A Brief History of Acupuncture and the Status of Veterinary AP Outside Mainland China
Philip A.M. Rogers MRCVS
1988, updated 1990, 1993
Postgraduate Course in Veterinary AP, Sydney, 1991
1988, updated 1990, 1993
Postgraduate Course in Veterinary AP, Sydney, 1991
ABSTRACT
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) was practised before 1766 BC but the first medical text was the Nei Ching Su Wen (Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine), c. 300BC. The Nei Ching detailed the AP system as well as other medical knowledge. Horses were very important and "horse priests" practised their trade from at least 1766 BC. Many texts on veterinary medicine were written in the period 221 BC to 1608 AD.
Texts on human acupuncture (AP) were available since the Nei Ching but the first detailed text on equine AP was Yuan Heng Liao Ma Chi (Treatise on horses), by veterinarians Yuan and Heng in 1608 AD. The practice of human and equine AP almost certainly predates the publication of those texts.
Human AP was introduced to Europe by Jesuits returning from Macao and Peking in the late 1500's and early 1600's. Harvieu, a Jesuit, translated the first work on AP into a European language (French). The practice of AP in Europe fell into disrepute, probably because of poor training and consequent poor results.
Soulie de Morant, a diplomat returning from Shanghai in 1927, translated more modern Chinese works into French (Precis de la vraie acupuncture, 1934). This work was the foundation of the French AP school and spread to Germany and Austria.
European pioneers of modern vet AP in the 1950's and 60's included Kothbauer (Austria), Milin (France) and the late Westermayer (Germany). American pioneers, coming to the field a little later than the Europeans, included Altman, Bressler, Cain, Jaggar, Klide and the late Grady Young.
International publicity on AP, following visits of western professionals to China in 1971 - 1972, was a factor in the founding of the UCLA Vet AP Research Project in 1973, the National Association of Vet AP (NAVA) in California and the International Vet AP Society (IVAS) in 1974. IVAS, now the biggest organisation for vet AP outside the East, has members or informal contacts in 38 countries. Its aims include working for the full integration of AP into vet science and the standardisation of training internationally. To this end, IVAS, where possible, provides intensive courses in countries which require this.
Although human and vet AP has gained much ground in the last 14 years, its status is insecure in many countries. There are confidence tricksters and Diploma sellers hidden among genuine AP practitioners. Many academics feel threatened by the esoteric language and concepts of the purist AP schools and by the apparent difficulty in learning it. Surgeons feel threatened by claims that AP can treat many conditions which they regard as needing surgery. The drug industry is not enthusiastic about the wide-scale replacement of drug therapy by AP. (They are justified in some respects but veterinary chemotherapeutic drugs are likely to remain the main-stay of western vet medicine for the foreseeable future).
Scarcity of controlled experimentation and clinical trials, together with inflated or biassed claims by uncritical practitioners fuel the fears and prejudices of its sceptics and its enemies.
IVAS and National groups have much work to do before AP is fully integrated into human and vet medicine. Thorough documentation of the successes, relapse rates and failures of AP are needed. AP must be made as simple as possible. To gain scientific acceptance, all unnecessary AP theory and practice and the more lunatic (advanced ?) fringes of AP must be rejected or consigned to "special interest groups".
INTRODUCTION
Vet AP is gaining ground internationally. Organised National groups exist in many countries now. Nuclei of practitioners, at present unorganised, exist in many others. The Antwerp Congress stimulated great enthusiasm and played a definite role in spreading interest to Scandinavia. The full IVAS Course was held with about 35 participants in Oslo. A course on small- animal AP has been held in Denmark and one on horses is planned for October 1988. (Both of these resulted from Antwerp). The Postgraduate Veterinary Committee of Sydney University has invited Drs. Luc Janssens and Phil Rogers to give a 5-day intensive Course in 1991.
Theses or Dissertations on AP have been accepted by Vet Schools in Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany and Switzerland. Vet Schools in Mexico, U.S.A., Germany, are beginning to take AP much more seriously than, say, five years ago. National or State Vet Associations, for instance in Taiwan, Japan, Austria, Finland, Germany and Belgium have accepted AP as a valid modality and the American Vet Med Association may has accepted it as valid in 1988.
On the surface, the future of vet AP seems assured. But is this so ? We must be very careful. Our baby is very fragile and there are wolves outside the nursery, ready to savage it to death.
A brief history of human and vet AP will be given before discussing its status and its possible future. Dr. Martin Parkinson, Guildford, U.K. sent me much material on the history and texts available in 1974 - 1977. More details were taken from Klide & Kung (1977) and Janssens (1987), to whose reviews readers are referred.
1. BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMAN AP
500-300 BC : Huang Ti Nei Ching (Canon of Internal Medicine) had two parts (Su Wen and Ling Shu). They outlined TCM theory (YIN/YANG, Five Elements, the meridians, Qi etc).
265 AD : Chen Chiu Chia Yi Ching (Classic of AP and moxibustion)
550 AD : monk Zhi Cong brought Ming Tang Tu (Manual of channels and AP points) and Chen Chiu Chia Yi Ching to Korea and Japan.
1026 AD : Tong Ren Shu Hsueh Chen Chiu Tu Ching (Manual on points for AP and moxibustion on a bronze figure)
1220 AD : Chen Chiu Zi Sheng Ching (Classic of AP and moxibustion)
1341 AD : Shi Si Ching Fa Hui Zi Sheng Ching (Enlargement of the 14 Channels)
1601 AD : Chen Chiu Ta Cheng (Compendium of AP and moxibustion by Yang Jizhou. This has been one of the main sources of information for 400 years).
1575-1675 AD : Human AP was introduced to Europe by Jesuits returning from Macao and Peking. Harvieu, a Jesuit, translated the first work on AP into a European language (French, 1671). The practice of AP fell into disrepute in Europe, probably because of poor training and consequent poor results.
1665 AD : Japanese Okamoto Ippo published on the Meridians
1676 AD : Hermann Busschof published "Moxibustion" (Chiu) in English (London)
1683 AD : Willem Ten Rhyne published Dissertatio de Arthride : mantissa schematica: de Acupunctura (in Latin), London
1693 AD : Japanese Kiosho Kotsuju published on the Meridians
1863 AD : Pierre Dabry published Le Medicine chez les Chinois (Plon, Paris). It included a section on Vet AP
1927 AD : Soulie de Morant, a diplomat, returned from Shanghai. He translated more modern Chinese works into French (Precis de la vraie acupuncture, 1934). This work founded the French AP school. Spread to Germany and Austria.
2. BRIEF HISTORY OF VETERINARY AP
1766-1122BC : The "Horse Priests" responsible for treating army horses
1122- 222BC : Chao Fu, the first DVM
403- 221BC : Nei Ching and Nan Ching probably used by "Horse Priests"
221BC- 220AD : Nei Ching and Nan Ching probably used by horse-doctors
221BC- 220AD: Shen Nung Pen Ts'ao Ching (Herbal medicine) probably used by horse-doctors
221BC- 220AD: A few texts on animal diseases were published
220- 907AD : Chia I Ching and Ch'ien Ching Fang probably used by vets
220- 907AD :: Many vet texts were published
220- 907AD :: Formal vet education
960-1368AD : Formal storage of vet medicines
960-1368AD :: New vet texts and re-writes of older ones
1368-1644AD : Yuan Heng Liao Ma Chi (Horse treatise) - the first text in detail on horse AP by vets Yuan and Heng, preface by Ting Ping 1608
1368-1644AD :: Ma Shu (Book of Horses)
1368-1644AD :: Lei Fang Ma Ching (Prescriptions for Horses)
1368-1644AD :: Niu Shu (Book of Cattle)
1644-1912AD : Texts on horses, cattle, camels, pigs, nutrition and ploughing
1863AD : Pierre Dabry published Le Medicine chez les Chinois (Plon, Paris). It included a section on Vet AP
1912-1958AD : 1917 Shanghai School of Vet Med (private)
1912-1958AD :: no formal vet training at national level but various western style schools existed
1912-1958AD :: 1947 Vet Med Depts. in Agricultural schools
1912-1958AD :: 1955 new translations of horse and cattle classics in modern vet terminology
1912-1958AD :: 1956 2 new Chinese vet journals
1912-1958AD :: 1958 Committee to review Chinese, Japanese and Korean vet classics. Of > 70 known, only 16 survived
1958-1972AD : AP analgesia in man (1969 in animals)
1958-1972AD :: clinical and experimental studies on AP and its mechanisms
1958-1972AD :: many new books on vet med
1972 : Shou I Shou Chai (Handbook of Vet Med) combines Chinese and western methods
1950's and 60's: Vet AP pioneers included Kothbauer (Austria), Milin (France) and the late Westermayer (Germany). American pioneers included Altman, Bressler, Cain, Jaggar, Klide and the late Grady Young.
1971-1972 : western professionals report on visits to China
1973 : founding of the UCLA Vet AP Research Project
1974 : National Association of Vet AP (NAVA) in California
1974 : International Vet AP Society (IVAS). IVAS has members or informal contacts in 38 countries. IVAS courses.
1977 : First translation of traditional large animal vet AP texts in English (Klide and Kung 1977).
1980 : Finland accepts AP as valid medical and vet modality
1986 : New South Wales Vet Board accepts AP
1987 : IVAS Congress in Antwerp; great response
1987-1988 : Austria, Germany accept vet AP as valid therapy.
1988 : South Africa and A.V.M.A. (America) recognise vet AP.
1988 : IVAS Training Course in Oslo
1990 : IVAS Training Course in Brussels. IVAS Congress in Noordwyk (Netherlands)
1991 : 5-day intensive postgraduate training course in Sydney Vet School
1992 : Vet AP Course in the Copenhagen Vet School
1993 : IVAS Congress, Tromso, Norway. IVAS Course, Skara, Sweden
1994 : IVAS Course planned for Belgium.
Following the re-introduction of AP to France by Soulie de Morant in 1927, a few vets in France, Germany and Austria began to use it in the 30's and 40's but little or nothing was published of their results.
In 1954, the first western thesis on vet AP was published by Benard (Vet School, Alfort, Paris).
In the late '50s and early '60s Kothbauer (Austria) used classic provocation experiments to locate the reflex points for the main internal organs in cattle. He injected irritants (Lugol's iodine solution) into specific organs of cattle destined for slaughter and located the reflex points using an electrical point detector. He confirmed the therapeutic effect of Kothbauer's Points in clinical practice. Later, he became the first vet in Europe to use AP analgesia for surgery in cattle (teat surgery and caesarian section). He has published many articles and a textbook, mainly on bovine AP. His contribution to AP was recognised by his election to the presidency of IVAS 1987-1988. Kothbauer, Kuussaari and Westermayer used AP successfully for the reposition of prolapsed uterus, dystocia and infertility in cows.
Milin (Paris) used AP in small animals since the '50s. He used an electrical point detector on dogs to locate the points, from which he drew up AP charts. His work confirmed that the transposition method could be used in dogs. From 1963-, he published his results, mainly in rhematological, orthopaedic and gynaecological disorders. His contribution was recognised by his election to the presidency of the French Vet AP Assoc. (l'AVAF) for many years.
