A NEW DAY DAWNS - Boston Latin School

ProfiLeS
“ You have to have large animals in stocks and under
control. i’m not a large-animal person. i don’t want
to get my fingers crushed or head kicked.”
14 Bulletin fall 2007
“if an animal can’t get up or go outside to urinate, then they’ll be euthanized, which is
not a problem with humans,” says Robinson. “So it becomes this life or death thing, and
the stakes are higher.”
Robinson’s unusual specialty was launched when one of her human acupuncture
patients mentioned that her dog received treatments, too. At the time, Robinson, who
graduated from the Texas College of osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth, TX, where
she combined an interest in holistic practices with a fellowship in neurosurgery, had
been practicing acupuncture for six years. (Knowing her interest in holistic medicine,
her brother, Lawrence Robinson ’74, a physician, had convinced her to become an
osteopathic doctor rather than an M.D. her father, Leonard Robinson ’46, is a retired
pharmacist.)
The veterinarian who did the canine work convinced Robinson to enroll in veterinary
school. While a student at the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine
and Biomedical Sciences in Fort Collins, she founded the Medical Acupuncture for
Veterinarians Program, which has since trained hundreds of vets.
There is fierce debate in the acupuncture world over how it works. Robinson used to
be among those with a metaphysical viewpoint: invisible meridians of energy—which
practitioners call qi—run through the body and, by inserting needles into points under
the skin along a meridian where the qi is stuck, the body can heal itself. eight years ago,
Robinson changed to a scientific approach and believes acupuncture promotes healthy
nerve function through a process called “neuromodulation.”
“When you insert a needle into an acupuncture point, you’re causing the nerves to fire
differently and more appropriately, rather than moving energy along an unseen channel,”
she says. “it’s a lot more satisfying teaching from an evidence-based and factual-based
point rather than repeating a storybook interpretation of acupuncture.”
Why does the interpretation matter if the results are the same? it’s a matter of intellectual
honesty—and clinical accuracy. “if you can identify the nervous system imbalance or
dysfunction that led to the problem the patient is having, you can more accurately and
effectively treat them by knowing which nerve structure to stimulate,” she says.
Today Robinson, who also holds a master’s degree in biomedical sciences, teaches
a number of complementary courses at CSU vet school and writes a column on
complementary medicine for Veterinary Practice News. She is developing the first
complete, neuroanatomically accurate system of acupuncture point locations for dogs,
and she is also researching whether acupuncture affects blood flow to tumors.
Robinson, who has three cats and a rabbit at home, continues her involvement in human
acupuncture as vice-chair of the board of trustees of the American Board of Medical
Acupuncture, which certifies physicians in acupuncture. And, as director of the Center
for Comparative and integrative Pain Medicine at CSU, she is studying optimal ways to
relieve pain across all species.