Is there an old horse in your care, or a horse recovering from a broken bone? One of the most frustrating areas of equine wellness comes with broken or aging bones and joints. No matter what has caused the problem, bone repair takes time and sometimes it feels like there is just nothing we can do to speed the process. While access to proper minerals and anti-inflammitories is important, there is something you can do to help the body to mend. By regularly stimulating Bladder 11 (*Influential Point for Bone) we help the body to strengthen bone throughout the body and more rapidly repair breaks.
Arthritis issues can stop a horse of any age and are aggravated by the body being too acidic. Bone spurs and splints are laid down by the body to strengthen weakened areas, but become problems on their own later. Helping the body to reabsorb these calcifications can make a huge difference to a horse later in life. When asking the body to reabsorb splints and other calcifications, balancing the energy at this point every day is a good practice to follow. Opening the Bladder and Kidney meridians is also a good idea for pH balance and eliminating excess calcium buildup.
Supressing Cough
BL 11 is also a helpful point to remember for shoulder issues and especially for horses with chronic or sudden cough. Massaging this point can rapidly ease a cough.
How to Find It
Cup your hand over the top of the withers and run your fingers along the top of the scapula (shoulder blade) toward the front of the horse. As the scapula drops below the level of the shoulder your fingertips will fall into a depression – this is BL 11.
Exact Location: 1.5 cun** ventral to the midline, between the 1st and 2nd Thoracic Vertebrae, dorsal to the cranial edge of the scapula.
Acupuncture Indications
All bone disorders, back & shoulder pain, lung disorders, cough and fever
*Influential points “influence” the organ, tissue or system that they refer to. For instance, Lung 9 supports lung function and respiration.
**A Cun (or ts’us) is considered an anatomical inch. This varies for each horse and is the width of the 16th rib. Most horses have 18 ribs so start from the last rib and slide forward 2 ribs.
***Acupuncture indications are not diagnoses, they are the accumulated correlation of common symptoms, issues or physical reactions corresponding to energy disruption or stimulation at a specific point.