European and American scientists and professionals visited China in 1971 - 1972. The ensuing international publicity given to Chinese science, including AP, fired the imagination of western clinicians and researchers. Pioneers like Milin (Paris), Kothbauer (Austria) and Westermayer (Germany), who had been using AP in their practices for 10 - 17 years before that time, must have felt vindicated at last.
Following correspondence with these pioneers, Rogers & Ottaway (1974) and Rogers, White and Ottaway (1977) documented the clinical claims in the accessible literature. Since then, many clinicians and researchers have published reviews, experimental data and clinical articles in conventional vet publications as well as in specialist AP journals and newsletters.
In the 1970's and 1980's, clinicians, postgraduate students and staff members at some European and American universities began to publish results of basic and clinical studies on AP in animals. Some who have made significant contributions are :
Luc Janssens (Antwerp)
Pragmatic, scientific approach to AP. Studies on point locations, AP analgesia, rheumatology, disc disease, trigger points, arthrosis, resuscitation in dogs
Yann Ching Hwang (Tuskeegee, Alabama)
Studies on piglet diarrhoea; co-editor of FAO Vet AP textbook with Yu Chuan (1990)
Alan Klide (Philadelphia)
First translation of traditional vet AP texts in English. Studies on point injection and laser on backpain in horses (Martin and Klide 1987).
Jen Hsou Lin (Taipei)
Studies on anoestrus, infertility in gilts/sows and diarrhoea in piglets
Roland Muxeneder (Vienna)
Clinical effects of laser on wound healing, eczema and oedema in horses
T.D. Olesen (Los Angeles)
Confirmation of the diagnostic value of earpoints in humans
Bruce Pomeranz (Toronto)
Published the first experimental evidence (January 1977) that endorphins/enkephalins are involved in AP analgesia. Rogers, from literature reviews, predicted that in December 1976
M. Schupbach (Zurich)
Infrared thermography to detect points for the uterus in pigs and confirmation of the effects of stimulating the points
Jan Still (Brno, Czechoslovakia; now MEDUNSA, S. Africa)
Brilliant work on detection of earpoints in the dog and on many clinical applications of earpoint and bodypoint AP in small animals
Hector Sumano (Mexico City)
Very good work on AP and electrostimulation on wound and burn healing; infertility in cows; AP analgesia in dogs; non-distemper induced epilepsy in dogs; polyarthritis in parrots.
Erwin Westermayer (Germany; deceased May 1990)
Clinical studies of AP in cattle, especially in relation to metabolic and reproductive disorders. Two textbooks.
Sheila White (Murdoch, West Australia)
Introduced course on alternative medicine to Murdoch Vet school. Preparing anatomical charts of the AP points in horses. Textbook on electro-AP in horses.
Charlotte Frigast (Copenhagen Vet School)
Brilliant work on the importance of the cervical nerves for normal gait in horses.
Details of their work, and that of many other pioneers, are given elsewhere in the Course.
Meanwhile, in the U.S.A., vet AP was pioneered by two main groups, the National Association of Vet AP (NAVA) and the International Vet AP Society (IVAS).
NAVA was founded in California in 1974. It arose from the good clinical results obtained by the UCLA Vet AP Research Project in 1973. Founder members included Shelly Altman, David Bressler, Richard Glassberg, John Ottaviano and Hoddy Warner.
IVAS also was founded in 1974. Its founder members included Marvin Cain, David Jaggar and the late Grady Young. Because of the difficulty of running two vet organisations in a minority speciality, many members of NAVA joined IVAS and NAVA wound down.
IVAS, now the biggest organisation for vet AP outside the East, has members and informal contacts in 38 countries. Its aims include to work for the full integration of AP into vet science and to try to standardise international training. To this end, IVAS, where possible, provides its basic course (or shorter ones if needed) in countries which require this. Only registered vets or vet students in their final years may take the IVAS course. The basic course is 120 hours of concentrated lectures and demonstrations spread over 4-5 weekends in a year. Students are expected to study selected textbooks. At the end of the course, they sit a 3-hour written examination. Candidates who pass and who present 5 detailed case reports are accredited as competent to practice vet AP.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) was practised before 1766 BC but the first medical text was the Nei Ching Su Wen (Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine), c. 300BC. The Nei Ching detailed the AP system as well as other medical knowledge. Horses were very important and "horse priests" practised their trade from at least 1766 BC. Many texts on veterinary medicine were written in the period 221 BC to 1608 AD.
Texts on human acupuncture (AP) were available since the Nei Ching but the first detailed text on equine AP was Yuan Heng Liao Ma Chi (Treatise on horses), by veterinarians Yuan and Heng in 1608 AD. The practice of human and equine AP almost certainly predates the publication of those texts.
Human AP was introduced to Europe by Jesuits returning from Macao and Peking in the late 1500's and early 1600's. Harvieu, a Jesuit, translated the first work on AP into a European language (French). The practice of AP in Europe fell into disrepute, probably because of poor training and consequent poor results.
Soulie de Morant, a diplomat returning from Shanghai in 1927, translated more modern Chinese works into French (Precis de la vraie acupuncture, 1934). This work was the foundation of the French AP school and spread to Germany and Austria.
European pioneers of modern vet AP in the 1950's and 60's included Kothbauer (Austria), Milin (France) and the late Westermayer (Germany). American pioneers, coming to the field a little later than the Europeans, included Altman, Bressler, Cain, Jaggar, Klide and the late Grady Young.
International publicity on AP, following visits of western professionals to China in 1971 - 1972, was a factor in the founding of the UCLA Vet AP Research Project in 1973, the National Association of Vet AP (NAVA) in California and the International Vet AP Society (IVAS) in 1974. IVAS, now the biggest organisation for vet AP outside the East, has members or informal contacts in 38 countries. Its aims include working for the full integration of AP into vet science and the standardisation of training internationally. To this end, IVAS, where possible, provides intensive courses in countries which require this.
Although human and vet AP has gained much ground in the last 14 years, its status is insecure in many countries. There are confidence tricksters and Diploma sellers hidden among genuine AP practitioners. Many academics feel threatened by the esoteric language and concepts of the purist AP schools and by the apparent difficulty in learning it. Surgeons feel threatened by claims that AP can treat many conditions which they regard as needing surgery. The drug industry is not enthusiastic about the wide-scale replacement of drug therapy by AP. (They are justified in some respects but veterinary chemotherapeutic drugs are likely to remain the main-stay of western vet medicine for the foreseeable future).
Scarcity of controlled experimentation and clinical trials, together with inflated or biassed claims by uncritical practitioners fuel the fears and prejudices of its sceptics and its enemies.
IVAS and National groups have much work to do before AP is fully integrated into human and vet medicine. Thorough documentation of the successes, relapse rates and failures of AP are needed. AP must be made as simple as possible. To gain scientific acceptance, all unnecessary AP theory and practice and the more lunatic (advanced ?) fringes of AP must be rejected or consigned to "special interest groups".
INTRODUCTION
Vet AP is gaining ground internationally. Organised National groups exist in many countries now. Nuclei of practitioners, at present unorganised, exist in many others. The Antwerp Congress stimulated great enthusiasm and played a definite role in spreading interest to Scandinavia. The full IVAS Course was held with about 35 participants in Oslo. A course on small- animal AP has been held in Denmark and one on horses is planned for October 1988. (Both of these resulted from Antwerp). The Postgraduate Veterinary Committee of Sydney University has invited Drs. Luc Janssens and Phil Rogers to give a 5-day intensive Course in 1991.
Theses or Dissertations on AP have been accepted by Vet Schools in Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany and Switzerland. Vet Schools in Mexico, U.S.A., Germany, are beginning to take AP much more seriously than, say, five years ago. National or State Vet Associations, for instance in Taiwan, Japan, Austria, Finland, Germany and Belgium have accepted AP as a valid modality and the American Vet Med Association may has accepted it as valid in 1988.
On the surface, the future of vet AP seems assured. But is this so ? We must be very careful. Our baby is very fragile and there are wolves outside the nursery, ready to savage it to death.
A brief history of human and vet AP will be given before discussing its status and its possible future. Dr. Martin Parkinson, Guildford, U.K. sent me much material on the history and texts available in 1974 - 1977. More details were taken from Klide & Kung (1977) and Janssens (1987), to whose reviews readers are referred.
1. BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMAN AP
500-300 BC : Huang Ti Nei Ching (Canon of Internal Medicine) had two parts (Su Wen and Ling Shu). They outlined TCM theory (YIN/YANG, Five Elements, the meridians, Qi etc).
265 AD : Chen Chiu Chia Yi Ching (Classic of AP and moxibustion)
550 AD : monk Zhi Cong brought Ming Tang Tu (Manual of channels and AP points) and Chen Chiu Chia Yi Ching to Korea and Japan.
1026 AD : Tong Ren Shu Hsueh Chen Chiu Tu Ching (Manual on points for AP and moxibustion on a bronze figure)
1220 AD : Chen Chiu Zi Sheng Ching (Classic of AP and moxibustion)
1341 AD : Shi Si Ching Fa Hui Zi Sheng Ching (Enlargement of the 14 Channels)
1601 AD : Chen Chiu Ta Cheng (Compendium of AP and moxibustion by Yang Jizhou. This has been one of the main sources of information for 400 years).
1575-1675 AD : Human AP was introduced to Europe by Jesuits returning from Macao and Peking. Harvieu, a Jesuit, translated the first work on AP into a European language (French, 1671). The practice of AP fell into disrepute in Europe, probably because of poor training and consequent poor results.
1665 AD : Japanese Okamoto Ippo published on the Meridians
1676 AD : Hermann Busschof published "Moxibustion" (Chiu) in English (London)
1683 AD : Willem Ten Rhyne published Dissertatio de Arthride : mantissa schematica: de Acupunctura (in Latin), London
1693 AD : Japanese Kiosho Kotsuju published on the Meridians
1863 AD : Pierre Dabry published Le Medicine chez les Chinois (Plon, Paris). It included a section on Vet AP
1927 AD : Soulie de Morant, a diplomat, returned from Shanghai. He translated more modern Chinese works into French (Precis de la vraie acupuncture, 1934). This work founded the French AP school. Spread to Germany and Austria.
