wrong.
Controlled Acupuncture could offer valuable diagnostic assistance, if an ear card with
accurate orthopedic point localizations is available. So the ear-acupuncture-card in the
veterinary medicine has not only therapeutic but also an important diagnostic meaning.
Different authors created ear cards of some
animal species in the passed years. The points of ear with electrical point detecting devices
were in most cases found with
well-known orthopedic pain localizations or by pain provocation tests.

Methodology

The ear card created here was developed with the help of the double laser technology under
RAC/VAS check at 3 horses. For the researches 3 attained full growth, healthy warm blood
horses were available. With the double-laser-technique the hinge points, spinal column and
the single teeth in the upper
and lower jaw of all 3 horses were treated with a 90watts pulsed laser. (Multimed, company
Reimers and Janssen, Berlin. At the same time the ear is diagnostically searched for resonance
with 2nd pulsed laser.
A corresponding point at the ear was clearly found for each point at the body. All points were
marked at the ear and at the
same time drawn to an ear card. In the same methode the points were determined at the two
other horses and compared together afterwards.

Result

The RAC/VAS Rebounds at the ear were to be found very exactly and clearly. A complete
correspondence of the determined ear localisation could be seen. In the meantime an
approximately 10-years-experience in handling with the earacupuncture with hundreds of
lamenessdiagnostics is existing. Nowadays, the high reliability of the method in most cases is
the reason why diagnostic injections with the lamenessdiagnostics are performed by myself
very rarely in the last years.
Back to Homepage

Ear Acupuncture Map of the

Dog
Dr. med vet Uwe Petermann, prakt Tierarzt, Akupunktur, Germany e mail:
DrUwePetermannMelle@t-online.de

Ear map of the dog, right ear

Summary

At 3 dogs (2 white Labradors and one Terrier)the orthopedic localizations at the ear were
verified independently with the help of the double laser technology of the controlled
Acupuncture. One by one all joints were irradiated therapeutically with the laser. Nogier
frequency C was used. A second laser was used to find out the appropriate points of
resonance at the ear. This happened under RAC check. Identical points were found on each
single dog. The possibility of the lamesnessdiagnostic over the ear-acupuncture-points is
explained. A 3-years-experience in handling this method is present.

Keywords: Earacupuncture, dog, laser, lamenesdiagnostic.

Introduction

Orthopedic diagnostics on animals are more difficult than on humans, for the doctor has no
information about place, severity level of the pain and above all, he has no information which
special movement causes the pain-reaction in which place of the body. The veterinary merely
can see , on which foot the animal has the lameness. Further, he can try to provoke a pain or
reaction e.g. by stretching, bending or palpating of the leg. In this way, he can draw
conclusions on the point of the lameness. Finally, the point of the lameness can be limited by
X-ray-diagnostics. Through this, the place for the local therapy is often chosen wrong.
Controlled Acupuncture could offer valuable diagnostic assistance, if an ear card with
accurate orthopedic point localizations is available. So the ear-acupuncture-card in the
veterinary medicine has not only therapeutic but also an important diagnostic meaning.
Different authors created ear cards of some animal species in the passed years. The points of
ear with electrical point detecting devices were in most cases found with well-known
orthopedic pain localizations or by pain provocation tests.
Methodology

The ear card created here was developed with the help of the double laser technology under
RAC/VAS check at 3 dogs. For the researches 2 1 and 3 year old white Labrador girls, called
"Lea" and "Lotta" and a 11 year old Terrier girl, called "Emmy" were available. With the
double-laser-technique the hinge points, spinal column and the single teeth in the upper
and lower jaw of all 3 dogs were treated with a 90watts pulsed laser. (Multimed, company
Reimers and Janssen, Berlin). At the same time the ear is diagnostically searched for
resonance with 2nd pulsed laser.
A corresponding point at the ear was clearly found for each point at the body. All points were
marked at the ear and at the
same time drawn to an ear card. In the same methode the points were determined at the two
other dogs and compared together afterwards.

Result

The RAC/VAS Rebounds at the ear were to be found very exactly and clearly. A complete
correspondence of the determined ear localisation could be seen. In the meantime an
approximately 10-years-experience in handling with the earacupuncture with hundreds of
lamenessdiagnostics in horses and 3 years in dogs is existing. Nowadays, the high reliability
of the method in most cases is the reason why diagnostic injections with the
lamenessdiagnostics are performed by myself very rarely in the last years.

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Laser Acupuncture on Horses with COPD

Dr. med vet Uwe Petermann, prakt Tierarzt, Akupunktur, Germany e mail:
DrUwePetermannMelle@t-online.de

Abstract

105 horses with extreme COPD were treated exclusively using laser acupuncture. No other
medicinal or alternative therapy was administered. All patients had been treated previously
over a lengthy period (3 months - 10 years) with conventional therapies such as cortisone,
clenbuterol, drugs for secretion- removal, hyperinfusion, inhalation and so on without success.
The acupuncture lasers used were infrared pulsed lasers with 60 and 90 watt peak pulse power
with an impulse width of 200 nsec. As pulse frequencies, those from NOGIER and BAHR
(between 100 and 10000 Hz) were used. The horses were treated 4 - 12 times on each point
for 30 sec. (1 case 29 times, on average 6.5 times). The interval between treatments was 4 - 7
days. In most of the patients (n=79) a clear spontaneous reaction could already be seen during
the first session. The horses were able to breath deeper and remove secretion in a manner
similar to that of infusion therapy. 15 patients that had not improved after 3 or 4 treatments,
were treated by laser on marked points by their owners every day for 2 - 3 weeks with a
30mW continuous laser, 30 sec. on each point. After conclusion of the treatment, 73 horses
appeared to have been cured. In other words, there was no more coughing, no more difficulty
in breathing; the respiratory tract was clean and showed no signs of inflammation. The horses
seemed to be in excellent physical condition. 17 horses were much better and had no more
problems with their stamina, but sometimes had a slight cough while being ridden. 11 horses
were also better than before and could be ridden, but their stamina was not completely
restored and they were still coughing so that the result was not deemed satisfying. Only 4
horses showed no signs of improvement following the treatment.

Keywords: laser, acupuncture, horse, COPD

Introduction

Although veterinary acupuncture is almost 3000 years old since Sunjang, the father of
veterinary acupucture has lived, 900 BC, (KOTHBAUER, O., MENG, A. 1983) one finds
only few scientific articles about acupuncture on horses. Most of the publications in this area
are concerned with isolated case studies which are quickly discounted as a placebo effect or
self healing. In the face of the really outstanding work and, above all, the effect
(BERGSMANN, O. 1977, ZEROBIN, K. 1991) of carefully directed and expertly carried out
acupuncture (GLARDON, O. and SCHATZMANN, U. 1981, PETERMANN, U. 1989,
WESTERMEYER, E. 1993) , this is very difficult to understand. The reason, first and
foremost, is that in the universities and clinics, which generally produce the greatest part of
the scientific literature, acupuncture is not established as a method of treatment.
The first known description of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) does not go
quite as far back as the origins of veterinary acupuncture. Aristotle described the following
symptoms in stable horses in his "Animal Healing": "Symptoms are also incurable in which
the heart is affected, whereby the flanks slowly collapse in a pathological way .. and they
draw up their hips" "( GOHLKE 1957 ). It also did not escape him that this was a
domestication illness which was closely connected with being kept in a stable. COPD is
unknown in wild horses and horses kept all year round on pasture (THURLBECK, W.M. and
LOWELL, F.C. 1964, GILLESPIE, J.R. and TYLER, W.S. 1969, COOK; W.R. 1976). This
fact certainly deserves attention when it comes to prophylactics and therapy in that very ill
patients should be kept in the ideal "all year round on pasture" state as far as circumstances
will permit. This means allowing the patients the maximum possible freedom to move in and
outside their stable as they like.
In the English-speaking world, the synonyms for COPD are heaves and broken wind. The
term COPD itself ( chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) has been taken from human
medicine.
The basic pathological mechanisms of the obstruction take place in the finest branches of the
bronchial tree, in the inlet channels to the alveoli, namely the bronchioles. These passages no
longer have a cartilaginous septal framework running through them so that the main effect,
the bronchial spasm, encounters no resistance here. As a further lumen narrowing effect, there
are the more or less viscous secretion deposites as a result of dyscrinie and hypercrinie. The
obstruction is finally completed by an often substantial oedema of the mucous membrane
(DEEGEN, E. 1979). In the case of serious COPD, this obstruction leads to a valve effect in
which more air is drawn into the alveoli during inspiration as can be pressed out during
expiration. This is so called as "air trapping" (MCPHERSON, E.A. and LAWSON, H.K.
1974). This increasingly distends the alveoli and leads to a functional emphysema.
All the pathological principles described above are vegetatively and humorally controlled so
that here a therapy of targeted stimulation of nerve points, called trigger or acupuncture
points, offers itself as a therapy which can act in a regulatory manner (MELZACK, R. and
WALL, P.D. 1965, MELZACK, R. et al. 1977, HEINE, H. 1987, ZOMANN, A. 1990).

The so called „Controlled acupuncture" does not just emphasise treating the symptomatic
points, e.g. Lu 7, Bl 13, Bl 17 etc. (see diagram). An attempt should also be made to remove
the disorder seen in acupuncture as the joint cause of the allergic reaction. Here the allergen is
seen merely as the trigger, not the cause of the allergic illness. You can find the real cause of
allergic reaction by a systematic diagnosis and treatment of disorders, e.g. scars especially
along the line of the lung and kidney meridians and periodontitis. Based on the classical
Chinese acupuncture, controlled acupuncture was further developed in the last 15 years by the
Deutsche Akademie für Akupunktur und Auriculomedizin (DAA/AM german academie for
acupuncture and auricular medicine)* . Whereas classical medicine sees the causes of COPD
in infections of the upper pulmonary tracts, especially influenza and herpes, in air pollution,
allergies, lung worm infection and perhaps also genetic factors (GERBER, H. 1968,
SCHATZMANN, U. and GERBER, H. 1972, LITTLEJOHN, A. 1978, HAYER, L. and
SASSE, H.H.L. 1980) , controlled acupuncture regards the accumulation of these external
disorders together with additional internal disorders as the central cause of the allergic
reaction. Especially periodontitis is responsible for disorders of the vegetative functions or, in
the words of acupuncture, of the meridian functions (KLUGER.L. 1990). In addition, scars in
the meridian line which did not heal properly are also a cause. Seen morphologically, it is a
question here of chronic granulomatous inflammation surrounded by demarcation tissue (
KELLNER, G. 1979). As laser therapy has an outstanding demarcation effect and promotes
the healing of wounds (MESTER et al. 1969), it is also understandable that they can also set a
demarcation in motion again that had come to a halt and thus so can eliminate the disorder
(PETERMANN, U. 1998, POPP, F.-A. 1984). The organism's ability to adapt can be reduced
through the accumulation of these internal and external stress factors that it is no longer in a
position to react sensibly to stimuli (e.g. allergens). The medical phrase for this changed
reaction situation is „adaptation syndrome" (SEYLE, H. 1953). This has been known for
almost 50 years and is confirmed time and again in the treatment of such disorders by the
quite spontaneous positive reactions of the patients. The direct reactions of the patient to laser
treatment of such a scar or a periostitis is demonstrated by 3 case studies.

Patients

The following work reports on the effectiveness of controlled laser acupuncture treatment of
105 horses suffering from extreme COPD. Only patients with pronounced dyspnea in the
resting state and an extended lung percussion area at least 4 fingers wide were selected. All
horses had been treated with the usual methods, with mucolytics, bronchodilators, cortisone,
inhalation using an ultrasonic mist generator and, to some extent, with hyperinfusion therapy
(DEEGEN, E. LIESKE, R: and FISCHER, J. 1980, DETLEF, E., KÖHLER, L. and
ALLMELING, G. 1982, DEEGEN, E. 1988) over a prolonged period (2 months to several
years) without success. The study involved 6 stallions, 40 mares and 59 geldings. The horses
were between 4 and 30 years old (average age 12.6 years). In 42 of the horses, the stabling
conditions has already been optimised over a longer period of time (sawdust on the floor,
silage feed, hay soaked in salt water, open stabling , access to pasture all the year round).

Examination Procedure

After the report of the owner asking for duration, course run by and seriousness of the illness,
stabling and feeding conditions, quality of the feed, previous treatment, the horses were
examined externally (frequency and depth of breathing, type of breathing, breathing through
the nostrils, running nose). The entire body was also examined for any scars of substantial
size. Finally, a thorough auscultatory examination and a percussion of the lung area was
carried out. In the process, attention was paid to the lung percussion area and to any areas of
unusually loud resonance. Because of the extreme dyspnea of the patient, no breathing
stimulation or inhibition was used during the initial examination. In the post-examination, a
inhibition of the breathing was carried out for about 45 sec. followed by an auscultation (but
not for the 4 patients which showed no improvement). A bronchoscopy was carried out on
some of the patients (n=35) as a supplement to the clearly identified clinical findings.
Viscosity, amount and distribution of the secretion, mucous membrane oedema in the
neighbourhood of the bifurcation, reddening of the mucous membrane were assessed.
Subsequently, the acupuncture diagnosis was carried out using the method of the Deutsche
Akademie für Akupunktur und Aurikulomedizin (BAHR, F. 1997, PETERMANN, U. 1999)
to find the optimum acupuncture points for the treatment. This method makes a consistent and
reproducible diagnosis possible so that the points at which the therapy is to be applied and
also any local disorders in the meridian lines can be determined.**

Therapy

For the individual treatment of each patient, each of the points diagnosed by the controlled
acupuncture was treated with an acupuncture laser for 30 sec. The following points were most
often found: Bl 13, (influence point of the lung meridian), Bl 14, (influence point of the
meridian heart/sexuality), Bl 17, (influence point of the diaphragm), Lu 7 and Ki 6 as cardinal
point pair, Bl 40, (allergy point and histamine point of the ear acupuncture), Bl 23, (influence
point of the kidney meridian), CV 17 (respiratory alarm point of the three heaters) and St 40,
(mucus dissolving point, beta-agonist point ), Li 13 (ACTH point) as well as the points TH 5
and Ki 3, important for all inflammation processes in the organism. In addition, the individual
scars and periodontitis points found during the acupuncture diagnosis were also treated with
the laser, sometimes up to 5 minutes per point.

