My father is a world renowned acupuncturist and he has taught me many useful practical applications for acupuncture in first opinion practice. I want to share a post with you that might interest breeders or anybody dealing with a human or animal emergency.
GV26 (Renzhong/ Jenchung) is a single acupoint, located in the midline of the philtrum of dogs and cats, level with the lower edge of the nostrils. In humans, it is at the junction of the upper and middle third of the philtrum.
GV26 can resucitate newborn animals that have a heartbeat but that are delayed in taking their first breath. This is a common problem in neonates after a caesarean section, or after a difficult birth. Needling GV26 or flicking it strongly with a fingernail, for 10 – 30 seconds, can trigger breathing in most of these cases.
I used this emergency point in recent weeks to revive three out of eight french bulldog puppies born by emergency c-section. These three pups breathed within 10 seconds of acupucture. The breeder had never seen this used; and these pups were not breathing for several minutes prior to the acupuncture point being stimulated. The other 5 pups breathed spontaneously.
For more than 2000 years, Chinese doctors have used GV26 to resucitate humans in life-threatening emergencies. Since the 1970’s, GV26 has been used in western veterinary practice to resucitate animals in emergencies, for example:
(a) Respiratory and cardiac arrest under general anaesthesia: treatment by acupuncture of the nasal philtrum. Needling of GV26 restored respiration to normal or near normal rates within 10-30 seconds of insertion of the needle in 69/69 (100%) of cases of respiratory depression or apnoea in dogs and cats during induction or maintenance of general anaesthesia. In other cases that were “clinically dead” (anaesthetic apnoea with concurrent cardiac arrest and absence of vital signs), 3/7 (43%) revived. Those that recovered required 4-10 minutes of acupuncture stimulation. Revival rate in cases of collapse due to other causes was 2/8 (25%). Those cases included 5 sheep in shock following liver biopsy, 2 cases of haemorrhagic shock (dog, cat) and 1 terminal collapse in chronic congestive heart failure (dog). [Janssens, Altman & Rogers. Vet Rec. 1979 Sep 22;105(12):273-6. MEDLINE PMID: 516310].
(b) Effects of Parenteral Epinephrine and GV26 Stimulation on Inhalant Anesthesia Recovery Time in Two Orders of Reptiles. The use of GV26 stimulation and / or parenteral epinephrine substantially improved current management of the immediate post-anesthetic period in alligators and snapping turtles. [Goe, Shmalberg, Gatson, Bartolini, Curtiss, Granone & Wellehan. ExoticsCon 2015 Main Conference Proceedings, Session #293, p527. College of Vet Med, Univ of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA].
See a very detailed review of published data on GV26 and many other abstracts online
All vets, medics, dentists, nurses, paramedics and animals owners should know this point! GV26 can be used in first aid and can save many human and animal lives. It can be used in emergencies such as collapse, shock, fainting, coma, stroke, heatstroke, head injuries, concussion, epilepsy, drowning or unconsciousness for any reason.
If GV26 does not work fast, other points can be added by experienced acupuncturists such as KI01, PC06, ST36, CV01/GV01/ tip of the tail in animals.