2. BRIEF HISTORY OF VETERINARY AP
1766-1122BC : The "Horse Priests" responsible for treating army horses
1122- 222BC : Chao Fu, the first DVM
403- 221BC : Nei Ching and Nan Ching probably used by "Horse Priests"
221BC- 220AD : Nei Ching and Nan Ching probably used by horse-doctors
221BC- 220AD: Shen Nung Pen Ts'ao Ching (Herbal medicine) probably used by horse-doctors
221BC- 220AD: A few texts on animal diseases were published
220- 907AD : Chia I Ching and Ch'ien Ching Fang probably used by vets
220- 907AD :: Many vet texts were published
220- 907AD :: Formal vet education
960-1368AD : Formal storage of vet medicines
960-1368AD :: New vet texts and re-writes of older ones
1368-1644AD : Yuan Heng Liao Ma Chi (Horse treatise) - the first text in detail on horse AP by vets Yuan and Heng, preface by Ting Ping 1608
1368-1644AD :: Ma Shu (Book of Horses)
1368-1644AD :: Lei Fang Ma Ching (Prescriptions for Horses)
1368-1644AD :: Niu Shu (Book of Cattle)
1644-1912AD : Texts on horses, cattle, camels, pigs, nutrition and ploughing
1863AD : Pierre Dabry published Le Medicine chez les Chinois (Plon, Paris). It included a section on Vet AP
1912-1958AD : 1917 Shanghai School of Vet Med (private)
1912-1958AD :: no formal vet training at national level but various western style schools existed
1912-1958AD :: 1947 Vet Med Depts. in Agricultural schools
1912-1958AD :: 1955 new translations of horse and cattle classics in modern vet terminology
1912-1958AD :: 1956 2 new Chinese vet journals
1912-1958AD :: 1958 Committee to review Chinese, Japanese and Korean vet classics. Of > 70 known, only 16 survived
1958-1972AD : AP analgesia in man (1969 in animals)
1958-1972AD :: clinical and experimental studies on AP and its mechanisms
1958-1972AD :: many new books on vet med
1972 : Shou I Shou Chai (Handbook of Vet Med) combines Chinese and western methods
1950's and 60's: Vet AP pioneers included Kothbauer (Austria), Milin (France) and the late Westermayer (Germany). American pioneers included Altman, Bressler, Cain, Jaggar, Klide and the late Grady Young.
1971-1972 : western professionals report on visits to China
1973 : founding of the UCLA Vet AP Research Project
1974 : National Association of Vet AP (NAVA) in California
1974 : International Vet AP Society (IVAS). IVAS has members or informal contacts in 38 countries. IVAS courses.
1977 : First translation of traditional large animal vet AP texts in English (Klide and Kung 1977).
1980 : Finland accepts AP as valid medical and vet modality
1986 : New South Wales Vet Board accepts AP
1987 : IVAS Congress in Antwerp; great response
1987-1988 : Austria, Germany accept vet AP as valid therapy.
1988 : South Africa and A.V.M.A. (America) recognise vet AP.
1988 : IVAS Training Course in Oslo
1990 : IVAS Training Course in Brussels. IVAS Congress in Noordwyk (Netherlands)
1991 : 5-day intensive postgraduate training course in Sydney Vet School
1992 : Vet AP Course in the Copenhagen Vet School
1993 : IVAS Congress, Tromso, Norway. IVAS Course, Skara, Sweden
1994 : IVAS Course planned for Belgium.
Following the re-introduction of AP to France by Soulie de Morant in 1927, a few vets in France, Germany and Austria began to use it in the 30's and 40's but little or nothing was published of their results.
In 1954, the first western thesis on vet AP was published by Benard (Vet School, Alfort, Paris).
In the late '50s and early '60s Kothbauer (Austria) used classic provocation experiments to locate the reflex points for the main internal organs in cattle. He injected irritants (Lugol's iodine solution) into specific organs of cattle destined for slaughter and located the reflex points using an electrical point detector. He confirmed the therapeutic effect of Kothbauer's Points in clinical practice. Later, he became the first vet in Europe to use AP analgesia for surgery in cattle (teat surgery and caesarian section). He has published many articles and a textbook, mainly on bovine AP. His contribution to AP was recognised by his election to the presidency of IVAS 1987-1988. Kothbauer, Kuussaari and Westermayer used AP successfully for the reposition of prolapsed uterus, dystocia and infertility in cows.
Milin (Paris) used AP in small animals since the '50s. He used an electrical point detector on dogs to locate the points, from which he drew up AP charts. His work confirmed that the transposition method could be used in dogs. From 1963-, he published his results, mainly in rhematological, orthopaedic and gynaecological disorders. His contribution was recognised by his election to the presidency of the French Vet AP Assoc. (l'AVAF) for many years.
European and American scientists and professionals visited China in 1971 - 1972. The ensuing international publicity given to Chinese science, including AP, fired the imagination of western clinicians and researchers. Pioneers like Milin (Paris), Kothbauer (Austria) and Westermayer (Germany), who had been using AP in their practices for 10 - 17 years before that time, must have felt vindicated at last.
Following correspondence with these pioneers, Rogers & Ottaway (1974) and Rogers, White and Ottaway (1977) documented the clinical claims in the accessible literature. Since then, many clinicians and researchers have published reviews, experimental data and clinical articles in conventional vet publications as well as in specialist AP journals and newsletters.
In the 1970's and 1980's, clinicians, postgraduate students and staff members at some European and American universities began to publish results of basic and clinical studies on AP in animals. Some who have made significant contributions are :
Luc Janssens (Antwerp)
Pragmatic, scientific approach to AP. Studies on point locations, AP analgesia, rheumatology, disc disease, trigger points, arthrosis, resuscitation in dogs
Yann Ching Hwang (Tuskeegee, Alabama)
Studies on piglet diarrhoea; co-editor of FAO Vet AP textbook with Yu Chuan (1990)
Alan Klide (Philadelphia)
First translation of traditional vet AP texts in English. Studies on point injection and laser on backpain in horses (Martin and Klide 1987).
Jen Hsou Lin (Taipei)
Studies on anoestrus, infertility in gilts/sows and diarrhoea in piglets
Roland Muxeneder (Vienna)
Clinical effects of laser on wound healing, eczema and oedema in horses
T.D. Olesen (Los Angeles)
Confirmation of the diagnostic value of earpoints in humans
Bruce Pomeranz (Toronto)
Published the first experimental evidence (January 1977) that endorphins/enkephalins are involved in AP analgesia. Rogers, from literature reviews, predicted that in December 1976
M. Schupbach (Zurich)
Infrared thermography to detect points for the uterus in pigs and confirmation of the effects of stimulating the points
Jan Still (Brno, Czechoslovakia; now MEDUNSA, S. Africa)
Brilliant work on detection of earpoints in the dog and on many clinical applications of earpoint and bodypoint AP in small animals
Hector Sumano (Mexico City)
Very good work on AP and electrostimulation on wound and burn healing; infertility in cows; AP analgesia in dogs; non-distemper induced epilepsy in dogs; polyarthritis in parrots.
Erwin Westermayer (Germany; deceased May 1990)
Clinical studies of AP in cattle, especially in relation to metabolic and reproductive disorders. Two textbooks.
Sheila White (Murdoch, West Australia)
Introduced course on alternative medicine to Murdoch Vet school. Preparing anatomical charts of the AP points in horses. Textbook on electro-AP in horses.
Charlotte Frigast (Copenhagen Vet School)
Brilliant work on the importance of the cervical nerves for normal gait in horses.
Details of their work, and that of many other pioneers, are given elsewhere in the Course.
Meanwhile, in the U.S.A., vet AP was pioneered by two main groups, the National Association of Vet AP (NAVA) and the International Vet AP Society (IVAS).
NAVA was founded in California in 1974. It arose from the good clinical results obtained by the UCLA Vet AP Research Project in 1973. Founder members included Shelly Altman, David Bressler, Richard Glassberg, John Ottaviano and Hoddy Warner.
IVAS also was founded in 1974. Its founder members included Marvin Cain, David Jaggar and the late Grady Young. Because of the difficulty of running two vet organisations in a minority speciality, many members of NAVA joined IVAS and NAVA wound down.
IVAS, now the biggest organisation for vet AP outside the East, has members and informal contacts in 38 countries. Its aims include to work for the full integration of AP into vet science and to try to standardise international training. To this end, IVAS, where possible, provides its basic course (or shorter ones if needed) in countries which require this. Only registered vets or vet students in their final years may take the IVAS course. The basic course is 120 hours of concentrated lectures and demonstrations spread over 4-5 weekends in a year. Students are expected to study selected textbooks. At the end of the course, they sit a 3-hour written examination. Candidates who pass and who present 5 detailed case reports are accredited as competent to practice vet AP.
3. THE STATUS OF VETERINARY AP OUTSIDE MAINLAND CHINA
In an attempt to establish the current status of Vet AP outside China, I sent questionnaires to IVAS members or personal contacts in 38 countries in 1986. Since 1975, I have had requests for published work on AP from many countries not listed below. These included : Spain, Italy, African states, the middle East, Israel, Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, Brazil, New Zealand, Korea, the Phillipines and many Soviet Block countries. The 1986 questionnaire did not elicit replies, or the replies indicated little interest in AP at that time.
The summary which follows comes mainly from the 1986 data, with some updating from more recent contacts (1990-1993). Countries are listed alphabetically. It is impractical to list the names of all contacts in a brief paper. Therefore, I will mention only some people who have been or are active in their countries. I apologise to any who may feel offended by the omission of their names.
Australia : The NSW Vet Board rejected AP as a vet modality in winter 1985. I was allowed to see the Committee's report. A medical and two good vet AP clinicians presented the case for AP. They presented too much anecdotal material and too little scientific documentation in support of vet AP. A few months later, following the submission of properly documented arguments, the Board reversed its decision and classed AP in animals as an act of vet surgery. The result demonstrates the necessity of selecting well briefed people, with good documentation, to present the case to the official authorities. YIN/YANG, Five Elements and an uncle whose cat "got better" after AP cut no ice with academics and vet councils !
The official status of vet AP in other Australian states is undeclared. The Australian Vet AP Assoc was formed in the early '80s. Although training courses and seminars have been run, only 1.0-2.5% of vets use AP. Sydney University Vet School ran a 30-hour intensive AP course for postgraduate veterinarians in 1991.
Rebecca Palmer (109 Wannan Place, Ainslie, A.C.T. 2602) was President of AVAA 1988. Chris Robinson is President in 1993.
Ulricke Wurth (63 Barrabool Rd., Highton, VIC) is AVAA Secretary and editor of its Newsletter.
Sheila White (Dept. Anat. and Vet Biol., Murdoch Vet School, West Australia 6150, see section 2) has used AP analgesia successfully in cows.
David Gilchrist published (1981) a short but excellent manual of AP for small animals.
Jean Paul Ly was one of the pioneers of vet AP in Australia. He published good clinical results in lowback problems in horses and dogs.
Austria : Vet AP is accepted as a valid modality. Pre-1986, < 1% of vets used it but Kothbauer says its use is increasing rapidly.
Oswald Kothbauer (Windberg 2, Grieskirchen, Oberosterreich) (mixed practice, mainly cattle, see section 2) has taught AP in Vienna Vet school to > 250 students. Cooperation is good with the medical AP association and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for AP, Vienna.
Ferdinand Brunner (small animal practice) has published on clinical AP and a textbook on canine AP.
Roland Muxeneder (see section 2) 4230 Pregarten Mitterfeld 2, Austria
Alois Holtzman, Vet School, Linkebahngasse, Vienna is a teacher/researcher in cattle diseases, especially infertility
Belgium : Vet AP accepted as valid modality. Pre-1986, < 2% of vets used it. Janssens puts the figure at 10-20% now (the highest % in any country surveyed outside China).
Luc Janssens (Oudestraat 37, Wilryk 2610, Antwerp) (small animal practice, see section 2) is leader of the Belgian group (BVDA). He has run training courses, recognised by IVAS, for many years. BVDA has close cooperation with the national medical AP Assoc.
