Rae Hennessy

The demand for Rae’s services is indicative of the growing popularity that Eastern therapies, including acupuncture, have in the Western world.

Because of the Chinese origins of her treatments, Rae deals with concepts such as yin and yang, and the life force called Chi.

In Chinese philosophy, ill-health is said to arise from an imbalance in the Chi which, in turn, arises from an imbalance between the two polarities of Chi: yin and yang. This imbalance causes a loss of wellbeing.

Integral to Rae’s treatment is diagnosis, the determination of the causes of an imbalance and the removal of those causes from the patient's environment. With the restoration of balance or harmony in the Chi, Rae’s patients heal and regain health and wellbeing.

Interestingly though, it is the maintenance of wellbeing which is the traditional role of acupuncture and Chinese therapies.

Traditional Chinese Acupuncture

Acupuncture as a form of treatment for ailments can be traced as far back as the stone age and the ancient cultures of India and China. However it is in ancient China that the acupuncture treatment offered by Rae originated.

Chinese Therapies and Massage Therapy

Acupuncture can be used as a single treatment or in tandem with other Chinese therapies, including massage. Being committed to a holistic regime of treatment, Rae’s services include, in addition to acupuncture:

Acupressure

• For speedier recovery

Massage therapy

• For greater mobility

Chinese herbal medicine

• For behavioural and skin disorders

Nutrition advice

• For a stronger immune system

Rae uses these therapies on dogs and small animals to enhance the effectiveness of acupuncture, to promote psychological health, to treat injury and disease and to pave the way for a stable advancement to old age.

How Acupuncture Works

Acupuncture achieves balance in Chi by communicating with body organs and tissues through channels or meridians. Although there is no known physiological equivalent to these energy pathways a Western medical analogy for this type of energy transference may be seen in the relatively recent discovery of the relationship between brain chemistry and the immune system.

When watching Rae work you will notice the use of small-gauge needles being applied to various points on the body. The needles stimulate specific anatomic loci along meridians. When this is done physiological responses are elicited by the body.

These physiological responses are integral to the treatment of almost any disease or condition and have a special place in the relief of pain. Conditions treated by acupuncture may be localised or they may have spread throughout the body.

Acupuncture has been shown to help with ailments in pets such as lameness and soreness, spinal trauma, inflammation, depression and behavioural problems.