Picture 1) little scar found as a disturbing focus in a COPD patient near Lu 11

Picture 2) a bigger scar found as a disturbing focus in another COPD patient also near Lu 11
Picture 3) COPD patient with an iapparent sinusitis in the first maxillar molar tooth, treated
with a laser douche (8x 10 watt impulse laser diodes)

The treatment of all acupuncture points were carried out with a 60W and a 90W impuls-
acupuncturelaser (Reimers + Janssen Company) for 20 - 30 sec. per point. These are diode
impuls- lasers with a wavelength of 904nm and a pulse duration of 200nsec.
Picture 4) My 14 years old acupucture laser used in the treatment of the patients according to
this study (untill today my favorite laser machine)

Picture 5) One of my high end modern impuls- acupuncture lasers 50 Watt

Picture 6) One of my high end modern impuls- acupuncture lasers 90 Watt

Essentially, the frequencies A, B and C of the frequency bands according to NOGIER (292,
584, 1168 Hz) as well as the frequency 5 (frequency for the cardinal points) from the
frequency bands according to BAHR (9592 Hz) were used for the cardinal points.
4 - 12 treatments were carried out at intervals of 4 - 7 days (1 patient had 29 treatments, on the
average 6.5 treatments). 15 patients, wheather they reacted immediately to the treatment with
a significant improvement in breathing, they were again experiencing very serious breathing
difficulties by the next treatment date. In these 15 patients the points were marked by scissors
and each radiated for 30 sec. using a Handylaser (Reimers and Janssen Company and Schwa-
Medico Company, both 50 mW continuse- wave- laser, wavelength 820 nm) applied by the
owners themselves over a 2 - 3 week period.
38 patients which, before the start of the treatment, had not enjoyed any improvement in
stabling or had again been neglected, were kept in these same conditions during the therapy.
On the other hand, the conditions of the 25 patients were optimised during the therapy. (see
list of patients)

Results

With very many patients (n=79), significant reactions could be observed during the first
treatment. An increase in the depth of breathing, sometimes quite significant, was a regular
occurrence when the point Bl.17 ( influence point of the diaphragm) was treated. This was
often accompanied by an increase in coughing. In the meantime it was also noticeable with
most of the patients that they took deep breaths a number of times during the acupuncture -
something not previously possible because of the obstruction. At the end of a treatment, or 10
minutes thereafter, a loud secretion mobilisation could be heard without the aid of a
stethoscope in half of the patients, rather similar to that following a hyperinfusion therapy
with frequent swallowing of secretion. After the second or third treatment, in the case of some
patients, the previous droning and rattling noises which could be heard by auscultation had
completely and spontaneously disappeared.
At the end of the therapy the following results had been achieved: 73 horses appeared to be in
a healthy clinical condition, i.e. while resting and in action coughing no longer occurred and
also after inhibition of breathing no pathological breathing noises could be ascertained by
auscultation. Also the previous emphysema which had been determined by percussion had
completely receded, insofar as one could diagnose such by percussion of the lung. The horses
were able to be put fully to work again and showed no further cough symptoms. 26 of the 35
patients which underwent a bronchoscopy and which belonged to this group, no longer
showed any pathological bronchoscopy results. The next 17 patients no longer had any
breathing difficulties and could be put to work normally, but they coughed occasionally in the
stable and on starting to work. In 11 patients, the ailments were able to be improved in the
end result and the horses put to work again to a certain extent but coughing still persisted at
the beginning of, and also sometimes during work so that one was not able to describe their
state as satisfactory. 4 horses showed no lasting improvement although positive reactions
during treatment were observed also in these patients. Of the 14 horses which were treated
daily by their owners for a further 2-3 week period, 9 showed in the end no clinical evidence
of disease, 2 were "satisfactory" and 2 horses could be put to work "with limitations". Only
one horse still had very serious breathing difficulties following this "intensive treatment" and
in the end had to be put down. 1 patient that seemed to be clinically healthy at the end of the
treatment, developed a very serious COPD again after only 3 weeks and ist owner wanted no
further treatment after that. 65 horses were examined again after an observation period of
between 6 months and 4 years (average of 1.8 years). All these horses belonged to both of the
groups in which a good or very good result was achieved. No worsening in the good condition
of 56 of these patients was observed by the owners over the entire period. 3 patients started to
develop symptoms again after 6 months, in two patients after a year, in two patients after 3
years and in one patient after 4 years. One patient (No. 97) was brought later into the study
being free of symptoms for 10 years following acupuncture treatment of very serious COPD
and had now developed once more within a few weeks a similar COPD. However, after 3
further treatments the patient has now enjoyed 1 year complete remission.

Case Studies

These case studies are very interesting and helpfull to show the procedure of the controlled
acupuncture and to see the connections between the disturbing foci as scars or inapperent
sinusitis and allergic reaction.

Case Study No. 1

Eight-year old dark brown Hannoverian mare with back problems and a medium degree
COPD.
This patient is not part of the study because of the two problems and the fact that the COPD is
only of medium intensity. The patient is, however, extremely suitable for explaining the
acupuncture procedure and to demonstrate how it works. The horse's back problem was so
extreme that this tournament horse had to be taken out of professional sport and could not
even be ridden. The animal reacted to the slightest pressure in the area of the saddle and the
kidneys. It also had a medium degree COPD with a corresponding reduction in stamina.
Auscultation findings: distinct droning and rattling noises in the resting state, very clear
droning and rattling noises following a lobelin injection. Bronchoscopy findings: abundant
viscous mucus in the trachea, slight swelling and reddening of the bifurcation and main
bronchi.
Acupuncture of the ear acupuncture points: The lung point (identical to body point Lu7) and
the point of the plexus bronchopulmonalis as well as the kidney point showed a distinct
symptomatic improvement in the functioning of the lungs in the sense of deeper inspiration
and a relieved expiration. The droning noise disappeared. A distinct secretion mobilisation
could be heard with the unassisted ear within a few minutes. The treatment of the symptoms
of the back points (ear localisations cervical, thoracic and lumbar parts of the spinal column)
as well as the thalamus point (identical with the point LI 4) brought no significant
improvement on pain palpation. The acupuncture diagnosis detected a disorder in a two-year
old badly scarred injury in the right forearm in the neighbourhood of the point Lu6. A two-
minute treatment of the scar with the laser was then performed. As a supplement, the thymus
point (identical to body point TH 5) was treated with the Fr. 5. Once this therapy was
completed, the tenderness had spontaneously disappeared, even on heavy pressure. 5 days
after this treatment the old wound, what had been close for several years, had opened up and
fistulated. After a total of four laser acupuncture treatments, the back and lungs were without
any clinical pathological findings. The horse was able to be put to work again and the fistula
had healed.

Case Study No. 2

A nineteen-year old Arabian mare (Patient No. 53) which had been suffering for nine years
from COPD and whose condition had so worsened in the previous few years that putting the
animal down had been considered a number of times. The horse came to examination in a
dramatic state. The breathing frequency was 56 per minute in a resting state with a very
serious abdominal expiration. The nostrils were opened up to about palm size on inspiration,
the eyes wide open in panic.
Picture 7) COPD- patient with palm- sise opend nostrils in inspiration and panic eyes
A loud droning and whistling sound could be heard over a wide area. Percussion showed an
extended lung percussion area almost two hands wide and an unusually loud resonance. The
following acupuncture points were found and treated: Lu 7, Bl 13, Bl 14, Bl 17, Bl 23, Li 13,
CV 17, St 40, Ki 3 and TH 5. An additional disorder in the form of a scar at the point Lu 9
under the carpal joint was discovered by the acupuncture diagnosis. The point Lu 9 is the
tonification and source point of the lung meridian and so of extra importance.
During the treatment of this scar with the laser, a deep breathing was heard a number of times
and following that, a distinctly easier expiration and an increased inspiration could be
ascertained. The breathing frequency was halved to 28 breaths per minute at the end of the
first acupuncture treatment and the extreme nostril breathing has disappeared, the eyes had
lost the look of panic.
Picture 8) the same patient 25 minutes later, after treatment. You see a relaxed horse with
nearly normal nostrils in maximum inspiration.
A bronchoscopy could be made on the following day without risk to the patient. The
following symptomatic findings were removed: the entire trachea and the main bronchi were
covered in a web of highly viscous secretion filaments. The bronchi collapsed almost
completely on coughing. The bifurcatio tracheae was distinctly swollen and showed an
intense inflammatory reddening. The horse was free of symptoms after seven treatments at 3-
4 day intervals and could gallop over the fields without trouble.
Picture 9) The same patient 26 days later galopping over the field

Three weeks after the patient was discharged, serious symptoms reappeared and the horse had
to be brought in again, despite of a journey of more than 300 miles. A further 6 acupuncture
treatments were carried out till the patient could be discharged again, symptom-free. In the
observation period of almost a year which followed, the horse was symptom-free according to
the owner and had never been in such a healthy state since the start of the illness ten years
previously.

Case Study No. 3

A ten-year old Trakehner was brought to acupuncture treatment after years of conventional
treatment (Patient No. 54). The horse had not been able to work for the previous six months,
despite therapy. An infusion therapy had been carried out three weeks previously (4 days, 40
litre phys. NaCl solution intravenously). Also up to the day of the first acupuncture, the
animal had inhaled Pulmicort daily. In addition, the horse had been given an oral dose of
Ventipulmin Gel (2 x 20 ml daily, the equivalent of 2x 5mg clenbuterol hydrochloride) and
Sputolysin (2 x 35g daily, corresponding to 350mg dembrexin hydrochloride) The findings of
the examination were as follows: violent dyspnea in resting, breathing: 36/min., intensely
costal breathing with abdominal compression, auscultation: extreme droning and rattling
noises over the area of the main bronchi and trachea in resting, percussion: extended lung
percussion area the width of a hand with unusually loud resonance, bronchoscopy: larger
quantities of highly viscous secretion in the trachea and in the main bronchi, swelling of the
bifurcatio trachae. The body temperature was normal, there were no clinical signs of a
sinusitis.
The acupuncture treatment took place at 2 -3 day intervals and on the points Lu 7, Ki 3, St 40,
Bl 14, Bl 17, Bl 23, CV 17, Li 13 and TH 5. The acupuncture diagnosis detected a disorder in
the stomach meridian in the area of the point St 1. The point St 1 lies at the root of the first
molar toth in the maxilla or at the sinus maxillaris over this tooth. The first molar of the
upper jaw has, interestingly enough, a direct connection with the point Lu 1, the starting point
of the lung meridian. The sinus maxillaris and the located point on the first maxillar tooth was
treated using a laser area probe (8 x 10Watts imuls- diode over an area of approx. 50 sq. cm.)
for two minutes (picture 3). A recognisable deepening of the breathing could be ascertained
within 10 minutes following the end of the irradiation. The breathing frequency fell to 28
breaths per minute, the droning noise had become quieter but the secretion rattling noise had
become louder. The patient's state improved, when only slightly, in the following days of
treatment. The breathing frequency in resting, however, was constant at 20 to 24 breaths per
minute so that the owner was quite satisfied with the success of the treatment. As the patient
relapsed after each treatment and no distinct reactions to the treatment could be observed, it
seemed sensible to break off the therapy. The owner insisted, however, on further treatment
and so another treatment was undertaken. The length of treatment with the laser- douche for
this area was raised from 2 to 10 minutes as clinically inapparent sinusitis in the area of the
left upper 1st molar tooth has a key function in the therapy of this patient. As exceeding the
dose of 1-3 joules/sq.cm. cannot cause any therapeutic damage (KARU et al. 1993), there was
no problem in justifying this measure, especially as the energy of 12 joules delivered in 10
minutes was distributed over an area of about 25 sq.cm. No distinct change in breathing could
be determined during the acupuncture treatment and the first three minutes of the area
treatment which followed. The depth of the breathing increased vehemently from the 4th to
the 5th minute reached a state similar to that following an injection of breathing stimulants.
The breathing became normal again about 5 minutes after the treatment was discontinued. On
the following morning, the horse gave the impression of being free of symptoms for the first
time. The breathing was around 8 breaths per minute, was costoabdominal, no droning or
rattling sounds could be heard following breathing inhibition. The breathing got worse each
time between treatments, at first 20 per minute in resting, then 16 and finally 8 to 12 per
minute after a further twelve treatments. A large increase in the depth of the breathing was to
be observed during the sinus treatment in the first ten succeeding treatments, although it was
weaker from time to time. Even in this case, when an extraordinary large number of
treatments had to be made, the effort was still justified as the horse had neither clinical nor
endoscopic signs of illness at the end of the treatment and up to today, after a one-year period
of observation, the horse has worked, been in very good condition and has returned to
professional tournament sport (dressage).