Canada status of vet AP unknown. It is practised by < 0.5% of vets.
Frank Milne, Vet School, University of Guelph, Ontario is interested
Lloyd Mc Kibbin (Wheatley Hall Farm, Wheatley, Ontario) has reported excellent results in soft tissue pain in horses and in laser treatment of tendon strain.
Ronald Melzack (Montreal University) has confirmed the diagnostic and therapeutic value of trigger points. He also confirmed that 70% of trigger points in humans correspond with AP points. His "Gate Control Theory" of pain is modified to include at least two gates, one in the spinal cord (dorsal horn) and one in the thalamus.
Bruce Pomeranz (Toronto University) has done many studies confirming the role of neuropeptides and neurotransmitters in AP effects. He has also done studies which confirm a beneficial effect of electrostimulation on axon regeneration. (The negative electrode is distal and the positive proximal to the lesion).
China : Although the paper does not cover the status of Vet AP in China, readers may be interested in the following : Vets may take 6-week intensive training in Vet AP in Beijing from mid June to end of July each year. Contact Dr. Qinglan Wang, (Vet AP Course teacher Peking) Coll. Vet. Med., Beijing Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, People's Republic of China
Czechoslovakia : AP is accepted officially as a valid vet therapy but is used by < 0.4% of vets.
Jan Still (see section 2), with colleagues in the Brno Vet School before he left to work in Belgium and S. Africa, did major research projects on diagnosis using the ear points in dogs, therapy of many clinical conditions using ear and body AP points. The results are published. Jan is now on the teaching faculty of the MEDUNSA Vet School, Pretoria, SA.
Milan Stourac, Petr Jahn and Margita Dostalova are still researching AP in animals at the Vet School, Palackeho 1-3, 61242 Brno, CSSR
Kraus Miroslav, (ul Zdenka Fibicha 2672/314, 43401 MOST, CSSR) has had success with AP in resuscitation and disc disease in dogs.
Denmark : The official status of vet AP is unstated. Danish vets have become interested only recently and c. <1.0% of them use it. The Danish group has increased in numbers between 1988-1993. They have held numerous training courses, including one in 1992 in the Copenhagen Vet School.
Birgit Petersen, Sophiendal Gods, Veng, Skanderborg 8660 leads the national vet AP group. She has organised training courses for vets in 1987.
Charlotte Frigast (Bavneved 2, 4171 Gunso, Denmark) has done her PhD Thesis on the influence of the first 4 cervical nerves on coordination in horses, neurophysiologic considerations on the use of AP and chiropractic manip-ulation related to biomechanical dysfunction and pain related to the 5 layers of the medulla. She has proved the importance of normal vertebral alignment and of cervical proprioceptive afferent stimuli in maintaining normal gait. Her video, showing the effect of local block of the afferent cervical nerves in horses should be a mandatory part of the undergraduate course in all veterinary schools.
Finland accepts vet AP as a valid modality since 1980. It was the first country outside the Far East to do so. c. 10% of vets use AP, but many of them use it in restricted ways (e.g. VG26 for emergencies or trigger point therapy in myofascial pain).
Jukka Kuussaari (25460 Toija) leads the national group. He is leader of the IVAS Horse Text. He has had success with AP in horses (myofascial problems, aerophagia), cattle (prolapsed uterus), dogs (myofascial problems, reprod-uctive disorders, resuscitation).
The vet AP group cooperates well with the medical AP group, led by Pontinen. That group is researching chronic pain, especially myofascial pain, trigger points, cold laser and TENS.
France : Human and vet AP have been used for a long time and are recognised as valid therapies. l'Association Vet AP de France (l'AVAF, 115 rue d'Amiens, 6000 Beauvais) runs training courses in cooperation with the Vet schools. More than 400 vets have been trained. AP is used by < 3% of vets.
AP research has been done and many Theses on vet AP have been accepted by French Vet schools. They include theses by Benard, Collignon, Jeannot, Molinier and others.
Jacques Milin (Residence du bois be Boulogne, Dauphine 1, 95290 l'Isle Adam, France) was President of the national group l'AVAF for many years (see section 2). He was my first contact in vet AP and was very helpful in my study of AP. He put me in touch with Kothbauer and Westermayer. I am most grateful to these three, who have enriched my mental life and given me an insight on health/disease which grows year by year.
R. Arambarri, A. Autefage and A. Cazieux were among the earliest Europeans to experiment with AP analgesia in dogs.
Andre Demontoy (2 rue du Tage, 75013 Paris) and Frederick Molinier (Dept. Anatomy, Vet School, Alfort, Paris) have published excellent textbooks on canine AP in 1986.
Rene Jeannot (62 Cours Desbiey, 33120 Arcachon) has documented locations of earpoints in dogs with known pathology.
Eric Manet, Laboratoire Departmental, 18 Gallieni, 85000 La Roche, Lyon has good results with AP in functional diseases in dogs.
Dominique Giniaux (320 rue Vieux Chateau, 60520 La Chapelle en Se, France) is one of the best known equine osteopaths in the world. He stresses the importance of spinal adjustment in maintaining peak performance in horses. He has also researched Ear AP in horses and dogs. His ear charts (horse and dog) agree basically with those of other colleagues, such as Jan Still (South Africa).
In comparison to AP in most European countries, French AP is esoteric, pure, conservative or traditional, depending on one's point of view. Great emphasis is put on TCM concepts (methods of diagnosis, TCM classifications of disease, YIN/YANG and Five Element theory etc). Selection of points is based on those principles. Cookbook methods of point selection are rejected by many. Real communication between traditionally oriented acupuncturists and those using the "western" or simplified methods is difficult or impossible.
I believe that use of TCM concepts and terminology is a major cause of the reluctance of academics/researchers to take AP seriously. This is not a big problem in France because the French people take philosophy much more seriously than other western nations.
German Federal Republic : Vet AP was accepted as a valid modality in 1988 but < 1% of vets use it. (Lambardt puts the figure at 5% maximum). Trigger point and neural therapy, physiotherapy, laser etc are used widely in Germany but in conventional ways. Because of the few who are interested in Vet AP and the large size of Germany, there is difficulty in organising a national group.
Erwin Westermayer, one of the great pioneers and a master of the craft, died in May 1990. He was the father of modern German vet AP (see section 2). His psychic powers were legendary amongst those of us lucky enough to have known and loved him.
Walter Greiff, Donaustrasse 39, Grenzhof, Memmingen combines AP and homoeopathy by injecting homoeopathics at the AP points, with excellent results in metabolic and reproductive disorders in cattle. He is best known as an expert homoeopath. He and Westermayer succeeded in having Vet AP and homoeopathy recognised by the German authorities.
Others who have published successful AP results are H. and C.H. Kruger (Freystadt) and A. Lambardt (Unna)
H. Kraft and H. Konig, Munich Vet School are doing some research in AP.
The former German Democratic Republic : The official status of vet AP is unstated. Very few vets use it.
India : The official status of vet AP is unstated. Very few vets use it.
Dr. Lakshmipathi, Vet School, Tirupati has published good results with AP in bovine infertility and in AP analgesia in cattle, sheep and dogs.
Ireland : The 1988 Guide to Professional Behaviour states that it is ethical to consult with a nutritionist, chemist, engineer or agricultural graduate etc. These are regarded as "qualified persons"... but .... "consultation with an unqualified person such as an acupuncturist, osteopath, bonesetter or chiropractitioner ... would be regarded as conduct disgraceful in a professional respect". (On conviction, a vet who so consults could be struck off the register !!). The official status of vet AP is unstated.
Although about 1% of the profession express interest in AP, few or no vets except the author are trained to use it. (The nearest IVAS course would be Belgium or Norway). A few use VG26 in emergencies or use trigger point therapy or physiotherapy (laser, ultrasound etc) in the conventional way in horses and greyhounds. A few non-vet acupuncturists (physiotherapists, or others well trained in AP) are treating horses/dogs illegally under Irish law.
Rogers is a member of the Irish Medical AP Society. The Vet Council turns a blind eye to his use of AP in horses (part-time hobby). His database of AP points for various clinical conditions is now available for PCs, which must have Windows installed, through Norwegian software. Contact Are Thoresen for details. Rogers gets referrals of difficult or really chronic cases from a few colleagues. The referrals tend to dry up if the success of AP is good ! He keeps his sanity by getting out of Ireland 2-4 times a year to meet acupuncturists, continue his study and learn new methods.
Japan : AP is accepted in Japan and the Japanese Vet AP Society is active and publishes a journal, unfortunately in Japanese. Nationally, < 2.5% of vets use AP. Many vets use VG26 in emergencies and in neonatal resuscitation.
The late Satoru Ishizaki (Hiroshima) published charts of AP points in dogs, had excellent results with AP analgesia, disc disease and musculo-skeletal disorders.
Kaoru Kitazawa (Vet Surgery 2, Rakunogakuen University, Bunkyodai Midori Machi, Ebetsu, Hokkaido 069) has published on AP analgesia in dogs. He tried many point combinations and found BL23 (bilateral) to be the best.
Mexico : There is no national vet AP group but about 1% of vets use AP in some form. The official status of vet AP is unstated.
Hector Sumano (see section 2) and Gerardo Lopez (Dept. Pharmacology Vet. School, Mexico City) teach AP to interested students and colleagues. Sumano has organised AP seminars with national and international speakers.
Netherlands : The Dutch Commission sat in 1983 to assess the validity of Alternative Therapies in Vet Med. I have been unable to find out its conclusions. A few vets (probably < 0.2%), who studied AP in Belgium (Janssens' courses) use AP. The Dutch group has expanded since the IVAS Congress in Noordwyk 1990. Emil Hovius and Lies Schuitemacher are contact persons.
Norway : The official status of vet AP is unstated. Very few vets (< 0.1%) use it but the numbers are growing.
Are Thoresen, Leikvollgt 31, Sandefjord leads the Norwegian group. He uses Pulse Diagnosis to great effect in horses, dogs and humans. He stresses the need for complete detachment (not caring what diagnosis may be revealed), and of having no preconceived ideas on the condition when reading the pulse. His AP therapy is based on less than 3 needles (preferably only one) in the most appropriate Command Point, often the Ting point. He has published on the use of Ting Points in horses. He organised the IVAS Course in Oslo 1988-89. The 1993 IVAS Congress was held in Tromso and a course is planned in Oslo in 1994.
South Africa : The South African Vet Assoc (SAVA) has an AP group, led by Jane Fraser and Jan Still, Vet Faculty, Medunsa 0204, S.A. AP is used by c. 3% of vets. Training courses are planned. Still reported good results with AP in disc disease and myofascial syndromes in dogs.
Sweden : The official status of vet AP is unstated. A few vets use it and there is increasing interest. Ritva Krokfors, Nasby Sodergard, S-595 92 MJOLBY, SWEDEN TEL: 00-46-142-57227 is one of the leaders of the Swedish Vet AP group. An IVAS Course will be held in Skara in November 1993
Switzerland : The official status of vet AP is unstated. It is used by < 0.5% of vets.
Konrad Zerobin, Vet School, Zurich has confirmed (Zerobin and Kothbauer 1977) the effects of AP on uterine contraction in the cow.
