Acupuncture for Old Dog Vestibular Syndrome/Stroke

A Conference and A Patient: By Dr Marlene Smith- Schalkwijk
2006 TOL Newsletter

In March 2006 I attended a conference on Oriental Medicine in Vancouver. One of the lectures dealt with treatment of stroke and spinal injuries in people using a scalp acupuncture method developed by Prof. Ming Qing Zhu. The guest speaker on this topic was Michael Akong, a human acupuncturist originally from Burnaby, now working in a large hospital in L.A, California and specializing in stroke patients. Using very specific acupuncture points with a very specific technique, Michael showed the progress in several patients suffering from post stroke paralysis. MRI's were used to map the damaged areas of the stroke patient's brain. It was clearly demonstrated that the damaged area in the brain dramatically reduced in size as the patient regained function of the paralyzed limbs. It was a fun change to practice on a human head instead of a canine-cranium. We call it the “Case Dispenser in The Sky”!

Within days of my return to the clinic, I was presented with Winnie, a 12 year old Dachshund (yes the one on the front page). Winnie was suffering from apparent blindness from brain injury. Not having an MRI on hand, we could only assume that her blindness was a result of either a local infection (blood analysis ruled that out), a stroke (cerebral vascular accident) or a brain tumor. After explaining the potential diagnosis to Winnie’s "mom", I explained about the workshop and new the acupuncture method that I had learned. Since Winnie was very much blind, walking into the wall, furniture, my legs and any obstacle in the room, we decided to try this new method on Winnie.

Translation of acupuncture points from the human skull to the dog skull is not too tough, 18 years of canine acupuncture helped a little. I could actually feel the sensation in the needle that Michael had explained one would feel if doing the treatment correctly. Winnie’s owner and I could not wait to see the results after I took the needles out! We put Winnie on the floor and she looked around like she had not seen the room before. Then her "mom" came into her eye sight and she smiled the biggest canine smile. Winnie ran up to her owner, jumped up and licked her hands as if she was saying “where have you been all this time?” It is wonderful to learn new things and see such clear evidence of what acupuncture can do!

Back to articles