Conclusions

The results show clearly that acupuncture as a vegetative regulating therapy is outstandingly
suitable in countering allergic regulatory disorders. This is all the more noteworthy
considering that all patients had a very long history of highly chronic illness and in all cases
had been treated intensively often over a period of years. The results of this study should help
spark the debate as to whether one should look at this form of therapy with less scepticism
and greater attention in the future. This is all the more so as it represents, when correctly
applied, a substantial enrichment of the whole medical spectrum.

* The DAA/AM is a society which exclusively trains doctors, dentists and veterinary surgeons
and has over twelve thousand members in Germany alone. It has dedicated itself to
scientifically researching the effects of acupuncture, to develop acupuncture further and to
understand the physiological mechanisms behind it. The DAA/AM directs its aims and
endeavours towards a systematic and reproducible diagnosis and therapy in acupuncture.
**controled acupuncture bases on thr RAC or VAS Reflex. When I near e.g. a laser beam to
an active acupuncture point, that means an acupuncture point that is in disorder, the patient
reacts with a vegitative reflex. One thing what happens in this reflex is a changed pulse
quality, you can taste on the pulse. This has nothing to do with chiniese puls diagnosis and is
called „Reflex Auricular Cardinal" or „Vaso Authonom Signal".

Literature review

1 Bahr, F. (1997) Skriptum Systematik und Praktikum der wissenschaftlichen

Akupunktur für weit Fortgeschrittene und Experten. Eigenverlag, München 1997 (Scriptum,
systematics and practical course of the scientific acupuncture for progressing and expert
acupuncturists. Self-publishing house, Munich 1997 )
2 Bergsmann, O. (1977 ) : Die biokybernetische Wirkung der Akupunktur im klinischen
Versuch. Dtsch. Ztschr. f. Akup. 5, 131ff (The biocybernetic effect of the acupuncture in the
clinical attempt. Dtsch. Ztschr. f. Akup. 5, 131ff
3 Cook, W.R., (1976) : Chronic bronchitis and alveolar emphysema in the horse. Vet. Rec.
99, 448 - 4514
4 Deegen, E. (1979) : Zur klinischen Diagnostik chronischer Lungenerkrankungen des
Pferdes., (To the clinical diagnostics of chronic lung illnesses of the horse.) Dtsch. Tierärztl.
Wochenschr. 77, 616 - 621
5 Deegen, E., Lieske, R., und Fischer, J. (1980) Eine neue Methode der sekretolytischen
Therapie bei Pferden mit chronisch obstruktiver Bronchitis. 7. Arbeitstagung der Fachgr.
Pferdekrankheiten DVG, Hamburg, 63-73 (A new method of the secretolytic therapy with
horses with chronically obstructive bronchitis. 7. Work meeting of the practioners Horse
diseases DVG, Hamburg, 63-73
6 Deegen, E. (1988) : Infusionstherapie beim Pferd. (Infusion therapy with the horse)
Tierärztl. Umschau 43, 766 - 772
7 Detlef, E., Köhler, L. und Allmeling, G. (1982) : Erfahrungen mit der NaCI-
Hyperinfusionstherapie bei der Behandlung der COPD beim Pferd. (Experiences with the
NaCI Hyperinfusionstherapie with the handling of the COPD with the horse) Tierärztl. Prax.
10, 209 - 217
8 Gerber, H. (1968) : Zur Therapie chronischer Respirationskrankheiten des Pferdes (To
the therapy of chronic respiratory disease of the horse) Schweiz. Arch. Tierheilkd. 110, 139 -
153
9 Gillespie, J.R. and W.S. Tyler (1969) Chronic alveolar emphysema into the horse.
Advances in veterinary science and comparative medicine. Acad. Press, New York, London
10 Glardon, O.; Schatzmann, U. (1981) : Lokalisation einiger Punkte auf dem
Blasenmeridian des Pferdes. (Localisation of some points on the bladdervessel of the horse
Dtsch. Zschr. Akup. 24, 115 - 118
11 Gohlke, P. (Hrsg., 1957) : Aristoteles: Tierheilkunde, (Animal- medicine) 366 Zweite
Auflage, Paderborn
12 Hajer, R. und H.H.L. Sasse (1980) : Zur Ätiologie, Diagnostik und Therapie der COPD.
7. (To the aetiology, diagnostics and therapy of the COPD.) Arb.-Tagg. D. Fachgr. Pfd. Krh.,
DVG Hamburg
13 Heine, H. (1987) : Zur Morphologie der Akupunkturpunkte. (To the morphology of the
acupuncturepoints) Dtsch.Zschr.Akup. 30, 75 - 79
14 Kellner, G. (1979) : Der Herd in experimentell-histologischer Sicht. (The focus in
experimental-histological view) Österr.Ärzteztg. 34, 933 - 935
15 Kluger, L. (1991) : Odontogene Störfeldmöglichkeiten. (Possibilities of odontogen
disturbing focus) In: Österr. Med. Ges. f. Neuraltherapie - Regulationsforschung (Hrsg.):
Herd-Störfeldgeschehen. Facultas, Wien 40 - 46
16 Kothbauer, O., Meng, A.(1983) : Grundlagen der Veterinär-Akupunktur. (Basics of the
veterinary acupuncture) Welsermühl, Wels, 1.Aufl. 21
17 Littlejohn, A. (1978) : Studies of the physiopathology of chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease in horses. Pretoria, DVSc Thesis
18 Mcpherson, E.A.; H.K. Lawson; J.R. Murphy; J.M. Nicholson; J.A. Fraser; R.G. Breeze;
H.M. Pirie (1978) : Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): Identification of
affected horses. Equine Vet. J. 10, 47 - 53
19 Melzack, R.; Stillwell, D.M.; Fox, E.J. (1977) : Trigger points and acupuncture points for
pain: Correlations and implications. Pain 3, 3- 23
20 Melzack, R.; Wall, P.D. (1965) : Pain mechanisms: A new theory. Science 150, 971 - 979
21 Petermann, U. (1989) Behandlung von BWS- und LWS-Beschwerden beim Pferd mit
Ohrakupunktur. (Handling of BWS and LWS complaints in the horse with earacupuncture.)
collegium veterinarium 20/91-93
22 Petermann, U. (1997) Systematische Diagnostik von Störherden mit Hilfe des
RAC/VAS (Systematic diagnostics of disturbing focus in the body with the help of the
RAC/VAS) 93 ZÄN-Kongreß, Freudenstadt
23 Popp, F.-A. (1984) Biologie des Lichtes, (Biology of the light) Paul Parey,
Berlin/Hamburg
24 Sasse, H.H.L. (1973) Lungenfunktionsprüfung beim Pferd. (Lung functional test with the
horse) Tierärztl. Prax. 1, 49 - 59
25 Seyle, H. (1953) Einführung in die Lehre vom Adaptationssyndrom. (Introduction to the
science of the adaptation syndrome) Thieme Stuttgart
26 Schatzmann, U. und H. Gerber (1972) Untersuchungen zur Ätiologie chronischer
Lungenerkrankungen des Pferdes. (Investigations for the aetiology of chronic lung illnesses
of the horse.) Zentralbl. Veterinärmed., Reihe A 19, 89 - 101
27 Thurlbeck, W.M. und F.C. Lowell (1964) Heaves in horses. Am. Rev. Resp. Dis. 89, 82
- 88
28 Westermayer, E. (1993) Lehrbuch der Veterinärakupunktur. (Textbook of the veterinary
acupuncture) Bd. 2: Akupunktur des Pferdes., Haug, Heidelberg
29 Zerobin, K.( 1991 ) in Anhang II ( wissenschtl. Originalarb. ), Bahr: Einführung in die
wissenschaftl. Akup., Neue Ergebnisse der Akupunktur in der Veterinärmedizin, (In
appendix II (scientific original works), Bahr: Introduction to the scientific acupuncture, new
results of the acupuncture in the veterinary medicine) S 225 ff, Vieweg, Wiesbaden
30 Zohmann, A. (1990) Physiologische und pathophysiologische Grundlagen von Ohr-,
Körperakupuntur und Neuraltherapie. (Physiological and pathophysiological bases of ear -,
bodyacupuncture and neuraltherapy) Prakt. Tierarzt >collegium veterinarium< 71, 83 - 84

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Acupuncture in Emergency
Treatment
Dr. med vet Uwe Petermann, (DVM), prakt Tierarzt, Akupunktur, Germany e
mail: DrUwePetermannMelle@t-online.de
emergency, horse, dog, laser, acupuncture

Acupuncture in Emergency Treatment

Summary

In this lecture my personal idea and my personal experience with acupuncture and
laseracupuncture in animal- emergency- treatment will be explained. Points to treat in the
first moment in collapsed patients for life serving are demonstrated. These points are working
in one or two seconds so that You have the idea to switch on the life light again or better to
avoid the complete breakdown of blood circulation (so called „switch on points“). Further on
the following points for stabilisation of nerval regulation are shown, when circulation has
started to work again. The energetically aspects of emergency acupuncture will be pointed
out. Emergency treatment and its points for serious colic in horses are explained. Acupuncture
treatment in other emergency cases as birth-problems, uterus torsion and stomach torsion will
be shown.
All these points and how they work will be demonstrated in a lot of case studies. All points
will be explained by traditional Chinese energy rules (midday-midnight, mother child etc.)
and , if possible, parallel to this by western acknowledgement.

Key words
Acupuncture, emergency treatment, horse, dog

Introduction
I would like to report to you today on the possibility to treat emergency cases in animals with
acupuncture with a very good and sure success. In human medicine acupuncture was
increasingly established in the last 15 years. However the European Academy for
Acupuncture, in which the following methods for the human medicine have been compiled
and checked, has nearly 14000 physicians as members. This actually shows very clearly that
acupuncture cannot be dismissed any more as outsider medicine and the day will be foreseen,
when the sceptics become outsiders, because modern acupuncture as it is practised today has
been freed from any mystical ideas by intensive, scientific research, and the essential
principles of the way in which acupuncture works are now well understood. In addition,
acupuncture does not stand still. It is being continuously developed further in order to treat
successfully even those cases which have been resistant to therapy till now. This development
is rather necessary, because diseases have changed not only in the last thousand years, but
also in the last 20 years in the same way as our and our animals life has changed. In today life,
men and also animal are exposed to complete other stress situations, different environment
pollution, chemical and physical. We cannot ignore this even in acupuncture. Especially in
emergency care acupuncture shows its outstanding effect, because acupuncture could be
carried out immediately in every emergency case and the biophysical acupuncture effect
works so quickly. With acupuncture we have not to wait for fetching a medicine, to put it in
the syringe, to find a vessel for injection and have not to wait until this medicine will come to
ist biochemical effect on special receptors of the vegetative nerve system.