Schupbach (see section 2)
Olivier Glardon, Herracherweg 104, 8610 Uster has done good research in equine AP. His Thesis was accepted by the Vet School, Berne. He confirmed that normal horses have no tenderness in the thoraco-lumbar area and he related SHU point tenderness to diagnosed pathology. He also reports good results with AP in dogs.
Andreas Roesti (Brunnenhof, 3752 Wimmis, Switzerland) is an artist/poet/classical acupuncturist/wholistic vet. His paper (IVAS Congress, Tromso 1993) on the Extra meridians Du Mai and Ren Mai was superb. I noted only three points: learn how to listen; learn how to be empathetic/sympathetic; learn how to love (Man, Animal and Nature).
Taiwan (Republic of China) : The state recognises AP and herbal medicine as a valid vet therapy. AP is taught as an optional extra in National Taiwan University (Taipei) and National Chung Hsing University (Taichung). It is used by c. 10% of vets.
Jen Hsou Lin (see section 2) (Dept. Anl. Husbandry, NTU, Taipei) and H.P. Fung, Dept. Vet Med, NCSU, Taichung lead AP teaching and research. Fung has reported very good results of AP in bovine infertility. Lin is leader of the IVAS Pig Text.
United Kingdom : The British Veterinary AP Soc (BVAS) has c. 50 members affiliated under the British Vet Assoc., which recognises AP as a valid therapy if used by a vet trained in the method. However, less than c. 0.5% of vets use AP, although many vets use VG26 in emergencies. Physiotherapy, trigger point therapy, faradism, ultrasound and laser are commonly used in U.K. but in a conventional manner. Interest in AP training is poor, as the last training seminar (1988) was cancelled due to low registration numbers.
John Nicol, 85 London Rd., Guildford, Surrey leads the BVAS. He has had good results in horses and dogs.
Trixie Williams, 84 Bradenstoke, near Chippenham, Wilts has had good results with AP in her small animal practice. She has organised training seminars also.
U.S.A. The American Vet Med association (AVMA) has accepted AP as a valid therapy if used by vets properly trained in the method. IVAS members played a key role in producing the documentation needed to satisfy AVMA. (AVMA had examined the claims made for a number of "alternative therapies", including homoeopathy, chiropractic, kinesiology etc. The other methods were rejected as of unproven value at this time). AP is used by < 0.5% of vets. Most of the accredited, paid-up members of IVAS are in U.S.A.
Shelly Altman, 5647 Wilkinson Ave., N. Hollywood, CA 91607 is a lecturer/ teacher on IVAS courses and Leader IVAS Small Animal (dog) Text
Marvin Cain, 7474 Greenfarms Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45224, founder member of IVAS, teacher, workaholic and lion hearted, is the best known equine AP expert in the world.
Yann Ching Hwang, Vet School, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL 36088 is a teacher/researcher and Assistant editor of the IVAS Pig text. Hwang gives AP lectures to vet students at Tuskeegee
David Jaggar, Boulder, CO, teacher, seer and a gentle man, is a founder member, ex President, now Exec. Secretary of IVAS. He is interested in Laser applications. He reports good results with AP in horses and dogs. David recently qualified in human chiropractic.
Alan Klide, Vet School, Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19348 is a teacher/ researcher (see section 2). Klide gives AP lectures to vet students at Philadelphia
Allen Schoen, RR2 Box 11, Sherman, CT 06784 (IVAS teacher, past President IVAS 1988-89) has wide experience of AP in dogs and horses.
Meredith Snader, Rt 4, PO Box 216, Chester Springs, Philadelphia, PA 19425 is Executive Secretary IVAS. She is an expert in equine AP.
Earl Sutherland, Chairperson IVAS Board, POB 12009, Lexington, KY 40579-2009 is expert in equine AP
John Turnbull, N3652 US Hwy 16 RR 2, La Crosse, WI 54601 is expert in cattle AP.
Kathy Waters, 4206 Green Briar Blvd, Boulder, CO 80303 is Editor of the IVAS Newsletter.
In an attempt to establish the current status of Vet AP outside China, I sent questionnaires to IVAS members or personal contacts in 38 countries in 1986. Since 1975, I have had requests for published work on AP from many countries not listed below. These included : Spain, Italy, African states, the middle East, Israel, Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, Brazil, New Zealand, Korea, the Phillipines and many Soviet Block countries. The 1986 questionnaire did not elicit replies, or the replies indicated little interest in AP at that time.
The summary which follows comes mainly from the 1986 data, with some updating from more recent contacts (1990-1993). Countries are listed alphabetically. It is impractical to list the names of all contacts in a brief paper. Therefore, I will mention only some people who have been or are active in their countries. I apologise to any who may feel offended by the omission of their names.
Australia : The NSW Vet Board rejected AP as a vet modality in winter 1985. I was allowed to see the Committee's report. A medical and two good vet AP clinicians presented the case for AP. They presented too much anecdotal material and too little scientific documentation in support of vet AP. A few months later, following the submission of properly documented arguments, the Board reversed its decision and classed AP in animals as an act of vet surgery. The result demonstrates the necessity of selecting well briefed people, with good documentation, to present the case to the official authorities. YIN/YANG, Five Elements and an uncle whose cat "got better" after AP cut no ice with academics and vet councils !
The official status of vet AP in other Australian states is undeclared. The Australian Vet AP Assoc was formed in the early '80s. Although training courses and seminars have been run, only 1.0-2.5% of vets use AP. Sydney University Vet School ran a 30-hour intensive AP course for postgraduate veterinarians in 1991.
Rebecca Palmer (109 Wannan Place, Ainslie, A.C.T. 2602) was President of AVAA 1988. Chris Robinson is President in 1993.
Ulricke Wurth (63 Barrabool Rd., Highton, VIC) is AVAA Secretary and editor of its Newsletter.
Sheila White (Dept. Anat. and Vet Biol., Murdoch Vet School, West Australia 6150, see section 2) has used AP analgesia successfully in cows.
David Gilchrist published (1981) a short but excellent manual of AP for small animals.
Jean Paul Ly was one of the pioneers of vet AP in Australia. He published good clinical results in lowback problems in horses and dogs.
Austria : Vet AP is accepted as a valid modality. Pre-1986, < 1% of vets used it but Kothbauer says its use is increasing rapidly.
Oswald Kothbauer (Windberg 2, Grieskirchen, Oberosterreich) (mixed practice, mainly cattle, see section 2) has taught AP in Vienna Vet school to > 250 students. Cooperation is good with the medical AP association and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for AP, Vienna.
Ferdinand Brunner (small animal practice) has published on clinical AP and a textbook on canine AP.
Roland Muxeneder (see section 2) 4230 Pregarten Mitterfeld 2, Austria
Alois Holtzman, Vet School, Linkebahngasse, Vienna is a teacher/researcher in cattle diseases, especially infertility
Belgium : Vet AP accepted as valid modality. Pre-1986, < 2% of vets used it. Janssens puts the figure at 10-20% now (the highest % in any country surveyed outside China).
Luc Janssens (Oudestraat 37, Wilryk 2610, Antwerp) (small animal practice, see section 2) is leader of the Belgian group (BVDA). He has run training courses, recognised by IVAS, for many years. BVDA has close cooperation with the national medical AP Assoc.
Canada status of vet AP unknown. It is practised by < 0.5% of vets.
Frank Milne, Vet School, University of Guelph, Ontario is interested
Lloyd Mc Kibbin (Wheatley Hall Farm, Wheatley, Ontario) has reported excellent results in soft tissue pain in horses and in laser treatment of tendon strain.
Ronald Melzack (Montreal University) has confirmed the diagnostic and therapeutic value of trigger points. He also confirmed that 70% of trigger points in humans correspond with AP points. His "Gate Control Theory" of pain is modified to include at least two gates, one in the spinal cord (dorsal horn) and one in the thalamus.
Bruce Pomeranz (Toronto University) has done many studies confirming the role of neuropeptides and neurotransmitters in AP effects. He has also done studies which confirm a beneficial effect of electrostimulation on axon regeneration. (The negative electrode is distal and the positive proximal to the lesion).
China : Although the paper does not cover the status of Vet AP in China, readers may be interested in the following : Vets may take 6-week intensive training in Vet AP in Beijing from mid June to end of July each year. Contact Dr. Qinglan Wang, (Vet AP Course teacher Peking) Coll. Vet. Med., Beijing Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, People's Republic of China
Czechoslovakia : AP is accepted officially as a valid vet therapy but is used by < 0.4% of vets.
Jan Still (see section 2), with colleagues in the Brno Vet School before he left to work in Belgium and S. Africa, did major research projects on diagnosis using the ear points in dogs, therapy of many clinical conditions using ear and body AP points. The results are published. Jan is now on the teaching faculty of the MEDUNSA Vet School, Pretoria, SA.
Milan Stourac, Petr Jahn and Margita Dostalova are still researching AP in animals at the Vet School, Palackeho 1-3, 61242 Brno, CSSR
Kraus Miroslav, (ul Zdenka Fibicha 2672/314, 43401 MOST, CSSR) has had success with AP in resuscitation and disc disease in dogs.
Denmark : The official status of vet AP is unstated. Danish vets have become interested only recently and c. <1.0% of them use it. The Danish group has increased in numbers between 1988-1993. They have held numerous training courses, including one in 1992 in the Copenhagen Vet School.
Birgit Petersen, Sophiendal Gods, Veng, Skanderborg 8660 leads the national vet AP group. She has organised training courses for vets in 1987.
Charlotte Frigast (Bavneved 2, 4171 Gunso, Denmark) has done her PhD Thesis on the influence of the first 4 cervical nerves on coordination in horses, neurophysiologic considerations on the use of AP and chiropractic manip-ulation related to biomechanical dysfunction and pain related to the 5 layers of the medulla. She has proved the importance of normal vertebral alignment and of cervical proprioceptive afferent stimuli in maintaining normal gait. Her video, showing the effect of local block of the afferent cervical nerves in horses should be a mandatory part of the undergraduate course in all veterinary schools.
Finland accepts vet AP as a valid modality since 1980. It was the first country outside the Far East to do so. c. 10% of vets use AP, but many of them use it in restricted ways (e.g. VG26 for emergencies or trigger point therapy in myofascial pain).
Jukka Kuussaari (25460 Toija) leads the national group. He is leader of the IVAS Horse Text. He has had success with AP in horses (myofascial problems, aerophagia), cattle (prolapsed uterus), dogs (myofascial problems, reprod-uctive disorders, resuscitation).
The vet AP group cooperates well with the medical AP group, led by Pontinen. That group is researching chronic pain, especially myofascial pain, trigger points, cold laser and TENS.
France : Human and vet AP have been used for a long time and are recognised as valid therapies. l'Association Vet AP de France (l'AVAF, 115 rue d'Amiens, 6000 Beauvais) runs training courses in cooperation with the Vet schools. More than 400 vets have been trained. AP is used by < 3% of vets.
AP research has been done and many Theses on vet AP have been accepted by French Vet schools. They include theses by Benard, Collignon, Jeannot, Molinier and others.
