Use of integrative therapy in case of facial paralysis in a donkey – Case report

Abstract

In equine medicine, facial nerve injuries are relatively common, with the highest incidence to trauma and/or compression in the masseter muscle region. Clinical treatment can be instituted along with complementary therapy, such as acupuncture and electrostimulation. These abstract aims to report the case of a donkey of one year old, which when leaving the stable, cut the region of the masseter muscle on the left side. The animal was sedated to better visualize the extent and depth of the cut, showing a blunt injury in the mandibular region. Treatment with dexametasone (2.5 mg/kg intravenously for eight days) and vitamin B12 (2.000 mcg/kg intramuscularly for five days) was instituted. Without success, it was decided to perform complementary therapy with acupuncture and electrostimulation through Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Simulation (TENS). When starting the sessions, in the physical examination was observed paralysis of the region of the nostril and lip, facing the right side, reaching only the ventral buccal branch of the facial nerve. Five acupuncture sessions were performed with an interval of two days, using dry needling in the acupoints Stomach (S) – 7, S4, Large Intestine (LI) – 20, Triple Heater (TH) – 17 and Small Intestine (SM) - 4 (master point of the face and mouth), with 0.25 x 15mm acupuncture needles. Electrostimulation with TENS was performed at 250 Hz in pulsed mode for 15 minutes, every two days, for ten days. Associated with the therapies, the use of a hay net was requested, to daily stimulate the paralyzed region when looking for hay to feed. At the end of the five sessions, a great improvement can be observed in the region of the nostrils and upper lip, they were centralized. It was concluded that the use of acupuncture as a complementary therapy proved to be effective in this case of facial nerve paralysis, since it contributed to the centralization of the region of the nostrils and upper lip after the acupuncture sessions.