Acupuncture in shock treatment

Shock is caused by often sudden dysregulation of the vegetative system. This may be in
centralisation phase with loss of blood and even more in allergic reaction or shock caused by
stress- situation. What kind of treatment will help better in vegetative function regulation than
a therapy that works directly with the help of the vegetative nerve system and has a
depressing effect on it. This therapy of course is acupuncture. Normally every combination
ofpoints that makes balance between Yin and Yang that means parasympatic and sympatic
balance would help in such cases. But there are two points that make a very sudden global
yin/yang balance, because they make a short circuit between the yang of the GV and the yin
of the CV. These two points are GV26 and the tip of the tail point. Only one of them is
enough to give the impulse to vegetative system to set regulation in motion again. And
because setting a needle in it will not last longer than e few seconds, I would do this first,
before I start closing a serious bleeding wound. As next I give the point Ht 9 or Hs 9. My
choice between this two points is determined by the RAC control. That point which gives the
strongest reaction on the pulse gets the needle. These two points always show such a
spontaneously reaction that You have the idea to switch on the life light again, so that I and
perhaps other acupuncturists as well, call them „switch on- points“. The next most interesting
points in connection with shock therapy are two pairs of points to find by midday- midnight
rule. As we know by midday- midnight-rule also is to make balance of yin and yang, because
always one yin- and one yang-meridian that have their energy- maximum with a difference of
12 hours are combined. So we have in the case of shock- situation two pairs: The first pair is
Hs 6, very interesting for western physicians, it is the ear point of the Ganglion Stellatum,
(Petermann U. 2001) and his partner St 40 (very interesting for western physicians as well, it
is the ear- point of beta- blocker). And here we can see how close in reality is western to
eastern medicine and vice versa. The 2nd point combination by midday- midnight- rule is
Ht5 and Gb 37. These points I normally give more to prevent emergency cases in horses with
bad heart conditions e.g. in chronic heart disease following myocarditis (see case- study 3).
When we look for the mother- son- rule we find an indication for these two points as well. As
gallbladder is the wooden yang partner of the liver and because wood is the mother of fire
(heart is the yin- part of fire) with these points we can do many helpful things: first we make
yin- yang balance from the hind part of the body to the front part and second we make a very
special yin-yang- balance because we give yang energy of the mother (wood) to the yin part
of the child (fire). Another point, that will be discussed is the point Ht 3 sometimes called the
„small tonification- point of the heart“. It is the Ho- point of its meridian and is the motoric
heart point of the ear. At last the very simple shu -mo- technique will be described, because
very often acute blockades of vertebras in the heart region can cause heart- emergency-
situations because of acute vegetative heart- regulation- disturbance. These horses are
characterised by extreme pain, extreme sweating and circulation- situation close to shock
what occurs suddenly while riding (see case study 4). In these horses just following the
„switch on-points“ I look for vertebra- blockades. Normally there is one blockade in the neck
and the second blockade in the thoracic region in the segment of Bl 14 or bl 15, the shu point
of Hs and Ht- meridian. In shu- mo- technique these points are combined with the alarm-
points, in this case CV 17 with Hs and CV 14 with the Ht. Now I will report some of a lot of
these cases to show this reaction.
Case 1
A 17 year old andalusian mare had bee fallen backwards in a small earth- hole, 2m deep with
an area of 1 square metre. So for us only the front legs where reachable. The horse was hidden
there like a cork in a bottle for nearly 3 hours, before we could pull it out of the hole with a
rope and a front loader of a tractor. When we had finished this operation the horse laid in side
position on the floor like dead, without any reaction, the pulse was hardly to touch with a very
high pulse rate. So this horse seemed to be really in shock and all our work seemed to have
failed. So I gave as first the „switch on- points“. No more than two seconds after inserting the
needles the horse opened his eyes, rises his neck, set himself into chest position and seamed to
ask: “what’s the matter?“ A few seconds later it stood up and seamed to be in a relative
normal condition. But the pulse rate was still a little bit high (60/min) and the quality of the
pulse was still a little bit slippery. Because the heart- meridian was already treated with Ht 9 I
looked to regulate the Hs- meridian with Hs 6 and St 40 as described above. After this the
horse was quite all right and needed no further treatment.
Case2
A veterinary -acupuncture- colleague came to me with his horse because of long standing
therapy- resistant very poor performance. The horse couldn’t trot more than 20 m and was not
able to gallop, because it was to weak. All western treatment with several diagnoses and
several treatments and even acupuncture done by his owner had had no success. It had a very
strong holsystolic heart noise with punctum maximum over the aortic cardiac valve. There
was a lot of extrasystolic heart beats, which didn’t disappear after a little time of work. So this
horse had vegetative heart- function disease. With help of the controlled ear- acupuncture I
found that there must be a disturbing focus in the left front- hoof- region (Petermann U.
1989). Now looking at the left front- hoof I found a little scar, from that the owner didn’t tell
me something before, exactly on the point Ht9. The following points where treated: Ht 9 (as a
disturbing- focus- scar) with laserfrequency A from Nogier, Hs 6 and partner St 40 with
frequency C from Nogier. Because in disturbing- focus always yin- energy of the kidney is
weak, always give the source point with refer to the inheritance energy. So the point Ki 3 is
the point for inheritance in inheritance (because kidney is source of inheritance and the source
point of every meridian is the inheritance point of its meridian) that means one of the most
important points for giving inheritance- energy to the body. And this energy You need to heal
disturbing focus. The next point was the 3H5. It is the Point of the Thymus on the ear. This
point is known as a good anti- infection- point (in the problem of disturbing focus even
without his partner in midday- midnight rule, Sp4) and he is very effective in setting
demarcation of tissue in motion again, what has not finished while wound- healing in
disturbing- focus. At last I gave shu- mo- points Bl 15 and CV 14 for balance of yin and yang
in the heart. After this treatment immediately there was no more heart noise and no more
extrasystolic heart beats. Four treatments, one a week, in the same way where carried out by
the owner of the horse and it was in a very good condition again for till now 3 years.
Case 3
A 7 year old hannoveranian gelding, a jumping- horse, came to me with a very poor
performance as well for nearly 2 years following a long standing infection of the upper
respiratory tract. He was examined and treated in several good qualified clinics. First
diagnosis was COPD and second diagnosis was interstitial pneumonia. In my examination I
heard nothing on the lung. Bronchoskopy showed no sign of lung disease. But the heart beat
was very strong with a loud heart- sound like a drum. Also there was to hear a systolic heart
noise with punctum maximum on the aortic valve. When we tried to do a capacity- test it was
hardly possible to get him to trot or to gallop for half a round in the round pen. After 5
minutes he began to stumble so that we had to stop the capacity -test. The heart- rate was
160/min and the breathing- rate was 140/min so that I worried about his life, because I had not
any needle with me. So we walked slowly back to the stable. Arriving there 5 minutes later,
breathing- rate had already decreased to 28/min but heart-rate was still at 130/min. My
diagnosis in this horse was myocaditis following an herpes- infection. Two disturbing- foci
where found by controlled acupuncture. The first was the canine dent in the mandible. This
tooth is known in controlled acupuncture to make disturbance on the point Hs6. A scar big
like a plum near liv 7 was also playing a fundamental role in the development of this heart-
disease. I think this scar had hindered the liver as the mother of the children „heart“ and
„heart- sexuality“ to play the role of optimal nutrition. Because in this horse deep structures
already had been affected, I selected the following points for acupuncture treatment. Hs6
(ganglion stellatum) and St 40 (beta blocker) and Ht5 and Gb 37 (midday- midnight- rule).
These points where changed from treatment to treatment with the following points. Bl 14 and
15 as shu-points and CV 14 and 17 as the mo-points. Here is to mention, that these points
have different localisations in different academies. For me there is not any doubt, that Bl13,
the shu- point of the lung, is not on the cartilage of the scapula, but one segment behind this,
where normally Bl 14 is said to be (Westermayer, 1997). Bl 14 is in the free segment before
Bl 15. The next point is Ht 3 as the motoric heart point. The disturbing- foci, the tooth and
the scar, where treated with laser (frequency A from Nogier) accompanied by 3H5 and Ki3 as
obligate points in disturbing- focus- treatment as explained above. While lasering the big scar
(without touching the skin) the horse always became very exited in the first seconds of
treatment but than growing relaxation could be noticed. After 7 treatments (2 weeks) we
started a second capacity- test. When we took the horse out of the stable it started „dancing on
the street“. So we put the gelding in the round pen. There immediately he started to gallop,
kicking out his hind- limbs and demonstrated pure joy of life. After 10 minutes of trotting,
galloping and kicking out, we stopped him for heart-examination. The breathing- rate was
60/min and the heart- rate was 80/min. There was no more pathological heart- sound or noise.
Rest- breathing- and heart- rate was achieved after 15 minutes. After this test he got 4 further
treatments within 10 days and was discharged to his home for normal training.
Case 4
I was called for an emergency case to a nearby stable, where a horse had got a circulation-
collapse while riding. This 12 years old westfalian mare was a successful jumping- horse
some years ago until it was kept out of tournament- sport because of serious back- problems.
Unfortunately this horse didn’t come to acupuncture with this problem. When I came, the
horse stood there like a sawhorse sweating so strong, that the water run from the body. The
pulse was hardly to feel and the horse seamed to collapse every moment. The “switch on“-
points didn’t work, what made me really wonder, because I seldom had seen this before. Than
I realised that the sweating was particularly strong in a region of the neck and behind the
scapula in the Bl 14 and Bl 15 region. When I wanted to touch these areas the horse became
extremely anxious. So I looked with laser- frequency C from Nogier, the frequency for
vertebra blockades for RAC- reactions. I found a blockade in C4/C5 on the right side and in
Th9/Th10 on the left side. Because of the irritation of the stellate ganglion through the neck-
blockade I gave Hs6 (without his partner). After lasering these three points there was seen an
obviously relaxation in the horse. For this day the treatment was completed by making pain
reduction and muscle- relaxation by Si3 and his cardinal-point- partner Bl 62 and Bl 10-1
(C1/C2) for relaxation of the spinal column and Li4 as the masterpoint of pain. Immediately
after this treatment, all points where treated by laser, not by needles, the horse started to walk
normally, there was not any sign of pain in the former untouchable points even in strong
pressure and the horse was dried within 20 minutes of walking. In this case the chronic back-
pain was caused by the vertebra- blockades. While riding on this day probably the blockade of
the neck had worsened and had irritated the stellate ganglion (Hs6). This was followed by a
worsening of the thoracic blockade which was followed by a vegetative irritation of the heart
function, which leaded to the dramatic acute situation. In this case not the complete yin and
yang was in disharmony, that the „switch on“- points could do their work. The main
pathological problem was the local disturbance by the irritated stellate ganglion and the
irritated vegetative heart- function by the radicular nerve- irritation in the heart segment, just
as it is described by Bergsmann and Eder (1977) in the segment regulatory complex. After 4
further treatments the horse had no more back-pain and worked so well, so that the owner
decided to start again with training for jumping- competition after more than 3 years of
intermission.
Emergency- Acupuncture in dramatic colic of the horses
Here is not meant „normal“ constipation colic or „normal“ spastic colic. Here is meant the
really dramatic form of colic as we see it in invagination and dislocation of the small intestine
and in torsion of the of the large intestine and in ileum constipation etc.. In these cases there
always is a secondary overloading of the stomach. The horses are sweating very strong and
want to throw themselves down because of extreme pain. First I will say what in my opinion
we should never do. In the case of secondary overloading of the stomach, we never should
treat stomach points. This is very different to primary overloading of the stomach. First I
normally set the control to the blood circulation (depending on every special case) with Ht 5
and his partner in the midday- midnight rule, Gb37. I don’t use HS 6 and his partner St 40,
because of it is a stomach point what clears mucous from the stomach, but the way for the
mucous is constipated. So by treating these points I would set regulation in motion whta runs
against a wall, what is not to overcome. In the energy flowing concept of midday- midnight-
rule there is no one way route between this partners as between lo-point and source point. In
midday- midnight rule energy- flow is possible in both directions. So You cant make any
mistake in acute circulation -problems. In colic circulation problems it will work better than
Ht9 or Hs9. As next, or when circulation is not the mean problem in this moment, at first, You
can treat Li11 as the ho-point of the Li musculature and also the tonification point of the large
intestine. St 37 as a 2nd ho-point of the Li (of the Li mucous membrane) I would not give as I
told before. The next important point is Si 3 the spasmolytic masterpoint and cardinal point
and tonification- point of Si. In the ear- acupuncture this point is identical with the point of
the plexus coeliacus (Bahr 1997). Also in this case You see how close is western to eastern
idea. Si 8 the ho point and sedation-point of Si is also indicated in colic but only in enteritis
and not in spastic colic. The next important point is the Li4 the masterpoint of pain (and the
thalamus-point of the ear acupuncture) and the source point of the Li . If You want, You can
give his partner Lu7 the lo-point as well to get more energy from lung into large intestine
meridian. At last I normally make shu- mo technique with Bl 25 (Li) and Bl 27 (Si) and CV 3
as the alarm-point of gastrointestinal part of 3Heater. In some special cases I give Liv 3 as the
source- point and spasmolytic point when this point is found as an active point by RAC/VAS
control. When You find big oedema in the intestine by rectal investigation it is good to give
Bl 40, the anti- histaminic point. If You like and if You have time enough, You can give an
intravenous infusion with plasma- expander or electrolytes now. Of course You should also
make an irrigation of the stomach, when You have set Your needles or have lasered Your
acupuncture points. When these treatments are carried out, I let the horse walk and when even
possible also go a little bit by trot for 5 minutes. When after this time no peristaltic sounds are
to hear again, I send the horse to another clinic for operation. But in that cases, when
haemoragic infarcation of the intestine had not already lead to death of parts of the intestine
this treatment will work very well and peristaltic grows up from minute to minute. Now I will
tell about a very spectacular case of acupuncture colic treatment. A 7 year old hannoveranian
gelding had a torsio coli with very swollen and overfilled small intestine and a secondary
overloading of the stomach. The horse was sweating so serious that water dropped from his
hair. Heart- rate was 72/min, scleral blood- vessels where strong injected and there was not
any sound to hear by stethoscope investigation in the intestine. Because the horse always tried
to throw itself down it was very difficult to irrigate the stomach, but at last I was able to
irrigate about 30 litres of ingests from the stomach. But it had no positive effect to the horse.
After this I treated the points described above with controlled laseracupuncture. Two or three
minutes after end of the treatment suddenly a very loud noise was to hear in the intestine
without stethoscope (where some minutes before it was absolutely quiet). From this moment
the horse didn’t show any further sign of pain. The function of the intestine was normal again.
Pulse and circulation was normal 40/min and the horse became dry in a few minutes.
Stomach torsion of the dog
Very different to the secondary overloading of the stomach in horses are the problems in
stomach torsion of the dogs. Here of course we can treat and must treat stomach points. First
of all there are the shu-mo- points of the stomach, what will already be enough treatment for
some cases: Bl 21 and CV 12, the masterpoint of the stomach. Because in this problem there
is „heat“ in the stomach and we have to remove mucous from it we can treat St 40. It is the lo-
point and it removes the mucous to Sp 3, the source- point of the Spleen. St 36 is the next
important point, not only because it is the ho- point of St, but also because in the classic
correspondence it is the earth-point of the „earth“-meridian stomach and makes so a very
intensive regulation on it. At last one can give Si 3 as the masterpoint against spasms.
Birth- emergencies
In all kinds of birth- problems in all kinds of animals acupuncture improves as very effective
and often can avoid emergency- operation to develop the fruit. If there is lost of birth pains or
Uterus spasm or Uterus torsion, acupuncture makes a good regulation in the procedure of
birth. The only contraindication of acupuncture is an absolute to big fruit, because even with
acupuncture You can’t get the fruit smaller. In a second case, when there is lost of Calcium
e.g. in cows it is better to make a Calcium - infusion before You start with acupuncture. While
getting the Calcium- infusion sometimes cows like to do their final deep breath, even when
You give the infusion very slowly. Here the „switch on“- points will do their good work
again. They can be combined with Bl 18, Bl 23, the shu-points of liver and kidney and liv 13.
Liv 13 is known as the hypophysis- point and the ACTH-point of the earacupuncture and so
ist the best working point in metabolic disorders in special in this triangle- combination. But
now back to the birth- problems. In earacupuncture there are 3 body- points in the area of the
Uterus. These are Bl 31, Sp 6 and CV 7. In uterus spasm on one side Si3 as the spasmolytic
masterpoint and on the other hand the everywhere to find St 40, because he is the beta-
receptor-point and these receptors are regulating the uterus- contraction. In this case You
obviously can see, how acupuncture is regulating in the right direction. When beta- blocker-
operation will be achieved and when beta- mimetic operation will be achieved, You can use
the same point, the point for beta- receptor- regulation, the St 40. The body will lead the
energy in the right direction. There will be many other points in special cases of birth-
problems but in my own experience these points are working very good. At last in this
connection lets speak about neonatal asphyxia. What is the leading- point in this problem? Of
course St 40 as well! He moves the mucous out of the lung (traditional reason) or he makes as
the beta- mimetic -point the dilatation of the bronchioli, that means he reduces the
bronchiospasm. After this point, You can give the shu- point of the lung and the diaphragm
Bl 13 and Bl 17 and the respiratory alarmpoint of the 3 heater, CV17.
Conclusions
As pointed out acupuncture is a very successful therapy in so many cases of emergency,
because it works very impressive, very quickly and as one could see in the example with the
St 40 as beta- blocker and beta- mimetic- point, it works always in the right direction, that
means in that direction what the body needs in this moment. The next advantage of
acupuncture treatment is, that we try to treat not only symptoms but we try to look for the
reasons of the patient’s problems and treat them as well as the symptoms.