Jacques Milin (Residence du bois be Boulogne, Dauphine 1, 95290 l'Isle Adam, France) was President of the national group l'AVAF for many years (see section 2). He was my first contact in vet AP and was very helpful in my study of AP. He put me in touch with Kothbauer and Westermayer. I am most grateful to these three, who have enriched my mental life and given me an insight on health/disease which grows year by year.
R. Arambarri, A. Autefage and A. Cazieux were among the earliest Europeans to experiment with AP analgesia in dogs.
Andre Demontoy (2 rue du Tage, 75013 Paris) and Frederick Molinier (Dept. Anatomy, Vet School, Alfort, Paris) have published excellent textbooks on canine AP in 1986.
Rene Jeannot (62 Cours Desbiey, 33120 Arcachon) has documented locations of earpoints in dogs with known pathology.
Eric Manet, Laboratoire Departmental, 18 Gallieni, 85000 La Roche, Lyon has good results with AP in functional diseases in dogs.
Dominique Giniaux (320 rue Vieux Chateau, 60520 La Chapelle en Se, France) is one of the best known equine osteopaths in the world. He stresses the importance of spinal adjustment in maintaining peak performance in horses. He has also researched Ear AP in horses and dogs. His ear charts (horse and dog) agree basically with those of other colleagues, such as Jan Still (South Africa).
In comparison to AP in most European countries, French AP is esoteric, pure, conservative or traditional, depending on one's point of view. Great emphasis is put on TCM concepts (methods of diagnosis, TCM classifications of disease, YIN/YANG and Five Element theory etc). Selection of points is based on those principles. Cookbook methods of point selection are rejected by many. Real communication between traditionally oriented acupuncturists and those using the "western" or simplified methods is difficult or impossible.
I believe that use of TCM concepts and terminology is a major cause of the reluctance of academics/researchers to take AP seriously. This is not a big problem in France because the French people take philosophy much more seriously than other western nations.
German Federal Republic : Vet AP was accepted as a valid modality in 1988 but < 1% of vets use it. (Lambardt puts the figure at 5% maximum). Trigger point and neural therapy, physiotherapy, laser etc are used widely in Germany but in conventional ways. Because of the few who are interested in Vet AP and the large size of Germany, there is difficulty in organising a national group.
Erwin Westermayer, one of the great pioneers and a master of the craft, died in May 1990. He was the father of modern German vet AP (see section 2). His psychic powers were legendary amongst those of us lucky enough to have known and loved him.
Walter Greiff, Donaustrasse 39, Grenzhof, Memmingen combines AP and homoeopathy by injecting homoeopathics at the AP points, with excellent results in metabolic and reproductive disorders in cattle. He is best known as an expert homoeopath. He and Westermayer succeeded in having Vet AP and homoeopathy recognised by the German authorities.
Others who have published successful AP results are H. and C.H. Kruger (Freystadt) and A. Lambardt (Unna)
H. Kraft and H. Konig, Munich Vet School are doing some research in AP.
The former German Democratic Republic : The official status of vet AP is unstated. Very few vets use it.
India : The official status of vet AP is unstated. Very few vets use it.
Dr. Lakshmipathi, Vet School, Tirupati has published good results with AP in bovine infertility and in AP analgesia in cattle, sheep and dogs.
Ireland : The 1988 Guide to Professional Behaviour states that it is ethical to consult with a nutritionist, chemist, engineer or agricultural graduate etc. These are regarded as "qualified persons"... but .... "consultation with an unqualified person such as an acupuncturist, osteopath, bonesetter or chiropractitioner ... would be regarded as conduct disgraceful in a professional respect". (On conviction, a vet who so consults could be struck off the register !!). The official status of vet AP is unstated.
Although about 1% of the profession express interest in AP, few or no vets except the author are trained to use it. (The nearest IVAS course would be Belgium or Norway). A few use VG26 in emergencies or use trigger point therapy or physiotherapy (laser, ultrasound etc) in the conventional way in horses and greyhounds. A few non-vet acupuncturists (physiotherapists, or others well trained in AP) are treating horses/dogs illegally under Irish law.
Rogers is a member of the Irish Medical AP Society. The Vet Council turns a blind eye to his use of AP in horses (part-time hobby). His database of AP points for various clinical conditions is now available for PCs, which must have Windows installed, through Norwegian software. Contact Are Thoresen for details. Rogers gets referrals of difficult or really chronic cases from a few colleagues. The referrals tend to dry up if the success of AP is good ! He keeps his sanity by getting out of Ireland 2-4 times a year to meet acupuncturists, continue his study and learn new methods.
Japan : AP is accepted in Japan and the Japanese Vet AP Society is active and publishes a journal, unfortunately in Japanese. Nationally, < 2.5% of vets use AP. Many vets use VG26 in emergencies and in neonatal resuscitation.
The late Satoru Ishizaki (Hiroshima) published charts of AP points in dogs, had excellent results with AP analgesia, disc disease and musculo-skeletal disorders.
Kaoru Kitazawa (Vet Surgery 2, Rakunogakuen University, Bunkyodai Midori Machi, Ebetsu, Hokkaido 069) has published on AP analgesia in dogs. He tried many point combinations and found BL23 (bilateral) to be the best.
Mexico : There is no national vet AP group but about 1% of vets use AP in some form. The official status of vet AP is unstated.
Hector Sumano (see section 2) and Gerardo Lopez (Dept. Pharmacology Vet. School, Mexico City) teach AP to interested students and colleagues. Sumano has organised AP seminars with national and international speakers.
Netherlands : The Dutch Commission sat in 1983 to assess the validity of Alternative Therapies in Vet Med. I have been unable to find out its conclusions. A few vets (probably < 0.2%), who studied AP in Belgium (Janssens' courses) use AP. The Dutch group has expanded since the IVAS Congress in Noordwyk 1990. Emil Hovius and Lies Schuitemacher are contact persons.
Norway : The official status of vet AP is unstated. Very few vets (< 0.1%) use it but the numbers are growing.
Are Thoresen, Leikvollgt 31, Sandefjord leads the Norwegian group. He uses Pulse Diagnosis to great effect in horses, dogs and humans. He stresses the need for complete detachment (not caring what diagnosis may be revealed), and of having no preconceived ideas on the condition when reading the pulse. His AP therapy is based on less than 3 needles (preferably only one) in the most appropriate Command Point, often the Ting point. He has published on the use of Ting Points in horses. He organised the IVAS Course in Oslo 1988-89. The 1993 IVAS Congress was held in Tromso and a course is planned in Oslo in 1994.
South Africa : The South African Vet Assoc (SAVA) has an AP group, led by Jane Fraser and Jan Still, Vet Faculty, Medunsa 0204, S.A. AP is used by c. 3% of vets. Training courses are planned. Still reported good results with AP in disc disease and myofascial syndromes in dogs.
Sweden : The official status of vet AP is unstated. A few vets use it and there is increasing interest. Ritva Krokfors, Nasby Sodergard, S-595 92 MJOLBY, SWEDEN TEL: 00-46-142-57227 is one of the leaders of the Swedish Vet AP group. An IVAS Course will be held in Skara in November 1993
Switzerland : The official status of vet AP is unstated. It is used by < 0.5% of vets.
Konrad Zerobin, Vet School, Zurich has confirmed (Zerobin and Kothbauer 1977) the effects of AP on uterine contraction in the cow.
Schupbach (see section 2)
Olivier Glardon, Herracherweg 104, 8610 Uster has done good research in equine AP. His Thesis was accepted by the Vet School, Berne. He confirmed that normal horses have no tenderness in the thoraco-lumbar area and he related SHU point tenderness to diagnosed pathology. He also reports good results with AP in dogs.
Andreas Roesti (Brunnenhof, 3752 Wimmis, Switzerland) is an artist/poet/classical acupuncturist/wholistic vet. His paper (IVAS Congress, Tromso 1993) on the Extra meridians Du Mai and Ren Mai was superb. I noted only three points: learn how to listen; learn how to be empathetic/sympathetic; learn how to love (Man, Animal and Nature).
Taiwan (Republic of China) : The state recognises AP and herbal medicine as a valid vet therapy. AP is taught as an optional extra in National Taiwan University (Taipei) and National Chung Hsing University (Taichung). It is used by c. 10% of vets.
Jen Hsou Lin (see section 2) (Dept. Anl. Husbandry, NTU, Taipei) and H.P. Fung, Dept. Vet Med, NCSU, Taichung lead AP teaching and research. Fung has reported very good results of AP in bovine infertility. Lin is leader of the IVAS Pig Text.
United Kingdom : The British Veterinary AP Soc (BVAS) has c. 50 members affiliated under the British Vet Assoc., which recognises AP as a valid therapy if used by a vet trained in the method. However, less than c. 0.5% of vets use AP, although many vets use VG26 in emergencies. Physiotherapy, trigger point therapy, faradism, ultrasound and laser are commonly used in U.K. but in a conventional manner. Interest in AP training is poor, as the last training seminar (1988) was cancelled due to low registration numbers.
John Nicol, 85 London Rd., Guildford, Surrey leads the BVAS. He has had good results in horses and dogs.
Trixie Williams, 84 Bradenstoke, near Chippenham, Wilts has had good results with AP in her small animal practice. She has organised training seminars also.
U.S.A. The American Vet Med association (AVMA) has accepted AP as a valid therapy if used by vets properly trained in the method. IVAS members played a key role in producing the documentation needed to satisfy AVMA. (AVMA had examined the claims made for a number of "alternative therapies", including homoeopathy, chiropractic, kinesiology etc. The other methods were rejected as of unproven value at this time). AP is used by < 0.5% of vets. Most of the accredited, paid-up members of IVAS are in U.S.A.
Shelly Altman, 5647 Wilkinson Ave., N. Hollywood, CA 91607 is a lecturer/ teacher on IVAS courses and Leader IVAS Small Animal (dog) Text
Marvin Cain, 7474 Greenfarms Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45224, founder member of IVAS, teacher, workaholic and lion hearted, is the best known equine AP expert in the world.
Yann Ching Hwang, Vet School, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL 36088 is a teacher/researcher and Assistant editor of the IVAS Pig text. Hwang gives AP lectures to vet students at Tuskeegee
David Jaggar, Boulder, CO, teacher, seer and a gentle man, is a founder member, ex President, now Exec. Secretary of IVAS. He is interested in Laser applications. He reports good results with AP in horses and dogs. David recently qualified in human chiropractic.
Alan Klide, Vet School, Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19348 is a teacher/ researcher (see section 2). Klide gives AP lectures to vet students at Philadelphia
Allen Schoen, RR2 Box 11, Sherman, CT 06784 (IVAS teacher, past President IVAS 1988-89) has wide experience of AP in dogs and horses.
Meredith Snader, Rt 4, PO Box 216, Chester Springs, Philadelphia, PA 19425 is Executive Secretary IVAS. She is an expert in equine AP.
Earl Sutherland, Chairperson IVAS Board, POB 12009, Lexington, KY 40579-2009 is expert in equine AP
John Turnbull, N3652 US Hwy 16 RR 2, La Crosse, WI 54601 is expert in cattle AP.
