I often tell my students that they can start a solid practice of Animal Acupuncture by knowing just 3 powerful points per meridian. With 14 meridians, this only equates to learning 42 acupoints.

Let’s throw in some extra useful Bladder points for good measure (see this blog post on the Top 10 points of the Bladder meridian) and this sums up to only 50 points.

How fantastic is it to know how to treat a range of animal conditions with just 50 points?

So, let’s jump into the top 3 points of the Large Intestine meridian to get us started on our 50 most useful acupoint series 🙂

→ See previous Blog post on Top 10 Bladder Acupoints

The video above shows Large Intestine 15 (LI15) being needled in a horse.

The Large Intestine Meridian

The Large Intestine meridian is interesting because it is one of the two meridians (along with the Stomach meridian) that contains the most Chi & Blood, and so it contains a bunch of extra powerful points.

These points don’t relate to the function of the Large Intestine organ (which is to eliminate waste) but to problems that can occur along the path of the Large Intestine meridian itself and some problems with Wind and Heat in the body (more on this later).

In cats & dogs, the Large Intestine meridian starts on the medial side of the second digit of the front leg (the first real toe on the inside, excluding the dewclaw). It then shifts around to the lateral side of the front leg at the carpus before hitting the side of the elbow crease, the front of the shoulder joint, and the lower neck and head before crossing under the nose to the other side of the body to reach LI20, its last point.

In horses, the path is much the same except that the LI meridian starts on the coronary band of the front hoof at the mid-point of the medial side (i.e. 3 o’clock on the left foot and 9 o’clock on the right foot).

Because of this path, the LI meridian points are great to treat problems with:

• The foreleg, especially the elbow and shoulder
• The throat, face, sinuses and nose

Large Intestine 15 (LI15)

Let’s start our acupoints journey from the top of the front leg with LI15.

LI15 is called the anterior shoulder eye, and as its name indicates it is located in that nice groove at the front of the shoulder joint (between the scapula and humerus).

To find LI15, just palpate the front of the shoulder joint or, if you need more help, grab on to the elbow of the horse/dog and extend/flex the shoulder joint of the animal so you can properly see the outline of the shoulder joint.

LI15 is fantastic to treat shoulder issues of all kinds, related to bones, joints or muscles.

In dogs, this includes medial shoulder syndrome, subscapularis tendinopathy, bicipital tenosynovitis, conservative management of shoulder joint osteophytes and, of course, shoulder arthritis. I personally really like an acupuncture approach to treating shoulder problems as these can be tough to treat with physiotherapy and exercise prescriptions.

In horses, LI15 is mostly used to treat bicipital tenosynovitis/bursitis and shoulder arthritis.

In both dogs and horses, LI15 (anterior shoulder eye) is often used with TH14 (posterior shoulder eye) to treat shoulder problems.

This image shows the location of LI15 as the anterior shoulder eye in the dog. The location is very much the same in the horse - see the video above for how to needle the point in horses © Animal Acupuncture Academy.

Large Intestine 11

Point #2 is Large Intestine 11, which is located on the lateral side of the elbow.

To find LI11, it is necessary to lift the animal’s front leg and flex the elbow and palpate the lateral crease in the elbow. Keep your finger in this crease and let the foot down on the floor. Then needle exactly into this crease, perpendicular towards the midline of the animal. This will ensure the needle passes right in front of the elbow joint capsule and does not hit some of the fibrous structures of the joint.

As you might expect, LI11 is amazing to treat any form of elbow issue, including conservative management of osteochondritis dessicans, elbow arthritis and more.

LI11 also has some extra powerful applications that relate to Chinese Medicine. LI11 is said to clear Heat, which is an invasive ‘hot’ external attack such as an attack of infection, inflammatory disease, skin rashes etc. that appear red and hot to the touch.

In addition, LI11 is said to ‘cool Blood’, which is extra-useful for skin diseases like urticaria which are thought to bubble out from ‘hot Blood’ in Chinese Medicine.

The Large Intestine 11 point is found on the lateral elbow crease in both the horse and dog. To find the point, lift the animal’s leg to find the crease and needle perpendicularly once the foot is back on the ground. © Animal Acupuncture Academy

Large Intestine 4

Large Intestine 4 is my favourite point on the Large Intestine meridian because it is so powerful. Many powerful acupoints are located around the feet/lower legs, making them hard to needle in sensitive animals, but this is so worth it for LI4.

In dogs, LI4 is located between the front dewclaw and metacarpal 2 (the first ‘real’ toe on the medial side). It is needled with a small 13 mm needle going from the front towards the back. It is best to hold the dog or cat’s paw up and apply pressure to the whole paw to distract from needling.

Because horses don’t have a dewclaw or a ‘thumb’, in horses LI4 is located just below the shrunken metacarpal 2 on the medial side below the carpus. There is a small crevice between MC2 and MC3 that can be needled with a 13 mm needle, about 5 mm deep between the bones.

Just like LI11, LI4 is used to clear Heat, but mostly Heat of the ‘exterior’ kind such as attacks of pathogens & fever. It is also used to relieve exterior and interior ‘Wind’ which makes the body shake, such as in the case of epilepsy.

LI4 is also said to be the ‘master’ point for the face and mouth, and so it is used to treat lots of afflictions of the mouth, teeth, throat, eyes and ears.

LI4 is contra-indicated in pregnancy unless one wants to induce labour.

For dogs, LI4 is located between the front dewclaw and first real toe. In horses it is on the medial side of the leg just below the carpus, where the vestigial metacarpal 2 meets metacarpal 3. © Animal Acupuncture Academy

Summary

There you have it, the most powerful 3 points of the Large Intestine meridian. Hopefully this blog post has made you curious about what it would be like to study Animal Acupuncture. The AAA Certificate in Animal Acupuncture breaks down acupuncture into simple steps that are easy to learn. If you would like to join us in our course and community, please click here for more information. If you are a current AAA student, this blog post may have shed some new light on some of your favourite acupoints!