References

1 Ambron G., Petermann U., Werner L. (2001) Earacupuncture in Veterinary Medicine

(Ohrakupunktur in der Veterinärmedizin) Sonntag-Verlag, Stuttgart, 37-39
2 Bergsmann, O. (1977 ) : Die biokybernetische Wirkung der Akupunktur im klinischen
Versuch. Dtsch. Ztschr. f. Akup. 5, 131ff
3 Bahr, F. (1997) Scriptum Systematik und Praktikum der wissenschaftlichen Akupunktur
für weit Fortgeschrittene und Experten. Eigenverlag, München 1997
4 Petermann U. (1989) Die Ohrlokalisationen der Gelenke beim Pferd.
Akupunkturarzt/Aurikulotherapeut 7-8/1989/167
5 Westermayer, E. (1993) Lehrbuch der Veterinärakupunktur. Bd. 2: Akupunktur des
Pferdes., Haug, Heidelberg
Laseracupuncture in post
operative fields in veterinary
medicine
Dr. med vet Uwe Petermann, (DVM), prakt Tierarzt, Akupunktur, Germany e
mail: DrUwePetermannMelle@t-online.de

Laseracupuncture in post operative fields in veterinary medicine

Summary

In this study the effect of laseracupuncture in prevention of post operative complications is

documented by a lot of scientific investigations. The results of the most important
investigations of laseracupuncture in intra and post operative fields are summarized and the
findings of a long-standing own experience in this fields are reported.

Key-words: Laseracupuncture, Veterinary-medicine, postoperative treatment

Introduction
In post operative fields often complications take place in primary infected wounds following
injuries and by intra operative hospital infection. In many cases these infections prevent
operation success and often worsen the pre operative state of the patient. Laseracupuncture is
introduced as a helpful treatment to avoid and to treat these complications.

Why laser -acupuncture?

Laser -acupuncture is a very effective combination of two treatments which are very effective
each of its own especially in wound healing. Laserradiation as a proper method to accelerate
wound healing is first described by Mester in early 1969 and will be explained as local
treatment in the further lecture (Petermann U. 1998). Acupuncture is setting the kybernetic
regulation in motion again not only for the local affected area but also for the whole body by
regulate Chi- flow what is mostly stagnated or disturbed in wounds coming from accidents or
operation, because of interruption of tissue. Or in western sight it restores disturbed
vegetative regulation, what is the reason for long standing pain, inflammation, poor blood
circulation, muscle contraction as we know from segment regulation complex by Bergsmann
and Eder (1977). As ultimately all body functions, from coughing to the repair and healing of
wounds, are controlled by such vegetative, nervous and hormonal regulation, it is easy to
understand that acupuncture can have such a regulatory effect in attacking so many types of
disease.

Physiological basis of laser effects

Research by Popp (1984) which established that biophotons play a fundamental role in cell
communication by means of so-called "ultra-weak cell radiation" is one of the most important
pieces of primary research into laser effects. This involves coherent, in other words, laser
light. The DNA in the cell nucleus can be established as the source of the radiation. Warnke
(1987) has specifically made exploratory studies of the infra-red laser. According to these
absorption is by means of a so-called "antenna pigment" in the flavoprotein-metal-redox
system, exspecially the FMN sulphur- iron- system in the first complex of the respiratory
chain within the mitochondria. Here, absorbed laser photons are transformed directly into
cellular energy. Phosphorilation from ADP to ATP increases up to 150% measured in
standardized yeast- cell- cultures. Nearly the same photobiological effect is described by Karu
(1987) and Smith (1991). This is particularly beneficial for unhealthy cells, cells in tissue
modified by illness and cells working in wound repair, which have a particularly high energy
requirement to perform their functions. The laser may play a decisive role by providing the
necessary energy. Equally, an intense energy pulse in the nerve cells of the acupuncture points
can lead to hyperpolarisation and thus to unblocking of irritations; whereby the demonstrable
pain reduction can be attributed to the laser as well as it stimulates acupuncture points in the
same way as needles. The healing of wounds and repair of damaged ligaments are processes
requiring high energy inputs. With laser light, the energy required for the breakdown of waste
building blocks and the synthesis of new building blocks for wound closure can be provided
more quickly and ligament or wound repair accelerated. These processes are very helpfull in
postoperatic wound healing as well. Important investigations have been made by the pioneer
of LLLT, E. Mester, on this topic, which demonstrated as early as 1969, that the proliferation
of collagen threads and a marked increase in cell activity after 1-3 laser irradiation of wounds.
The results justify the assumption that even in the area not directly irradiated, healing is
significantly improved due to the increased diffusion of bioactive substances. In the meantime
hundreds of scientific publications verify the effects of LLLT. I would like to select some
investigations about confirmed laser therapeutic- and laseracupuncture -effects in human
wound healing:
1.) wound healing (Mester E. et al. 1969)
2.) improved capillary circulation in micro circulatory conditions (Skobelkin O.
K. et al. 1990)
3.) in infected abdominal wounds after surgery (Palmgren N. et al. 1991)
4.) skin-transplant surgery and plastic surgery (Ginsbach G. 1990)
5.) regeneration of nerve lesions and inhibited nervous functioning. (Midamba
E.D. 1993, Rochkind S. 1988)
6.) tissue metabolism (Abergel P. et al. 1984)
7.) intra operative use in spinal cord operation (Rochkind S. 1991)
8.) in haemorrhagic effects on synovial membrane (Calderhead R.G. et al.
1992)

It was also established that the rate of increase was dependent on the pulse frequency of the
laser radiation, the wavelength of the laser light used and the irradiation dosage (Fig. 2).
Several investigations confirm a relation between dosage and effect to the extent that too
small irradiation dosages have no positive effect, but then with increasing dosages an
increased effect up to a maximum can be achieved. If the dosage is increased further, the
stimulating effect is reduced until the previous, non-irradiated condition is reached again.
Further studies show that a negative, destructive effect cannot be demonstrated, even with
prolonged irradiation (30 minutes).
In the following I will introduce some investigations about lasertherapy and laseracupuncture
supporting operations, accelerating wound healing and treating post operative complications
especially made in veterinary medicine:
1.) Lasertherapy in treating equine injuries (Kerns T. 1986)
2.) Lasertherapy in general (Basko I. 1983)
3.) Laser- effects in soft tissue in veterinary medicine (Lloyd et al. 1991)
4.) A study of the effects of lasering on chronic bowed tendons. (McKibbin L. and Paraschak
D. 1983)
5.) Laseracupuncture in postoperative infected tendovaginitis and joints in horses. (Petermann
1999)

Despite these intensive studies, the optimal laser power to be used for therapy and the length
of treatment can still not be clearly established, since there is naturally a considerable
difference between the shaved skin of the laboratory rat and the hairy skin of a dog or horse.
On the basis of my own experience, one can presume an optimal effect on surface structures
in veterinary medicine for laser output of 50-100 mW (continuous beam) or 50 - 100 W peak
pulse power (pulse lasers) over an irradiation time of approx. 20 - 40 sec. For deeper
structures, articular cartilage in post minimal invasive surgery, ligaments, fistulae, post or
intra operative radiation of deeper wounds, the treatment duration must be increased to
approx. 2-3 min. per point.
A very important theme we have to speak about ist not only energy input into tissue by laser
but also Impulse frequencies in Pulse-lasers and modulated frequencies in cw- lasers. When
these laser- frequencies (not wavelength or frequency of the laser light) are in resonance with
the radiated structures of the body, we have very much better results than with every other
frequency, what is not in resonance. This is common knowledge of day to day use for more
than 20000 doctors which are members of the European Academy for Acupuncture and
Auricular- Medicine and the members of the French Nogier- school, which use the Bahr- and
Nogier- frequencies.
The foregoing summary of the current state of knowledge in laseracupuncture in post operatic
fields shows unambiguously that the laser may be used effectively for the re establishing of
traumatised tissue as well as for acupuncture treatment. Optimal post operative treatment for
individual patients thus involves local laser irradiation in combination with appropriate
acupuncture points. The points which are suggested in the following are very helpfull but can
only be meant as cook- book -points and of course should be complemented by individually
indicated points.

Healing of wounds
The most simple but nevertheless very effective indication for laseracupuncture is the
encouragement of wound healing after trauma or operations, in particular when a rapid
resilience of the wound closure should be achieved or the wound is located in an area which is
difficult to immobilise, such as joints. Even in many cases of infected wounds, where
normally long-term drainage would be required after surgical intervention, per primam
healing can often be expected after laseracupuncture and suture dehiscence can be avoided.
With wounds with larger loss of skin surface or after the removal of larger areas of
hypergranulation tissue wound closure normally occurs very quickly and without
complications. Laseracupuncture proved effective in the following trauma-related
inflammatory conditions: acute distortion, capsule tearing, pulled muscles and haematoma.
All these conditions we find normally after operations.
Following acupuncturepointsare indicated in general: Liv 3, Sp 2 and of course the ting -
point of the affected channel.

Primary or secondary infected wounds

Even when wound inflamation has taken place in primary or also secondary infected wounds
the treatment is also very effective in acute and chronic inflammation of the pastern and of
acute and chronic infected tendovagintis and joints. A markedly more rapid and complete
reduction of accompanying tissue swelling and other symptoms of inflammation such as pain
and heat also occurs.
As one sees laseracupuncture is also exceptionally useful in infectious local inflammations. In
very many cases of post operative phlegmonic processes, e.g. from wound infection, can be
cured when previous treatment with antibiotics have proved ineffective and, much easier, can
be avoided when carried out before infection had taken place . Laser irradiation also has an
outstanding effect on the maturation and demarcation of suppurative tissue. Purulent, acute
and chronic sinusitis in dogs and even in horses can usually be effectively treated with
laseracupuncture, after tooth extraction or trepanation of the maxillar sinus, whereby normaly
when laseracupuncture has been done first, the affected tooth mostly does not have to be
extracted and the maxillary sinus does not have to be trepanned. With fistula formation and
disturbance to the wound demarcation and above all for deep wounds, laseracupuncture is to
be highly recommended. There have even been cases of old scars in which the demarcation
had clearly not been closed, opening again after 1-2 laser treatments, cleaning themselves and
finally closing up again. Lastly, I would like to cite the highly effective option of treating
infected joint and tendon sheath inflammations. At commensurate cost, in most cases
excellent treatment success can be expected here. Two of these patients I will introduce as
case studies in the further lecture.
When the wound before or while operation has become infected You need for demarcation:
3H5, Sp 4, Gb 41, Ki3 .

Eye conditions
With regard to eye conditions laseracupuncure is indicated to avoid postoperative
complications after eye surgery as corneal injuries, ulcus corneae, and panophthalmia. In the
eye laser irradiation is to apply strictly tangential to avoid retina irritation..
Acupuncturepoints are St 1, 3H 23, Bl 1. Liv 3, Sp 2 and Gb1. In panophthalmia You can
complete with Gb 41 and 3H 5.

Castration wounds
After castration above all in stallions laseracupuncture is a very good method to prevent
secretion congestion and inflammation with big swellings of the scrotum.
Intra operative radiation with frequency b from Nogier is to combine with acupuncturepoints
B l23 and CV 3. When the wound is still infected You can apply local radiation with
frequency A from Nogier and give Ki3 and 3H5.

Postoperative prevention in disturbing foci

At last I we have to speak about a very important preventive therapy after operation. I mean
therapy of disturbing foci as scars. I know it is not really excepted by the whole scientific
community, but I saw in much more than thousand cases how it immediately can work in
chronic pain and allergy e.g. To take care for these problems laseracupuncture can set
demarcation of tissue in motion and prevent the wound becoming a disturbing focus. You also
can treat old scars what have already been established as disturbing focus with local fr. A and
Ki 3 and 3H 5.

