By Narda G. Robinson, DO, DVM
Acupuncture has become a part of veterinary medicine like no other complementary medical technique. Although it is viewed widely as “energy medicine,” ancient Chinese medical practitioners understood that the technique stimulated healing by normalizing nerve function and circulation. Ideas about invisible energy arose when a 20th-century translator of Chinese acupuncture texts, George Soulié de Morant, mistranslated the word “qi” (pronounced “chee”) into “vital energy.” Qi originally referred to vital air or nutrients that circulated in blood vessels. Since that time, acupuncture has become a metaphysical healing technique. Fortunately, more are recognizing its scientific foundation.
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