ACUPUNCTURE WINS THE WEST

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Quite often, discussing energy relationships as health-affecting forces still draws skepticism in Western medical circles and among lay-person's too. But Dr. Bruce Sickels, a vet from Union City, Indiana, is used to critics. "People look at you kind of funny when you talk about healing with energy flows," Dr. Sickels says with a laugh. "But don't physicians routinely take EEGs [electroencephalograms] and electrocardiograms to measure electrical energy in humans? There's an electromagnetic field in animals that can't be denied."

Traditionally, acupuncture involves inserting needles just beneath the skin at meridian points and then slowly turning the needles by hand; energy is transferred from acupuncturist to patient. But nowadays, to speed things up (and to reduce wear and tear on the needle-turner) a battery-run electrostimulator is used to achieve the same purpose. Or, if you squirm at the thought of turning your pet into a living pincushion, a "cold" laser (one that emits harmless low-voltage energy, as opposed to a metal-cutting "hot" laser) can be employed, and is said to work even faster.

Sometimes, a combination of the two is used. A couple of years ago, Oklahoma's Dr. Mitchell used both electrostimulation and laser therapy to treat a barrel-racing quarter horse, named Cool Approach, for a fractured splint bone (front leg). Conventional treatment called for surgery, followed by six to eight months of healing. Instead, Mitchell administered laser and electrostimulation acupuncture therapy for half an hour every day for a week. The result: "Three weeks later," the vet recalls, "the horse won a $42,000 purse; and by year's end, it had won more barrel races than any horse in history, earning $85,000 in prize money."

Acupuncture treatments vary according to the nature of the malady. Where there's an acute injury, such as a bone fracture, a positive charge builds up, so negative current is applied to achieve balance. With chronic injuries, such as arthritis, an excess negative charge is present. "Nothing really works in Western veterinary medicine for treating arthritis," remarks Dr. Terry Durkes, a vet from Marion, Indiana. "But I've had a 99% success rate with acupuncture in treating arthritic patients under seven years of age." Success rates for such patients seven to 12 years old has been 80%, and for older ones roughly 50%, he adds.

Rather than using "conventional" acupuncture, Dr. Durkes implants a tiny gold bead one-half inch or more deep into a specific meridian site. The gold is said to provide a positive charge, offsetting the excess negative charge at the arthritic joint. As balance is restored, calcium deposits are eventually reabsorbed by the body, he says.

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