Patients of this study

All patients of this study had very serious problems with infections after operations, which
have had not been cured by normal treatment for a long standing time. One infection in the
shoulder joint of a horse was caused by a sharp wooden post which had broken through. Post
operative drainage and douche could not stop secretion, suppuration and suture dehiscence. In
another patient a postoperative infected tarsitis followed a chip operation (in a clinically
completely healthy horse), and in another one a postoperative infection of the digital synovial
sheath of the fetlock resulted following an operation on the palmar annular ligament of the
fetlock. Four stallions had fistulas of the funiculus testis and chronic swellings with lameness
after castration. One dog and one horse had persistent purulent sinusitis after trepanation and
tooth- extraction. One dog had a fistula and extreme lameness after 3 operations from elbow-
osteochondrosis dissecans. One horse had extreme pain in the operation- area after kissing
spines-operation for several month. One horse developed a necrotic laminitis of both hindlegs
after castration.
Prior to the start of laser acupuncture treatment, all of the patients had exhausted all
conventional medical therapies over a longer period of time, some of them in several clinics.
The prognosis in most cases was either unfavourable or it had been suggested that the animal
should be put to sleep. All of the animals were given anywhere from 9 to 20 laseracupuncture-
treatments with individually selected acupuncture points. Treatment was carried out with an
impulse laser (60 watts and 90 watts pulse peak power, 200 nsec pulse width, from Reimers
und Janssen, Berlin). Following laseracupuncture all of the patients had succeeded in getting a
very much better state and after a reconvalescence period it was possible to work again with
all of the horses.

Case study 1
A chip in the right ankle joint was noticed during a preventive X-ray examination of a two-
year-old crossbred stallion. Following an endoscopic removal of the fragment, an infectious
tarsitis developed. This was first treated by the clinic where the operation had taken place.
Intensive treatment followed at three other clinics. 6 months after the operation, I examined
the horse. The horse did not set the diseased limb down and only with great effort could it
move forward with three legs. The circumference of the joint was 61 cm (a normal tarsal joint
measures 42 cm). (Picture . 1 + 2). After fourteen days or seven treatments, the circumference
of the joint had been reduced to 47 cm, and the horse could be walked and also be exercised at
a trot (Picture 3 + 4)for about 5 minutes. After trotting for approximately one minute, the
horse was able to move without a limp. After the third day of exercise, a new feverish
inflammation of the joint appeared spontaneously, with over 41°C body temperature and
pronounced swelling of the joint. During the acute phase, the inflammation was treated with
antibiotics (parenteral and not intra-articular). After approximately four weeks with twelve
additional treatments, the patient was released and gradually began training to full capacity at
home in the following 3 month.

Case study 2
Following a routine endoscopy of the digital synovial sheath of the fetlock in a six-year-old
crossbred gelding, which took place within the scope of an operation on the palmar annular
ligament of the fetlock, the healing of the wound was disturbed by a continuous discharge of
synovia. Despite intensive therapy by the clinic where the operation had been performed,
there was at first an infection of the tendon sheath and a necrotizing inflammation in the area
where the operation took place. Six weeks after the operation, the clinic decided to suggest
euthanasia to the owner, as continued deterioration of
the horse's condition seemed definite and the infection of the tendon sheath could not be
controlled. However, the owner decided to try acupuncture treatment for the horse, a decision
which was strongly opposed by the clinic. These were the findings: approximately 6 to 2 cm
sized area of wounds with escaping synovia and a necrotic centre. (Picture 5). A brisk walk
was indeed possible, but only with a high degree of lameness. The foot was set down only at
the tip of the toe. Due to the adhesions of the tendon sheath, it was not possible to use the
fetlock joint to press down. The circumference of the fetlock joint was 49 cm (a healthy joint
measures 43 cm). After two treatments (two days, see Picture 6), no further secretion from the
tendon sheath could be determined. A marked necrotic area of approx. the size of 1 cm
diameter was considerably reduced (circumference still 46 cm). After five days (five
treatments), the wound was completely dry and had shrunk to half its original size. After ten
days the wound had almost completely closed (Picture 7); there was now only a slight
lameness when walking, which gradually disappeared. Even in trotting, only a slight to
medium limp was noted. After a total of fourteen days of treatment, the patient was released,
where it was receiving additional daily laseracupuncture treatments on scissors -marked
points from its owner. The horse is gradually increasing its walking and trotting in order to
further loosen the adhesions and to continue reducing the tendon's contraction.
Case study 3
A 3 year old gelding had a very serious post operative fistulation of the funiculus testis with a
durable big swelling and stiffness of the hind limb. After 3 month period of therapy with
several antibiotics by two different clinics and a second operation the gelding had a serious
lost of weight and the fistulation had not been stoped. A therapy with laseracupuncture
followed. 7 treatments with 5 minutes local laser-radiation frequency A from Nogier of the
funiculus and laseracupuncture of the points Bl 23, Ki3, 3H5 and Sp 4 were carried out with
an interim of 3- 4 days. At the end of the therapy the fistula had been closed and the stiffness
of the hind limb had dissapeared.
Case study4
A 5 -year old Collie had got 3 re-operations after a osteochondrosois dissecans operation in
the left elbow joint, because of fistulation of the wound. In spite of this and permanent
treatment with antibiotics and anti -inflamatory drugs, drainage and douches, now, more than
1 year after the first operation the dog had still fistulation and very serious pain, without any
function of this leg. 4 sessions with laseracupuncture with an interim of one week were
carried out. Between the sessions the dog got daily local laser -radiation on the fistula and the
elbow joint by ist owner for 15-20 minutes. The acupuncture was carried out as follows: locus
dolendi treatment of the fistula (frequency A) and the shoulder joint (frequency C from
Nogier)with 50 Watt impulse -laser. Acupuncture points were found by controlled
acupuncture: Li1, Sp2, Ki3, 3H5, Bl11, Gb41. Not any other treatment was done during
acupuncture. When the dog came to the 4th treatment, the fistula had closed and the leg was
in function again, but with a rest of lameness. The rest of the lameness disappeared in the next
4 weeks without further treatment.

Case study 5
A 9 year aged dachshund had had a sinusitis maxillaris with evil stinking green pus coming
out of the nose. In the time before he came to acupuncture a long standing therapy was
applied and at its end two molars had been extracted to overcome the chronic purulent
sinusitis, but nothing happened until 2 month after extraction when acupuncture was started. 3
treatments with laseracupuncture were carried out. Local treatment of the operation area
(tooth extraction) with frequency A and the sinusitis area (frequency 7 from Bahr) was
combined with acupuncture of Ki3 and 3H5 (both frequency 5 from Bahr). When the dog
came to 2nd acupuncture treatment one week later the purulent secretion had nearly stopped
and the extraction wound stated to heal. One week later, before the third acupuncture session
there was no more pus coming out of the nose and no more sneezing, the dog had very much
better appetite and was in good state.

Case study 6
A very good competition horse (jumper) had had a very serious pain still 10 weeks after
kissing spine -operation on th7/th8. The pain was so hard, that the horse was extremely
anxious to be touched in the operated area, when it came for acupuncture. The operation
wound had closed and showed no sign of inflammation. As the previous treatment
antiphlogistics, cortisone and for 2 weeks antibiotics had been given. The very valuable horse
was discussed to be put down. The following acupuncture treatment was carried out: local
treatment of th7/th8 with frequency A (anti inflammatory frequency) and frequency E
(frequency for the spinal cord). With RAC/VAS- control Gb41 (prostaglandinE1-point) and
3H5 (corresponding cardinal- point to Gb41 and thymus -point of the ear-acupuncture and so
main -point against chronic inflammation). Emediately after the first treatment the pain in the
operation field had completely disappeared, even when strong pressure was applied. 5
treatments, one a week, were necessary for complete restoring of the horse. After the 2nd
treatment the horse could be started with training and after 8 weeks was placed in a „S“
(difficult) jumping tournement.
Case study 7
An 8 year old Arabian stallion got 3 days after castration a serious necrotic laminitis on both
hind legs by nearly completely stagnation of liver and kidney energy -flow. He came to me
nearly standing only on his front legs. In spite of the very hard pain and the very bad
prognosis we wanted to give him a chance for two days. We decided to put him to sleep,
when pain did not get better after this time. Because of his very bad conditions of the liver and
the 3 day former given narcosis we tried to remove the hoof -horn with nerve block and
neurolept- analgesia. A complete digital nerve anaesthesia was not able to remove the pain.
Even fibularis- and tibularis- nerve anaesthesia had no good result. After surgery we saw large
areas of necrotic laminitis on both hoofs (picture 8 and 9)). The daily treatment was local laser
radiation of the hoof and the castration wound with fr. A from Nogier. We made daily new
bandages with mild antiseptic fluids with homeopathic dilution of Calendula, Echinacea and
Arnika . Acupuncturepoints found by RAC were given all 2 days: Bl 23, Bl 18, Liv 13, CV
3(area), Liv 3 as tonifiing point and Ki 3 as source point. Two days later we considered a
clear reduction of pain and after further 2 days we saw a very good demarkation of the
necrotic areas (pictur 10 and 11). After 3 weeks we had completely closed dry hoof horn and
gave him back home to his owners. 1 month later he jumped over his pastern fence and made
an excursion into the near wood.

Discussion
In all the patients, it could be seen that laser acupuncture had a rapid influence on demarcation
and inflammation. On the other hand, restitution of the degenerative consequences of the
inflammation, including adhesions, defects in the cartilage and similar problems presented
considerably greater difficulty and required far more time. Nonetheless, healing was achieved
in all cases. These cases clearly demonstrate how it is possible to expand the limits of therapy
with the help of laser acupuncture. There should also be said, that many operations can be
avoided, if acupuncture would be tried as therapy before (without castration). Anyway,
laseracupuncture is shown as a very good method to reduce post operative pain and to
accelerate wound healing. And also in many cases, when operation has not hat the beneficial
effect what was intended because of complications after operation. But even in such cases,
when operation has worsened the former state of the patient, laseracupuncture is a possible
way to help in many of them.

References
1 Basko I. (1983). A New Frontier: Laser Therapy. Calif Veterinarian.; 10: 17.

2 Bergsmann, O. (1977 ) : Die biokybernetische Wirkung der Akupunktur im klinischen

Versuch. Dtsch. Ztschr. f. Akup. 5, 131ff

3 Calderhead R.G. et al. (1992) A Study on the Possible Haemorrhagic Effect of Extended
Infrared Diode Laser Irradiation on Encapsulated and Exposed Synovial Membrane Articular
Tissue in the Rat. LLLT-Reports, 1992, 65-69

4 Ginsbach G. (1990) Laser Biostimulation in Plastic Surgery. Laser Therapy, 1993, 169-
173

5 Karu T.I. (1987) Photobiological Fundamentals of Low-Power Laser Therapy. IEEE

Journal od Quantum Electronics QE-23, 1703-1717

6 Karu T. et al. (1993) Suppression of human blood chemiluminescence by diode laser

irradiation. Laser Therapy 5, 103-109
9 Kerns T: HeNe Lasers Show Promise in Treating Equine Injuries. Lasers & Applications.
1986; Dec: 39.

7 Maeda T. (1989) Morphological Demonstration of Low Reactive Laser Therapeutic

Pain Attenuation Effect of GaAlAs Diode Laser. LLLT-Reports, 1989, 23-31

8 McKibbin L. and Paraschak D. (1983): A Study of the Effects of Lasering on Chronic

Bowed Tendons at Whitney Hall Farm Limited, Canada, January, Lasers in Surgery and
Medicine. 1983; 3: 55.

9 Mester E. et al. (1969) Experimentelle Untersuchungen über die Wirkung von

Laserstrahlen auf die Wundheilung. Z. Exper. Chirurgie 2, 94-101

10 Midamba E.D. (1993) Low Reactive-Level 830nm GaAlAs Diode Laser Therapy
Successfully Accelerates Regeneration of Peripheral Nerves in Human. Laser Therapy
1993, 5, 125-129

11 Oshiro, T., Maeda, T. (1993) Application of 830nm Diode Laser LLLT as

Successful Adjunktive Therapy of Hypertrophoc Scars and Keloids. Laser
Therapy 1993 155-166

12 Palmgren N. et al. Low Level Laser Therapy of infected abdominal wounds

after surgery. Lasers Surg Med. 1991; Suppl 3:11.

13 Petermann, U. (1998) Lasertherapie in der Veterinärmedizin. Vet Impulse 24, 12-13

14 Petermann, U. (1999) Laserakupunktur bei infizierter Tendinitis des Pferdes. Prakt.

Tierarzt 1/1999

15 Popp, F.-A. (1984) Biologie des Lichtes, Paul Parey, Berlin/Hamburg

16 Rochkind S. et al. (1991) Intraoperative Clinical Use of LLLT Following Surgical

Treatment of the Tethered Spinal Cord. LLLT-Reports, 1991, 113-117

17 Smith, K.C. (1991) The photobiological Basis of Low Level Laser Radiation
Therapy. Laser Therapy, 19-24

18 Skobelkin O.K. et al. (1990) Blood Microcirculation under Laser Physio-and

Reflexotherapy in Patients with lesions in Vessels of Low Extremeties. LLLT-Reports
1990, 69-77

19 Warnke, U. (1987) Wie Licht-Energie zu Zell-Energie wird. Ärztliche Praxis Jahrg.

97, 3039-3040

The role of laser acupuncture in equine

back problems
Dr. med vet Uwe Petermann, prakt Tierarzt, Akupunktur, Germany

Back problems in horses treated with laser acupuncture

Summary: Laser acupuncture is a specific localised stimulation of peripheral nerves with

secondary response of the vegetative nervous system by means of soft or mid lasers. 512
horses with back complaints were treated exclusively with laser acupuncture. The high
efficacy of this method, the spontaneous effect on the patient seen after the first treatment as
well as the long-standing response after successful therapy is described. Individual cases are
presented to demonstrate the method used.

