Table 3 Survey of veterinary acupuncturists
Abbreviated Survey Question | Survey Responses | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Which is more effective at treating OA: EA, manual acupuncture, or combination? | 72% combination | 21% manual acupuncture alone | 7% EA alone |
Do you generally use the same regional points around an affected joint, or does it vary depending on the patient? | 89% variable | 7% same | |
With OA of a single joint, how many individualized regional points do you use on average in addition to “usual points”? | 45% 1–3 additional | 32% 4–6 additional | |
With OA of a single joint, do you typically only acupuncture the affected limb (unilateral), or also treat the opposite limb (bilateral)? | 64% treat bilaterally | 15% treat only the affected limb | |
With OA of a single joint, do you typically treat for compensatory pain distant from source of lameness in addition to the primary source of the lameness? | 99% yes | 1% no | |
List the most common points you use to treat for compensatory pain based on thoracic or pelvic limb lameness. | 10 most frequently mentioned for the thoracic limb: GV-14, BL-11, BL-13, GB-21, LI-4, SI-9, BL-10, LI-10, LI-11, LIV-3 | 10 most frequently mentioned for the pelvic limb: ST-36, BL-23, BL-40, BL-54, BL-60, GB-29, GB-30, BL-11, KID-3, and GV-14 | |
What regional points do you most commonly use for specific joints of the thoracic limb? | Shoulder: SI-9 (71%), GB-21 (67%), BL-11 (57%), TH-14 (63%), LI-15 (61%), and BL-10 (24%). | Elbow: LI-11 (75%), LI-10 (62%), LU-5 (43%), SI-9 (40%), TH-10 (38%) | Carpus: PC-6 (61%), HT-7 (56%), LI-4 (61%), LU-7 (38%), SI-3 (32%), and TH-5 (26%) |
What regional points do you most commonly use for specific joints of the pelvic limb? | Hip: GB-29 (93%), GB-30 (92%), BL-54 (89%), and Bai hui (81%) | Stifle: ST-36 (92%), BL-40 (73%), GB-34 (67%), SP-9 (57%), ST-35 (51%), SP-10 (46%) | Tarsus: BL-60 (77%), KID-3 (69%), LIV-3 (53%), ST-36 (50%), SP-6 (38%), and ST-41 (30%) |
Ranking of most to least ‘responsive to acupuncture’ arthritic joint in the appendicular skeleton. | 1. Hip 2. Stifle 3. Shoulder 4. Elbow 5. Tarsus 6. Carpus | ||
Which points do you recommend using for every patient with OA? | Bai hui (67%), GV-20 (38%), ST-36 (51%), BL-11 (26%), BL-23 (40%), LIV-3 (23%) | 10% none | |