Kathy Waters, 4206 Green Briar Blvd, Boulder, CO 80303 is Editor of the IVAS Newsletter.
INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE OF VET ACUPUNCTURE (AP)
While there are some exceptions, as indicated above, the general official attitude of the international vet profession to AP is one of polite apathy/ scepticism. They accept vets who use AP as rather eccentric colleagues. They murmur "Yes ! how interesting...." and then forget it. They will not learn the method and, with few exceptions, will not have it included as part of the undergraduate curriculum.
Even in those countries with an active Vet AP Association, or where the authorities accept it, AP is a minority speciality, used by < 0.5-3.0% of vets. Belgium (10-20% of vets), Finland and Taiwan (c. 10% of vets) make the greatest use of it. We, who know the value of the method, must take a lot of the blame for our profession's attitude. It is up to us to change that attitude if we want AP to be part of mainstream medicine !
Fundamentally, AP is about reflex phenomena, relationships between points, body parts and function. The basis of AP must be a solid grasp of these material relationships. For some, AP is much more, operating at higher, immaterial levels. It embraces a poetic philosophy of life, almost a religion. But we must remember that few academics and teachers are poets and many find the idea of religion to be "unscientific".
Some enthusiasts see AP as a special modality: an alternative method capable of treating everything from acne to zoster. Others, especially those seers gifted in mental/spiritual aspects of healing, see AP as the highest form of energetic medicine but their view is incomprehensible to materialist science. Purists may insist on talking in classical Chinese concepts and terminology to their western colleagues. This mentality, while valid from personal viewpoints, delays or kills the acceptance of AP by serious scientists. Even the term "complementary" method gives bad off vibes.
The pharmaceutical industry is not enthusiastic about wide-scale replacement of drugs (especially analgesics, tranquillisers and hormones) by AP. Most professions (and their Parent Organisations) are self-protective. Anyone who (or any system which) appears to challenge the financial security or the authority-base of the organisation is usually ignored, ridiculed or disabled for the good of the whole.
It is easy to dismiss the outsiders as cranks or charlatans. Unfortunately, there are confidence tricksters and Diploma sellers hidden among genuine AP practitioners. Unfortunately, untested or inadequately tested instrumentation is being marketed to AP practitioners, who, having paid dearly for fancy toys with flashing lights or computerised controls, may feel psychologically bound to justify their dubious investments by uncritical assessment. Meanwhile AP and its practitioners may get a bad name.
Many academics feel threatened by the esoteric language and concepts of the purist AP schools and by the apparent difficulty in learning it. Surgeons feel threatened by claims that AP can treat many conditions which they regard as needing surgery. Doors close and the troops close ranks. It is the major challenge to IVAS to get its toe in the academic door and to rally the reluctant troops inside.
We have no real hope of introducing AP into the mainstream of Vet science until it is fully integrated into the undergraduate curriculum, alongside of pharmacology, surgery, nutrition, management etc. This must be the primary goal of IVAS, for it is surely not enough to have a few hundred experts practising brilliant AP on the fringes of mainstream medicine.
The principles of vet science include : theory/experimentation, observation /measurement, categorisation/simplification, publication and replication.
Theory/experimentation : To have maximal impact, theory must be in language comprehensible to academics and agencies which fund research. Experiments must be well designed, properly controlled and analyzed.
Observation/measurement in experimental or clinical trials must be recorded carefully and accurately. We need much more evidence from controlled and clinical trials to prove to our colleagues that AP works. Analysis of the results should be sophisticated. For example, a recent paper by Dr. Mabel Yang (Physiology Dept., Hong Kong University) showed marked homoeostatic effects of AP on immune response. Animals with a suppressed response (YIN) increased the test parameters (becoming more YANG) , whereas those with a hyper response (YANG) decreased it (becoming more YIN). (Had Dr. Yang analyzed the data in a crude way, the effect would have been missed, as the overall effect was very little change in mean values).
Similarly, Dr. Jukka Kuussaari's paper on aerophagia in horses (Amer. J. Acup., 11, 363-370) had hidden effects. Of 33 horses treated by electro-AP, 6 were cured and 8 improved (failure rate 58%). This might be dismissed as a poor result. However, on closer examination, 11 horses had NO associated gastro-intestinal signs and not one of these responded (failure rate 100%). (Had Kuussaari not recorded the clinical findings, this effect would have been missed). Of the remaining 22 cases, all of which had gastro-intestinal signs, the aerophagia failure rate dropped to 36% and all had their g/i signs improved or cured. Further analysis showed that in horses with initial g/i signs, the cure and improved rates in cribbers were 25 and 25% respectively (50% failure) but in windsuckers (not cribbers) the rates were 30 and 50% respectively (20% failure).
Categorisation/simplification : Relationships between variables can be more easily examined when they categorised, as in the above examples. For easyuse in the field, science tries to simplify its relationships. Obfuscation and esotericism are anathema to scientists. Why have a rigmarole about ancient ways of choosing points when a simple way may work just as well ? For instance Luc Janssens' Cookbook points for chronic thoraco-lumbar disc disease (tender points, local points + GB34) or Jan Still's use of GB34 alone in acute cases are easy for the beginner to use and gave excellent results.
Publication : Two basic criteria of a top-class professional journal are :
a. a tough system of peer-refereeing and
b. selection of the best from a surplus of the good.
For instance, journals like the Vet Record (London) or the Journal of the American Vet Med Assoc have so many articles submitted that a good article may be redrafted many times, cut to 30-50% of its original length and delayed for as long as 2 years before space can be allotted for its publication. However, many clinical and some "research" articles published on vet AP (even on the international level) have not satisfied these criteria yet.
AP is still a minority speciality and most practitioners seem to be allergic to ink. Therefore, the volume of solid AP material for publication is pitifully small. This is a problem for the IVAS Newsletter and Journal as well as for many national (and even international) AP journals, including the human AP journals. Some have folded and some are just hanging on precariously.
The primary purpose of the IVAS Newsletter is to be a forum for exchange of useful ideas between vet AP colleagues and those interested in the study of AP. The IVAS Journal aims at a higher standard of publication. At present, it does not attempt to challenge Vet Record or JAVMA for strict scientific excellence. Its secondary purpose is to stimulate interest in vet AP among open-minded colleagues, especially those in research and academia. If AP is to be part of mainstream medicine, it must be taught at undergraduate level as part of the basic vet course. We need researchers and academics to become involved. Our Newsletter and Journal are their windows to the world of AP. Therefore, their quality must be as good as we can make it.
Because of shortage of well documented copy, we have included occasional anecdotal copy or longer items from newspapers or magazines. We have been criticised for this, especially by non-American readers, whose national vet ethical codes discourage publication of articles which might be misconstrued as forms of personal advertising.
You can help us to improve the Newsletter and Journal. If you suffer from ink allergy, try homoeopathic desensitization, or (better still), use a cassette recorder as you do your practice rounds ! A friendly teenager may help you to transfer the taped conversation to a wordprocessor. If you send the disk to IVAS, the editors will help you to tidy it up, if necessary. Encourage your expert friends to record their results (positive and negative). Let us know how you feel about your failures. Have you any explanations for them ? (My failures taunt me and I can not really explain them). If you see interesting abstracts/summaries which have not appeared in the Newsletter or Journal already, send them in.
For knowledge to spread, it must be published. But if it is to spread widely and quickly, it must be published in refereed top-quality national or international journals. The reporting of AP must be truthful, including the partial successes, failures and relapses. Where combined therapies are used, these must be reported also. In this way, AP can become a credible modality. At present, much of the reporting is anecdotal, biassed and incredible.
Replication : One of the beauties of science is its approximation to an estimate of objective truth: results attained by one worker/group should be attainable by another if the same procedure is followed, under similar conditions and in similar types of subjects. The sloppy or fraudulent worker will be exposed when the published work is replicated by others.
Most practitioners properly trained in AP know that it is effective in many disorders but, before we can convince most of our scientific colleagues, we have a long march ahead, one which may turn out to be longer and harder than that of Chiang Kai Shek or Mao Tze Tung.
The Chinese have the wisdom to incorporate the best of western science into their system. Can we not convince our academics that it is in the best interests of the west to adopt the best of eastern science and art ? We must convince them if we are to get AP onto the standard curriculum of the vet schools. Today is a good day to begin. But, first, let us see AP as only a small part of our approach to vet medicine and healing.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The history of AP was summarised from Parkinson (1974-1977), Klide and Kung (1977), Anon (1980) and Janssens (1987). Janssens' manual (1987) and the Proceedings of the 1991 Sydney Vet Postgraduate Course are recommended highly to students of vet AP.
The current status of AP was assessed mainly from questionnaires sent to vet AP practitioners and/or academics in 38 countries. I thank all those who replied and apologise to those whom I did not mention in this paper.
REFERENCES
While there are some exceptions, as indicated above, the general official attitude of the international vet profession to AP is one of polite apathy/ scepticism. They accept vets who use AP as rather eccentric colleagues. They murmur "Yes ! how interesting...." and then forget it. They will not learn the method and, with few exceptions, will not have it included as part of the undergraduate curriculum.
Even in those countries with an active Vet AP Association, or where the authorities accept it, AP is a minority speciality, used by < 0.5-3.0% of vets. Belgium (10-20% of vets), Finland and Taiwan (c. 10% of vets) make the greatest use of it. We, who know the value of the method, must take a lot of the blame for our profession's attitude. It is up to us to change that attitude if we want AP to be part of mainstream medicine !
Fundamentally, AP is about reflex phenomena, relationships between points, body parts and function. The basis of AP must be a solid grasp of these material relationships. For some, AP is much more, operating at higher, immaterial levels. It embraces a poetic philosophy of life, almost a religion. But we must remember that few academics and teachers are poets and many find the idea of religion to be "unscientific".
Some enthusiasts see AP as a special modality: an alternative method capable of treating everything from acne to zoster. Others, especially those seers gifted in mental/spiritual aspects of healing, see AP as the highest form of energetic medicine but their view is incomprehensible to materialist science. Purists may insist on talking in classical Chinese concepts and terminology to their western colleagues. This mentality, while valid from personal viewpoints, delays or kills the acceptance of AP by serious scientists. Even the term "complementary" method gives bad off vibes.
The pharmaceutical industry is not enthusiastic about wide-scale replacement of drugs (especially analgesics, tranquillisers and hormones) by AP. Most professions (and their Parent Organisations) are self-protective. Anyone who (or any system which) appears to challenge the financial security or the authority-base of the organisation is usually ignored, ridiculed or disabled for the good of the whole.
It is easy to dismiss the outsiders as cranks or charlatans. Unfortunately, there are confidence tricksters and Diploma sellers hidden among genuine AP practitioners. Unfortunately, untested or inadequately tested instrumentation is being marketed to AP practitioners, who, having paid dearly for fancy toys with flashing lights or computerised controls, may feel psychologically bound to justify their dubious investments by uncritical assessment. Meanwhile AP and its practitioners may get a bad name.
Many academics feel threatened by the esoteric language and concepts of the purist AP schools and by the apparent difficulty in learning it. Surgeons feel threatened by claims that AP can treat many conditions which they regard as needing surgery. Doors close and the troops close ranks. It is the major challenge to IVAS to get its toe in the academic door and to rally the reluctant troops inside.