Keywords: horse, back pain, laser acupuncture

Introduction:

In human medicine acupuncture was established within the last 10 years. However the
German Society for Acupuncture and Auricolomedicine counts about 10000 physicians as
members at present. This shows impressively that acupuncture cannot be dismissed as an
„outsider" medicine any more and that scepticism towards acupuncture is not justified. This
development has ist reason above all in the fact that the today’s modern acupuncture could
free itself from all mystic concepts by intensive scientific research and that today the
substantial effects of acupuncture can be reconstructed very well. Additionally, acupuncture is
subjected to a constant development aiming at successful treatment of therapy-resistant cases.
Certainly a great progress was the application of the laser technology to the field of
acupuncture. Hereby the acupuncture points cannot only be treated (irritated) pain-free and
even by no contact but also the healing effect of the laser beam can be used, additionally.
Back problems are most common treated by acupuncture. Regarding the horse, back pain is
frequently a cause for poor performance in dressage horses, show-jumpers and all the other
equine athletes. Horses suffering from a sore back show various signs which considerably
reduce the joy in exercising the horse or which makes the use of the animal even impossible.
This clinical picture can be caused by various pathological changes of the spinal column, the
back musculature or of the supraspinous or other ligaments. In an extensive investigation of
443 horses Jeffcot found essentially following pathological changes: Muscle and ligamentous
damage (including tying up) (ca. 24%), sacroiliac damage (approx. 13%), deformity of the
vertebral column (3%), kissing spines (32%). Possible causes are bad falls, falling over,
slipping of the hind leg at lunging; hind leg getting caught in the halter, recumbency, unequal
weight bearing due to chronic lameness, badly fitting saddles, equitation problems as well as
excessive performance and perhaps the fact that the vertebral column of the horse was not
originally created by nature to bear the weight of a rider. In this study 512 horses showing
pain in the cervical or thoracolumbal region were treated with the aid of controlled laser ear
acupuncture or laser body acupuncture. Ear acupuncture and body acupuncture are generally
exchangeable. Each acupuncture point of the body correspond to one point within the ear. The
entire meridian system of the human body acupuncture was already transferred to the human
ear by double laser technology aided by the RAC check (RAC is a vegetative stress reaction
palpable at the pulse when irritating an active acupuncture point. The effect of body and ear
acupuncture is „in fact" identical and both methods were used in approximately the same
frequency in the present study.

Patient material

The horses which were included to this series of investigation showed poor performance due
to pain within the cervical or thoracolumbal region. The owners indicated the fact that the
animals were rigid and stiff in the back and that they resented being saddled. Also tightening
the girth has become a problem. In individual cases also acute lameness was observed in both
the front and hind legs. In one case of an acute cervical trauma the patient was already
recumbent and showed somnolence as well as acute cardiac disturbances. The investigation of
the patients took place via pain percussion and pain palpation of the dorsal spinous processes
and interspinous spaces as well as via manual pain palpation of the back musculature.
Systematically each side was examined separately by driving along the spinal column
(starting at C1) exercising a constant pressure with the thumb. The degree of pain expression
went from cramping and exaggerated bending of the spinal column up to moving away from
the examiner accompanied by aggressiveness and kicking with the hind legs. The maximum
soreness was localised mainly in the thoracic area, however generally with one side stronger
affected. The contralateral side showed clear pain reactions within the cervical and lumbar
area. Having localised the points of maximum soreness along the spinal column the
corresponding points within the ear were detected by the aid of the RAC.
The points of correspondence of the spinal column are appropriate those along the ear base
whereby the small vetebral articulations as well as the dorsal spinous processes have their
localisation inside the ear and those of the back musculature are localised on the ear exterior.
Apart from the main blockade within the area of the last cervical vertebrae, in most cases
there were counter blockades within the area of the cervical and lumbar spine on the other
side palpable, both with the pain palpation and with acupuncture diagnostics. Those points
were also treated if present. Additionally the treatment generally involved that point which is
assigned to the thalamus (=responsible for nociception), namely the LI4 of body acupuncture.
The area of the spinal cord located at the caudal ear margin was checked likewise and treated
if a RAC was provable. In the cases where body acupuncture was used the segmental assigned
points of the bladder meridian respectively of the governing vessel meridian were treated at
first. Also the acupuncture point LI4 (corresponds to the thalamus point in ear acupuncture) as
well as the point B1 60 which indication is „pain within the meridian area" were treated. A 30
watt and a 90 watt pulsed laser of the Reimers and Janssen company , Berlin, were used. The
pulse width of these lasers is 200 nsec. The duration of laser therapy per point amounted to 30
seconds. If directly after the acupuncture a pain response could still be elicited by percussion
or palpation a perturbative (?) field diagnosis was attached. Normally the perturbative field
search belongs always to the beginning of such an investigation. It was reserved, however, for
abbreviating the diagnostic procedure performed on the patients described above, because
previous handling of the symptomatic points modifies nothing at the perturbative field. To a
perturbative field one can count internal and external scars, in particular of such wounds,
which has formed a fistula during their healing process, also rhinitis and paranasal sinusitis as
well as dental root abscesses. Regarding this aspect it is to be mentioned that also within the
tooth area of clinically inconspicuous patients there is a high proportion of teeth fistula. In
more than 10% of about 100 heads of euthanized horses isolated herd of pus at the tooth roots
were found, particularly within the premolar area (ZILCH, personal message, 1996). By using
the systematical approach of controlled acupuncture it is relatively easy to detect those herds.
There are essentially four perturbative field types, which relate to specific points as well in
body as well as in ear acupuncture. These points are tested for RAC. If one of these points is
provable, a perturbative field is present and one must check suspicious districts, most
appropriately at the ear. If such a point is found at the ear, the corresponding scar or, e.g. the
appropriate tooth area has to be controlled and one must also find a clear RAC on this area. In
the case of a perturbative field additionally to the points already treated, the perturbative field
itself or it s ear localisation, that is the ear point indicating the perturbative field or ist
analogous point on the body have to be treated. The same applies to TH5, respective to ist
analogous thymus point in the ear, if a perturbative field is present. (Treatment of tooth
fistulas and tooth root abscesses/periodontal disease in the horse will be discussed in a
separate study.)
If this treatment is consistently performed the patient must be spontaneously pain free. There
have bee tree to seven treatments per patient, every treatment 4-6 days apart, whereby the
clinical state improved every time. The last therapy was set in each case when there have been
no more complaints or if the two preceding treatments did not reveal any further
improvement. Every patient was exercised on the day of treatment (if time allowed) as well as
during the entire therapeutic period or an adequate training was taken up. At this point I
would like to explain the approach to an acupunctural investigation, a perturbative field
search and the resulting therapy by demonstrating following cases:

Case1: 11 year old black warm-blooded gelding (Westfale)

Very painful area of the saddle position, primarily on the right. Pre-treated twice with
interspinous injections after the radiographic diagnosis of kissing spines was made. Blockades
of the second and third cervical vertebra on the left, the thirteenth and fourteenth thoracic
vertebra on the right and the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebra on the left side were present.
After local treatment of the painful points (bladder meridian) as well as the points LI4 and B1
60 there was no considerable pain reduction demonstrable. The perturbative field search
resulted in a very strong RAC within the area of a tooth extraction scar of the left upper P3.
After treatment of the perturbative field, the index point of the perturbative field and the TH5
the horse was pain-free and even increased pressure applied to the previous painful areas of
the back elicited no adverse response. The back musculature was relaxed and soft.

Case 2: 8 year old dark brown warm-blooded mare (Hannoveraner)

Back problem present comparable with previous case, besides moderate chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease and poor performance. Auscultation brought about following clinical
findings: low grade wheezes and rattles after short time breath inhibition, distinct wheezes
and rattles after lobelin injection. Bronchoscopy: copious amounts of viscous tracheal
secretions, low grade swelling and reddening of the mucosa of the bifurcation and the main
stem bronchi. The acupuncture of the symptomatic localisations at the ear as well as
acupuncture of the lung point and of the point of the plexus bronchopulmonalis at the ear
brought no clear improvement. The perturbative field search resulted in a strong RAC centred
over the scar of a two years old scar at the right limb. By treatment with the laser perturbative
field frequency „A" the RAC weakened only after two minutes duration of treatment. After
this therapy the back symptomatology was perfectly eliminated, the bronchial spasm had
diminished. During the subsequent treatment, five days later, a fistula of the old wound had
become obvious. After four laser therapies and perturbative field treatment altogether the back
and the lungs showed no longer clinical signs, the horse had regained full performance ability
and the fistula had healed.

Case 3: 9 year old warm-blooded chestnut mare (Hannoveraner)

To this horse I was called, because it has suddenly went off ist food. Additionally the owner
had observed for some weeks that the animal had increasingly become stiff in the back and
needed more time to warm up adequately. Rectal temperature was normal and no clinical
findings relating to colic could be determined. There was pussy discharge from the left nostril
with foul odour. Percussion revealed muffled sounds over the area of the left maxillary sinus.
Pain palpation of the back caused a distinct reaction within the area of the saddle position.
First the symptomatic points at the body were treated by laser. Over the area of the maxillary
sinus with decreased resonance two points were detected at the level of the third premolar
tooth, which were illuminated for 2 to 3 minutes in each case. Thereupon the mandatory point
TH5 was treated at the same time. The mare started to eat normally her next offered food.
Afirst revisit two days later revealed that the foul odour had nearly disappeared and it was
completely absent again two days later. Likewise the resonance over the maxillary sinus
increased and the horse had fully recovered from ist back pain. The back points have been
treated three times as described above, the local therapy of the tooth fistula was performed for
further three times, in each case illuminating TH5 also. By the seventh attendance no RAC
was provable any more over the maxillary sinus. The pain response within the saddle area
could not be elicited any more. Under the rider the horse went relaxed.

Case 4: 12 year old black warm-blooded mare (Oldenburger)

This horse had fallen badly over a fence about two hours ago and was afterwards not risen
again. Immediate veterinary assistance could not work against a permanent degradation of the
mare’s state. Radiographic examination of the high-grade painful cervical area did not result
in dramatic clinical findings. Due to the poor prognosis and the high-grade pain the immediate
euthanasia of the horse was recommended. But the owner decided against euthanasia and
asked for a further examination by a veterinary surgeon experienced in acupuncture. The
horse was found being somnolent. The pulse was weak and the pulse rate was above 100/min.
The entire body was wet and cold. An easy contact of the swollen neck portion within the area
of C4-C5 produced a deep groaning of the patient. It was agreed upon that in the case of no
spontaneous improvement by acupuncture immediate euthanasia should be performed in order
to save the horse from further pain. First an acupunctural injection with scandicaine (?) for
stabilisation of the circulatory system and for pain reduction was performed. This method is to
be carried out within a few minutes (2-3 min) and in this case hurry was required. Within less
than one minute the horse raised ist head and stood up again after further two minutes. The
mare continued to stay wet whereas the pain response to contact could no more be elicited.
Only firm pressure on the center of the swollen area could cause groaning again. Now a
thorough laser acupuncture was carried out. During therapy the horse dried off and the
circulatory system calmed down again to normal values. Pain to pressure could not be elicited
any more. When leading into the box, however, a high-grade ataxia was obvious at walk. The
horse was treated twelve times, first in shorter intervals (2-3 days), later in increasing
intervals (1-2 wks). At present, about a quarter of a year later, the horse is trained on the lunge
and shows no recognizable signs of ataxia.

Results

In 490 of 512 treated horses a pain response due to pain palpation could not be elicited any
more immediately after the first acupuncture, the back musculature was soft and relaxed.
Under the rider the horse went relaxed as well and those problems mentioned before were
already noticeably improved. With 12 patients the complaints be spontaneously improved by
the first treatment, however, the animals were not perfectly insensitive to the followed up
pressure palpation. Only ten horses did not show any improvement after the first therapy. In
11 horses therapy was disrupted after the fifth to seventh acupuncture, because the same
clinical findings found at the initial examination were present again.
 27 patients showed after initial good to very good improvements clinical signs of back pain
again within three months later, however, according to the predicate of their riders, the
respective status was nevertheless better than before the course of acupuncture. During an
observation period of 1-2 years some of the horses could be kept in continously good
condition despite hard training. Other horses, mainly for performance purposes, undergoing
intensive training, are treated preventively in 4-6 wks intervals and remain in top condition
according to their owners.

Discussion

The not satisfying cases concerned probably horses where possible causes within the
perturbative field diagnostics were probably overlooked. In one of these animals an equitation
problem was present additionally, because the horse, ridden by an experienced person showed
no pain or rigidity in the back. Another patient of this group suffered from bone spavin
additionally. Regarding the remaining two dressage horses there was a varying degree of
disturbed locomotion in the hindlegs which could not be removed by diagnostic injections up
to the knee joint. A radiographic investigation of the spinal column in a clinic could not reveal
a clear diagnosis in both cases. The fact that after a certain time the condition of some patients
worsened again may include various reasons: therapy not complete or to strong or
inappropriate demand in training, but also the possibility of course that the weak points in the
organism could not be completely eliminated by the therapy.

