p.1

Cesario, a 14-month-old English bulldog, is suffering from Masticatory Muscle Myositis.
His previous Prednisone treatment did little to help Cesario.
The owner decided that acupuncture instead might help Cesario improve his quality of life and depression, while also allow him to open up his locked jaw again.

p.2

The procedure begins with brushing the patient to calm the animal.
While brushing, the one hand is on Rem 17 (Conception Vessel 17), the other hand brushes the back of the patient.
(Tuina) Since Cesario is anxious, it is better to start off gently brushing him before putting the needles to his muscles.
This helps Cesario calm down and relax.
The brushing should be done all over the surfaces of the patient's body.

p.3

REM 17 is located right between 2 front legs and is often used pads of 3 fingers and rest the hand.
Parapodium 8 on our hand can be put over REM 17 of the patient.

p.4

Na point is a little off to the side of the spine on the muscle band into the paraspinal muscle.
It is important to loosen up the muscle and open up the points to put needles in before the procedure, as well as diagnosing along the way of opening up and see the reactions of the patients when palpatating these points.

p.5

For dogs with issues of upper face area, it is effective to lift/drop their muscle and skin of the neck area.
Graham recommends to divide this area into several different locations and pull the 3 sides of different places (middle of the back, right side, and left side of the back) on each location.

p.6

On the zygomatic arch, one should start off with massaging the muscle across its area and learn the places where the muscles are tight and should be needled.
This learning process is very important in order to obtain better results from the acupuncture treatment.
This could be done by palpating the certain points.

p.7

Graham now explains about the needles he is using during the procedure; DB3, DB1, and Hand Needle.
These needles differ from the thickness and the length.
The method of choosing the right needles depends the extent that the muscles need to be stimulated.

p.8

Graham started needling the back of the patient.
The needles should be placed on the tight points of muscles which were found during the previous brushing procedure.
It is very important to be patient with the animals until they get used to having needles into their muscles, as some animals can feel the stimulation and get scared.
Acupuncture can also be very effective on excess heat condition.

p.9

Graham then moved onto needling the face.
The needles used for the face procedure are (0.18mm, 15mm), which is relatively shorter so that he can have more control.
The shorter needles will not work well for animals with more fur.
As for the procedure, find and palpate the zygomatic arch and place the needle on the muscle belly on both side of the face, as well as needling on Yin Tang (between the eyebrows).

p.10

The last part is the point between the thumb and the forefinger on the paw.
It is a great sign of trust when the animals are sleeping during the procedure.
After closing the procedure, the needles are gently removed.

p.11

The owner of Cesario talks about how she found out that he had a disease and how he was getting depressed from the prednisone treatment that ended up not improving his condition..
After seeing him depressed and scared of people, she found the acupuncture treatment from Graham that resulted in getting him better.