Helping to alleviate spinal pain with acupuncture

Bonnie D. Wright, DVM, DACVAA, CVMA, CVPP, CCRT, CCRP, is a veterinary anesthesiologist and pain specialist and an educator with Evidence-Based Veterinary Acupuncture courses, based in Colorado and Hawaii. Wright recently led 4 continuing education (CE) sessions at the 2026 Veterinary Meeting & Expo (VMX) in Orlando, Florida, hosted by the North American Veterinary Community.

In a dvm360 interview recorded during VMX, Wright discussed various ways that acupuncture is used in patient care. In this video, she addresses using this integrative therapy to help alleviate spinal pain.

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The following is a transcript of the video shown:

dvm360: How can acupuncture help alleviate spinal pain?

Wright: Another place that acupuncture really does well in terms of research—in addition to the pain piece, which is very important—[is it] really helps with neurorehabilitation and the return to function. Both the pain control and the ability to help those nerves bounce back better are really important.

I always like to say the love language of nerves is electricity. So with the neurologic deficits in acupuncture, we can add electroacupuncture to that…and that combination really helps restore nerve function, in addition to motion and rehab, which are incredibly important…ways to restore function. Whether there's been a surgical fix or not, acupuncture serves a really important role in those cases, and in some ways, a much more primary role than some of the other pain conditions.

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