Conclusion

It still will need much time until acupuncture will gain interest of the school medical
profession. But in the long term also universities will have to come to an understanding with
this high effective therapeutic method.
Unfortunately there are still too few colleagues who are intensively occupied with
acupuncture so that treatment strategies partly suffer from a lack of knowledge of these
veterinarians, a fact, which will harm the reputation of this kind of alternative medicine
additionally.
The controlled acupuncture offers the possibility of being able to treat patients successfully
also without decades of experience if one has learned the RAC palpation.
I would be pleased if I could have created some interest in some colleagues with my lecture to
occupy themselves with the controlled acupuncture. Hereby at any time acupuncture can be
combined with the schoolmedical therapy so that in the long run both therapeutic options may
serve as supplements. It would be for the well-being of our patients, the horses.

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Laser Therapie in Veterinary Medicine

Dr. med. vet. Uwe Petermann Akupunktur e mail: DrUwePetermannMelle@t-online.de

Summary

The effect of Low Level Lasertherapy (LLLT) is documented by a lot of scientific investigations.
Nevertheless this therapy is not appreciated enough by orthodox medicine. In this paper the results of the most
important investigations of LLLT are summarized and the findings of a long-standing own experience is
reported. The possibility of usefull combination with laseracupuncture is shown.

Key-words: Lasertherapy, Veterinary-medicine

Areas of laser application

When Shawlow and Townes (1958) published the construction plans for the laser and Maiman (1960)
presented the first functional ruby-crystal laser to the scientific community, there was probably no inkling of
the enormous range of applications and types that would develop from this invention. Today, lasers find an
ever increasing new and varied range applications all over the world. The spectrum extends from the simple
laser pointer via applications in measurement technology, soft-lasers for use in cosmetics, high-power
industrial lasers, e.g. fixed lasers such as the Neodyne-YAG laser for welding car bodies (6 kW) or gas lasers
such as the carbon dioxide laser (35 kW) for cutting and vaporising inch thick metal sheets; to extremely high
energy lasers, which, linked together in hundreds of units, may one day provide the energy for plasma
production in a fusion reactor. Modern diode lasers for example, find everyday uses in laser printing, CD-
players, CD-ROM drives, bar-code scanners and in optical fibre phone lines, in which the signals are actually
transmitted by laser.

Lasers in medicine
Different lasers are also used in many different areas of medicine. So far, the most well-known have been
surgical lasers, used for incision and cauterisation in endoscopic surgery and for the treatment of ablatio
retinae in the eye. In cosmetic surgery, lasers are used therapeutically for the sclerosing of varicose veins, the
removal of birthmarks and brushmarks right through to the "vaporisation" of ageing skin layers and collagen
production in exhausted subcutaneous tissue.

Therapy and acupuncture lasers

This paper, however, will give a report of a completely different medical application of laser devices, so-
called "Mid-lasers".

Low level laser therapy (LLLT) involves the local treatment of various tissues with so-called therapeutic
lasers. These lasers are diode lasers with the great advantage of being very compact. The laser diodes are
scarcely bigger than a match-head, so that the entire apparatus including the battery of a modern therapeutic
laser can be housed in a device the size of a cigar.

These devices basically work with wavelengths in the spectrum between red- and infrared (635-904 nm).
Two types must be distinguished here. On one hand, there are continuous beam lasers, which continually
emit laser light. The output of these devices lies between 10 and 500 mW. The laser light emission can be
split into different frequencies to attain optimal resonance in different types of tissue.

CW Continuous wave-laser, the Bahr- and Nogier -frequencies are modulated as a sinus wave on the basic
laserbeam

The second type of laser is the pulse laser, with which light pulses of very high intensity (peak pulse
power of 30 to 150 Watts) but very short duration (200 nsec) are emitted.
Although the tissue penetration of laser light with these devices is very much higher, the short duration of
the light beams means that no thermal or even coagulatory effects occur in tissues, even at pulse
frequencies of up to 10000 Hz.

To this end, primarily the Bahr and Nogier frequency ranges are used.

Bahr Frequencies Fr.1, 599,5Hz / Fr.2, 1199Hz / Fr.3, 2398Hz / Fr.4, 4796Hz / Fr.5, 9592Hz /
Fr.6, 149,9Hz / Fr.7, 299,8Hz

Table 2 Nogier Frequencies Fr.A´, 292Hz / Fr.B´, 584Hz / Fr.C´, 1168Hz / Fr.D´, 2336Hz / Fr.E´,
4672Hz / Fr.F´ 9344Hz / Fr.G, 146Hz

A further advantage of the diode laser is its high level of efficiency. Whilst the Neodyne-YAG laser
achieves 2-5% and the carbon dioxide laser 5-10% efficiency, diode lasers reach a level of efficiency of
up to 55%. This also means that no costly cooling system need be installed, which would immediately
reduce their ease of handling. It is for this reason that the diode laser has been adapted to form an industry
standard device, by means of the optical coupling of hundreds of individual laser diodes. Lasers with an
output of 2 kW have been produced, and 6 kW lasers are foreseen.

Function of the diode laser

With a diode laser, all the components can be accommodated in the smallest possible space, a fraction of a
cubic millimetre. Semiconductor diodes are designed so that negatively charged, electron-rich and
positively charged, low-electron layers are embedded in a crystal matrix. When an electric field is applied
across the diode crystal, electrons move from the electron-rich N-layer to the electron-poor P-layer. In the
laser active zone, only a few atom layers thick, photons are produced. The resonator is formed from two
semiconductor layers which reflect the photons: a thin layer in which every newly produced photon is
forced to travel back and forth in phase with the existing photons, between the two mirrored end surfaces
of the diode. Only when enough photons are oscillating in phase is their collective energy sufficient to
emerge through the front, semi-permeable mirror of the diode as a laser beam. Results of investigations
into the effective mechanisms of the therapeutic laser

Physiological basis of laser effects

Research by Popp which established that biophotons play a fundamental role in cell communication by
means of so-called "ultra-weak cell radiation" is one of the most important pieces of primary research into
laser effects. This involves coherent, in other words, laser light. The DNA in the cell nucleus can be
established as the source of the radiation. These emissions occur in the infra-red to ultra-violet spectra. It
was possible to determine in animal tumours that with increasing malignancy, the tumour cells lose their
mutual light contact. It is assumed that the coherence of the light emissions is also reduced by other
pathological processes, increasing disorder emerges and the resonance necessary for communication is
lost. The use of laser treatment may be practical here in order to re-establish order. Warnke has
specifically made exploratory studies of the infra-red laser. According to these, approx. 70% of the laser
energy is reflected from the skin surface, 15-20% of the entrant energy is dissipated and lost by diffusion
in the body tissues. Thus only 5-10% of the laser energy is absorbed. Absorption is by means of a so-
called "antenna pigment", the flavoprotein-metal-redox system, which forms an important link in the
respiratory chain within the mitochondria. Here, absorbed laser photons are transformed directly into
cellular energy. This is particularly beneficial for unhealthy cells and cells in tissue modified by illness,
which have a particularly high energy requirement to perform their functions. The laser may play a
decisive role by providing the necessary energy. Equally, an intense energy pulse in the nerve cells of the
acupuncture points can lead to hyperpolarisation and thus to unblocking of irritations; whereby the
demonstrable pain reduction can be attributed to the laser. The healing of wounds and repair of damaged
ligaments are processes requiring high energy inputs. With laser light, the energy required for the
breakdown of waste building blocks and the synthesis of new building blocks for wound closure can be
provided more quickly and ligament or wound repair accelerated. Important investigations have been
made by the pioneer of LLLT, E. Meister, on this topic, which demonstrated as early as 1969, that the
proliferation of collagen threads and a marked increase in cell activity after 1-3 laser irradiation of
wounds. The results justify the assumption that even in the area not directly irradiated, healing is
significantly improved due to the increased diffusion of bioactive substances. I personally have almost 200
scientific publications on the effects of LLLT. I would like to select some investigations as representative
of the majority of investigated and confirmed laser therapeutic effects.

These established, inter alia, the following effects of clearly defined laser irradiation: vasodilatation with
mast cell degranulation, activation of macrophages and lysozyme, increased circulation in occlusive
arterial diseases, treatment of haemangioma, reduced blood pressure in hypertension, improved capillary
circulation in micro circulatory conditions, applications for wound healing disruptions, analgesia, for
spondylosis, skin-transplant surgery, for facial paralysis, regeneration of nerve lesions and inhibited
nervous functioning.
Further impressive research results are available in the areas of rheumatic therapy, lumbago, degenerative
conditions of the joints, invasive procedures in bone marrow operations, dentistry and orthodontics, in
orthopaedics, immunology, with low sperm counts, prostate conditions, sports injuries, infected wounds,
corneal ulcers and lesions, pain relief in herpid neuralgia.

A particularly interesting study by T.KARU shows by means of in vivo tests on human capillary blood
that laser therapy can considerably increase the clearance of peroxide radicals as measured by
chemoluminescence. Interestingly, the maximum increase in clearance coincided at the peak of symptoms
(viral infection), it was reduced once again during convalescence, and was no longer observable after
recovery. It was also established that the rate of increase was dependent on the pulse frequency of the laser
radiation, the wavelength of the laser light used and the irradiation dosage.
Several investigations confirm a relation between dosage and effect to the extent that too small irradiation
dosages have no positive effect, but then with increasing dosages an increased effect up to a maximum can
be achieved. If the dosage is increased further, the stimulating effect is reduced until the previous, non-
irradiated condition is reached again.
Further studies show that a negative, destructive effect cannot be demonstrated, even with prolonged
irradiation (30 minutes).

Despite these extensive studies, the optimal laser power to be used for therapy and the length of treatment
can still not be clearly established, since there is naturally a considerable difference between the shaved
skin of the laboratory rat and the hairy skin of a dog or horse. On the basis of my own experience, one can
presume an optimal effect on surface structures in veterinary medicine for laser output of 50-100 mW
(continuous beam) or 50 - 100 W peak pulse power (pulse lasers) over an irradiation time of approx. 20 -
40 sec. For deeper structures, articular cartilage, ligaments, fistulae, sinusitis, the treatment duration must
be increased to approx. 2-3 min. per point.

The foregoing summary of the current state of knowledge in LLL therapy shows unambiguously that the
laser may be used effectively for the local treatment of traumatised tissue as well as for acupuncture
treatment. Optimal treatment for individual patients thus involves local laser irradiation in combination
with appropriate acupuncture points.
Indications for local laser therapy

The following listing of indications for local laser therapy is derived from long years of personal
experience involving real applications tested and successful on countless patients.

Healing of wounds
The most simple but nevertheless very effective indication for local laser therapy is the encouragement of
wound healing after trauma or operations, in particular when a rapid resilience of the wound closure
should be achieved or the wound is located in an area which is difficult to immobilise, such as joints. Even
in many cases of infected wounds, where normally long-term drainage would be required after surgical
intervention, per primam healing can often be expected after laser treatment and suture dehiscence
avoided. With wounds with larger loss of skin surface or after the removal of larger areas of caro lux,
wound closure normally occurs very quickly and without complications. With fistula formation and
disturbance to the wound demarcation and above all for deep wounds, laser treatment is to be highly
recommended. There have even been cases of old scars in which the demarcation had clearly not been
closed, opening again after 1-2 laser treatments, cleaning themselves and finally closing up again.

Local inflammation
Traumatic
Local laser treatment proved effective in the following trauma-related inflammatory conditions: acute
distortion, capsule tearing, pulled muscles and haematoma. The treatment is also very effective in the
treatment of acute and chronic inflammation of the pastern and of acute and chronic tendonitis. A
markedly more rapid and complete reduction of accompanying tissue swelling and other symptoms of
inflammation such as pain and heat also occurs.
Infectious

Laser treatment is also exceptionally useful in infectious local inflammations. In very many cases
phlegmonic processes, e.g. after the infection of wounds, in mastides and even in acute to sub-acute
thrombophlebitis can be cured when previous treatment with antibiotics have proved ineffective. Laser
irradiation also has an outstanding effect on the maturation and demarcation of abscesses. This applies, for
example, to hoof ulcers or infected inflammations of the hoof dermis which do not mature and diffusely
spread into the rest of the hoof dermis and which are normally very difficult to manage. Purulent, acute
and chronic sinusitis in dogs and even in horses can usually be effectively treated with laser irradiation,
whereby in horses the affected tooth usually does not have to be extracted and the maxillary sinus does not
have to be trepanned. Lastly, I would like to cite the highly effective option of treating infected joint and
tendon sheath inflammations. At commensurate cost, in most cases excellent treatment success can be
expected here.

Orthopaedics
Laser treatment is used most frequently for spinal problems in horses and spondylosis in dogs. But in all
conceivable forms of disability with a variety of causes, in most cases laser treatment is strongly indicated.
Very often, costly and unreliable operations can thereby be avoided, and even conditions not cured or
even made worse by operating can subsequently be alleviated.

Neurology
Principally, disability in dogs due to discopathy or trauma and in horses due to ataxia should be mentioned
here. Both illnesses are very often curable, however often at not inconsiderable cost.

Eye conditions
With regard to eye conditions, it is principally treatment-resistant corneal injuries, ulcus corneae, corneal
occlusion and also deep eye injuries which may be treated successfully.

Local laser treatment as the ideal introduction to acupuncture

If laser treatment of acupuncture points is used to target sympathetic vegetative and humoral control
mechanisms, all the laser treatments listed above can be further improved in their effectiveness.
Acupuncture may be started relatively easily in the areas listed above, using a rather small number of
highly effective acupuncture points. The straightforward introduction and the possibility it offers of
convincing oneself of the outstanding effectiveness of acupuncture in a considerable range of indicated
conditions are strong factors motivating towards making the effort of learning more about this area. All
colleagues who have taken this first step are astonished again and again by the really significant extension
of therapeutic possibilities beyond the known and the hitherto accepted.

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