by Kathleen M. Carson, D.V.M 
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How does acupuncture work? No one knows the whole answer; we are still looking for explanations that make sense to our Western minds. There are many unanswered questions, but it has been demonstrated that during acupuncture there is an increase in the level of the body's natural pain-killing and immune-enhancing hormones, the endorphins and encephalins. We also know that acupuncture also causes an increase in the levels of cortisol, an anti-inflammatory hormone, and that it brings about a decrease in muscle spasm and an increase in blood flow.

The Chinese explanation of acupuncture is that it helps to stimulate the body's own natural life energy, which they call qi (pronounced “chee”). They believe that this energy normally circulates through the body along channels called meridians, just as blood flows along arteries and veins. When this energy flow is slowed down or blocked, disease or dysfunction or pain results in the areas or organs these channels serve and nourish.
Very fine, sterile needles are inserted into certain points along the meridians during the treatments. This insertion stimulates the qi and helps to relieve blockages. Most dogs and cats tolerate the needles very well. Some are apprehensive at first, not knowing what to expect, but the needles are so thin that they are hardly felt by most patients. After the needles are inserted, the animal begins to feel more and more relaxed and peaceful, and pain decreases.

With succeeding treatments the apprehension is less and less; in fact, after a while most animals look forward to their treatments!

Since acupuncture works to enhance the body's own efforts to heal, it tends to work somewhat slowly. Its effects are cumulative. Clients used to the more quickly-acting Western drugs and surgery need to be re-trained to expect slower results. I like to use the comparison of a beaver dam. As the meridian becomes blocked, it's like beavers building a dam through a stream; eventually, the whole stream is blocked up. Succeeding acupuncture treatments remove more and more of the dam, allowing more and more water to break through until the stream finally resumes its normal flow.
If there's too much time between treatments the beavers have time to start replacing the parts of the dam which have been removed. Thus, especially at the beginning, it's important to have regular treatments. If the “dam”/blockage has been present a long time, permanent damage may have been done to the streambed so that only partial flow can be re-established at best. And, after the flow has been established, maintenance treatments sometimes have to be done to deal with the beavers' efforts to rebuild their dam!

The same thing is true with acupuncture. If a condition is acute, sometimes one treatment takes care of the problem. However, if a condition is chronic (as has been true in the overwhelming majority of my patients), it usually takes anywhere between 4 to 6 initial weekly treatments to begin to see noticeable results. If treatments are skipped, ground is lost.
As improvement is seen, treatments are scheduled further apart. In some cases the animal does so well that he/she doesn't need to be seen for months after the initial series of treatments. Others, with more severe/long term conditions, need to stay on a maintenance program, coming in every 4 to 6 weeks indefinitely. Some conditions are so severe or long-standing that only partial improvement is possible.

The relative slowness of the improvement is offset by the low incidence of side effects - a distinct advantage over drugs and surgery, especially in older animals.

If an animal is on drugs when acupuncture is started, I don't feel it's a good idea to withdraw them suddenly. As time goes by and improvement is seen, slow withdrawal of the medication can be instituted. In some cases, animals are able to get off the drugs completely; in other cases this isn't possible, but the amount and/or frequency of the drugs can often be reduced.

Acupuncture is a wonderful treatment modality that is giving thousands of animals the chance to have less pain, greater function, and increased longevity!