A combination of Eastern and Western medicine has come south as the LSU Teaching Hospital, part of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, offers therapies like animal acupuncture, massage therapy, chiropractic treatment and herbal therapies.
Rebecca McConnico, associate professor of veterinary medicine, studied integrative therapies like acupuncture for six months last year at the Chi Institute in Reddick, Fla.
Although these therapies have been used to treat animals for many years, Eastern practices have only become more popular at American universities in the last decade, and LSU is among them.
Like many new, alternative fads, integrative medicine has become popular with celebrity pet owners. Martha Stewart’s personal veterinarian, Marty Goldstein, is an advocate of integrative and holistic medicine.
“Dr. Marty,” as he is known publicly, has his own radio show called “Ask Martha’s Vet,” on Martha Stewart Living Radio. He gave a shout-out to the LSU Vet School on Monday’s show and applauded its efforts to expand students’ knowledge of integrative medicine, according to Jenny Cassibry, the Vet School’s nursing supervisor of the cancer treatment unit.
“Hats off to LSU and their backers for rising to this major occasion by having the insight and willingness for steps needed to become the first teaching institute to take this giant leap of faith to embrace integrative veterinary medicine,” said Goldstein, who is based in New York, in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille.
McConnico and other faculty members are working toward offering integrative medicine classes as introductory courses at the Vet School.
“Acupuncture has been used for over 2,000 years in China to treat pain,” McConnico said. “It was probably used on animals before humans.”
McConnico most commonly uses acupuncture to treat arthritis, abdominal pain, some neurological diseases and chronic pain in performance horses.
McConnico’s training was made possible by a donation from Donald and Sue Crow of Shreveport, according to a Vet School news release. She said the donation sparked the development of an integrative therapy program at the LSU Teaching Hospital.
Three more LSU faculty members will complete training for these new therapies this year, thanks to the Crows’ donation.
An Integrative Medicine Committee was also formed at the LSU Vet School in December to provide continued support for the use of integrative therapies in universities and specialty clinics.
With the Crows’ donation, the committee organizes monthly speakers for the Vet School and holds private sessions with the Integrative Veterinary Medicine Club, which was formed two years ago in response to the absence of Eastern teaching in the school’s curriculum.
Ashley Gagne, club member and second-year veterinary student, said a group of students were interested in the therapies but were unsure of how much they would learn about them.
“We knew people would ask about these procedures in practice. We wanted to know how to advise our future patients,” Gagne said. “In the very least, everyone should have the opportunity to look into those aspects of veterinary medicine. We need to be aware, and we can’t be without a program.”
McConnico agreed, saying students should be introduced to Eastern therapies early on but need a foundation in traditional medicine first.
McConnico made it clear she doesn’t like the word “alternative” to describe integrative medicine.
“Integrative medicine is not supposed to replace Western medicine. That is very important to understand,” McConnico said. “It is the immersion of Eastern and Western medicine. And I have been happy with the results of this partnership so far.”
 
 
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Contact Lea Ciskowski at [email protected]