We have no real hope of introducing AP into the mainstream of Vet science until it is fully integrated into the undergraduate curriculum, alongside of pharmacology, surgery, nutrition, management etc. This must be the primary goal of IVAS, for it is surely not enough to have a few hundred experts practising brilliant AP on the fringes of mainstream medicine.
The principles of vet science include : theory/experimentation, observation /measurement, categorisation/simplification, publication and replication.
Theory/experimentation : To have maximal impact, theory must be in language comprehensible to academics and agencies which fund research. Experiments must be well designed, properly controlled and analyzed.
Observation/measurement in experimental or clinical trials must be recorded carefully and accurately. We need much more evidence from controlled and clinical trials to prove to our colleagues that AP works. Analysis of the results should be sophisticated. For example, a recent paper by Dr. Mabel Yang (Physiology Dept., Hong Kong University) showed marked homoeostatic effects of AP on immune response. Animals with a suppressed response (YIN) increased the test parameters (becoming more YANG) , whereas those with a hyper response (YANG) decreased it (becoming more YIN). (Had Dr. Yang analyzed the data in a crude way, the effect would have been missed, as the overall effect was very little change in mean values).
Similarly, Dr. Jukka Kuussaari's paper on aerophagia in horses (Amer. J. Acup., 11, 363-370) had hidden effects. Of 33 horses treated by electro-AP, 6 were cured and 8 improved (failure rate 58%). This might be dismissed as a poor result. However, on closer examination, 11 horses had NO associated gastro-intestinal signs and not one of these responded (failure rate 100%). (Had Kuussaari not recorded the clinical findings, this effect would have been missed). Of the remaining 22 cases, all of which had gastro-intestinal signs, the aerophagia failure rate dropped to 36% and all had their g/i signs improved or cured. Further analysis showed that in horses with initial g/i signs, the cure and improved rates in cribbers were 25 and 25% respectively (50% failure) but in windsuckers (not cribbers) the rates were 30 and 50% respectively (20% failure).
Categorisation/simplification : Relationships between variables can be more easily examined when they categorised, as in the above examples. For easyuse in the field, science tries to simplify its relationships. Obfuscation and esotericism are anathema to scientists. Why have a rigmarole about ancient ways of choosing points when a simple way may work just as well ? For instance Luc Janssens' Cookbook points for chronic thoraco-lumbar disc disease (tender points, local points + GB34) or Jan Still's use of GB34 alone in acute cases are easy for the beginner to use and gave excellent results.
Publication : Two basic criteria of a top-class professional journal are :
a. a tough system of peer-refereeing and
b. selection of the best from a surplus of the good.
For instance, journals like the Vet Record (London) or the Journal of the American Vet Med Assoc have so many articles submitted that a good article may be redrafted many times, cut to 30-50% of its original length and delayed for as long as 2 years before space can be allotted for its publication. However, many clinical and some "research" articles published on vet AP (even on the international level) have not satisfied these criteria yet.
AP is still a minority speciality and most practitioners seem to be allergic to ink. Therefore, the volume of solid AP material for publication is pitifully small. This is a problem for the IVAS Newsletter and Journal as well as for many national (and even international) AP journals, including the human AP journals. Some have folded and some are just hanging on precariously.
The primary purpose of the IVAS Newsletter is to be a forum for exchange of useful ideas between vet AP colleagues and those interested in the study of AP. The IVAS Journal aims at a higher standard of publication. At present, it does not attempt to challenge Vet Record or JAVMA for strict scientific excellence. Its secondary purpose is to stimulate interest in vet AP among open-minded colleagues, especially those in research and academia. If AP is to be part of mainstream medicine, it must be taught at undergraduate level as part of the basic vet course. We need researchers and academics to become involved. Our Newsletter and Journal are their windows to the world of AP. Therefore, their quality must be as good as we can make it.
Because of shortage of well documented copy, we have included occasional anecdotal copy or longer items from newspapers or magazines. We have been criticised for this, especially by non-American readers, whose national vet ethical codes discourage publication of articles which might be misconstrued as forms of personal advertising.
You can help us to improve the Newsletter and Journal. If you suffer from ink allergy, try homoeopathic desensitization, or (better still), use a cassette recorder as you do your practice rounds ! A friendly teenager may help you to transfer the taped conversation to a wordprocessor. If you send the disk to IVAS, the editors will help you to tidy it up, if necessary. Encourage your expert friends to record their results (positive and negative). Let us know how you feel about your failures. Have you any explanations for them ? (My failures taunt me and I can not really explain them). If you see interesting abstracts/summaries which have not appeared in the Newsletter or Journal already, send them in.
For knowledge to spread, it must be published. But if it is to spread widely and quickly, it must be published in refereed top-quality national or international journals. The reporting of AP must be truthful, including the partial successes, failures and relapses. Where combined therapies are used, these must be reported also. In this way, AP can become a credible modality. At present, much of the reporting is anecdotal, biassed and incredible.
Replication : One of the beauties of science is its approximation to an estimate of objective truth: results attained by one worker/group should be attainable by another if the same procedure is followed, under similar conditions and in similar types of subjects. The sloppy or fraudulent worker will be exposed when the published work is replicated by others.
Most practitioners properly trained in AP know that it is effective in many disorders but, before we can convince most of our scientific colleagues, we have a long march ahead, one which may turn out to be longer and harder than that of Chiang Kai Shek or Mao Tze Tung.
The Chinese have the wisdom to incorporate the best of western science into their system. Can we not convince our academics that it is in the best interests of the west to adopt the best of eastern science and art ? We must convince them if we are to get AP onto the standard curriculum of the vet schools. Today is a good day to begin. But, first, let us see AP as only a small part of our approach to vet medicine and healing.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The history of AP was summarised from Parkinson (1974-1977), Klide and Kung (1977), Anon (1980) and Janssens (1987). Janssens' manual (1987) and the Proceedings of the 1991 Sydney Vet Postgraduate Course are recommended highly to students of vet AP.
The current status of AP was assessed mainly from questionnaires sent to vet AP practitioners and/or academics in 38 countries. I thank all those who replied and apologise to those whom I did not mention in this paper.
REFERENCES
- ANONYMOUS (1980) Essentials of Chinese AP (by the joint working party on AP research and the College of Traditional Medicine). Foreign Languages Press, Beijing. 432 pp
- BRUNNER, F. (1980) AP fur Tierarzte : AP der Kleintiere. WBV Biologisch Med. Verlag, Ipweg 5, D4070 Schorndorf, West Germany. 303 pp
- DEMONTOY, A. (1986) Manuel d'AP canine. Editions du Point Vet, 25 rue Bourgelat, 94700 Maisons Alfort, Paris. 176pp.
- JANSSENS,L. (1975) General AP. Thesis. Vet School, Gent, Belgium.
- JANSSENS,L., ALTMAN,S. and ROGERS,P.A.M. (1977) Respiratory and cardiac arrest under general anaesthesia: treatment by AP of the nasal philtrum. Vet. Rec., 105,273-276.
- JANSSENS, L.A. (1984) Treatment of disc disease & arthrosis in dogs. Also Trigger Points & myofascial syndromes in dogs. Proc. AP Congress, Vet School, Gent, Belgium. 289pp & VMSAC (1983), October,1580-.
- JANSSENS, L.A.A. (1987) An overview : vet AP in Europe. In : Some aspects of small animal AP - the clinical scientific approach. (Chapter 2 of the Belgian Vet AP Society Manual).
- JANSSENS,L.A.A., ROGERS,P.A.M. and JAGGAR,D.H. (1987) Canine disc disease : a survey of AP therapy. In Some Aspects of Small Animal AP (Janssens, Belgian Vet AP Society), pp 9.1-9.7.
- JANSSENS,L.A.A., ROGERS,P.A.M. and SCHOEN,A.M. (1987) AP analgesia : A review of pain theories, pain abatement and technique of AP analgesia. In Some Aspects of Small Animal AP (Janssens, Belgian Vet AP Society), pp 15.1-15.8.
- JANSSENS,L., ROGERS,P.A.M. and SCHOEN,A.M. (1988) AP analgesia.: A review. Vet. Rec., 122, 355-359.
- KLIDE, A.M. and KUNG, S.H. (1977) Vet AP. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, U.S.A. (Chapters 7 and 8).
- KOTHBAUER, O. (1961) On pain point diagnosis and neural therapy in animals. Wiener Tierarztl. Monattschr., 53, 282-.
- KOTHBAUER, O. (1966) Provocation of hyperalgetic skin zones and "pain points" referring to the bovine uterine horns. Wiener Tierarztl. Monattschr., 53, 803-.
- KOTHBAUER, O. (1974 -) Personal communication
- KOTHBAUER, O. and Schaller, O. (1975) Segmental projection of the bovine uterine cervix to the skin. Wien. Tierarztl. Monatsschr., 62, 157-.
- KOTHBAUER, O. (1975) Caesarian section in a cow under APA. Wien. Tierarztl. Monatsschr., 62, 394-. Many successful since then (personal communication 1982).
- KOTHBAUER, O. & ZEROBIN, K. (1977) Tocographic verification of AP effect on the bovine uterus during parturition and puerperium. Deut. Zeitschr. fur Akup., 20, 11-.
- KOTHBAUER, O. & MENG, A. (1983) Vet AP: cattle, pigs and horses (in German) Verlag Welsermuhl, Wels, Austria. 334pp.
- LIN,J.H and ROGERS,P.A.M. (1980) AP effects on the body's defence systems: a vet review. Vet. Bull., 50,633-640.
- MILIN, J. (1957) AP in canine arthrosis. Rev. Intern. Acup., 40, (pages ??)
- MILIN, J. (1964) AP in canine rheumatism. Actes CNVSPA.
- MILIN, J. (1973) AP in canine gynaecology. Animal de Compagnie, 33, 293-.
- MILIN, J. (1974 -) Personal communication
- MARTIN, B.B. and KLIDE, A.M. (1987) Laser AP for the treatment of chronic backpain in horses: stimulation of the AP points with a low-power laser. Vet Surgery 16, 106-110.
- MOLINIER, F. (1986) Traite d'AP Vet. Publishers Maisonneuve. (A very detailed work running to > 2000 pages in all)
- MUXENEDER, R. (1984) Relaxation of uterus by AP after caesarian section in cows. Wien. Tierarztl. Monattschr., 71, 320-.
- MUXENEDER, R. (1987). Soft laser in the conservative treatment of chronic skin lesions in the horse. Der Prakt. Tierarzt, 68, No. 1, 12 - 21.
- POMERANZ, B. (1981) Neural mechanisms of AP analgesia. In : Persistent Pain (chapter 11), pp 241-257. Academic Press, New York.
- OLESON, T.D. KROENING, R.J. & BRESSLER, D. (1980) An experimental evaluation of auricular diagnosis. Pain, 8, 217-.
- PARKINSON, M. (1974 - 1977) Personal communication.
- ROGERS, P.A.M. and OTTAWAY, C.W. (1974) Success claimed for AP in domestic Animals. Irish Vet. J., 28,182-191.
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