Animal Chiropractic Care Can Be Helpful

When a beloved family pet or your favorite, hard-working farm horse—or any other animal you may have—begins acting as if there is something wrong, your first instinct is to try to figure out how to fix the problem. Typically, you initially head to your regular veterinarian, which is exactly what you should do. However, what do you do if your veterinarian is unable to help? What happens if your regular animal doctor cannot figure out what is wrong with your pet?

In this case, it is usually best to take your pet to an animal chiropractor. In fact, your veterinarian may recommend this to you, referring you to a good, reputable animal chiropractor.

What are Animal Chiropractors?

You probably already understand that standard chiropractic doctors work with people who have spinal problems. This type of chiropractor works with humans, doing spinal manipulations and adjustments for anyone who has issues with the alignment of his spinal column.

Well, animal chiropractors are much the same as traditional chiropractors—the only difference is that they work with animals instead of humans. An animal chiropractor treats spinal problems in dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, and many other types of animals.

Animal Chiropractic Treatment

Reputable and respectable animal chiropractors begin their treatment only after a veterinarian has performed a thorough examination. This is because it is necessary to make sure that the animal has first been checked for internal conditions or other problems before performing spinal adjustments.

Once animal chiropractic treatment is deemed necessary, the animal chiropractor does his own examination. The chiropractor will assess the animal, checking his posture and gait. He will also check the animal’s legs. Then, he will perform vertebral, extremity and cranial static palpation examinations as well as vertebral and extremity motion palpation assessments. X-rays may also be taken.

After scrutinizing every detail, the animal will be treated. Animal chiropractors use a few different types of treatment, depending upon the size of animal being treated. Sometimes they use high velocity controlled thrusts by hand in order to manipulate a specific joint. Other times they try to use the animal’s own motion in order to help generate the spinal adjustment—this helps with larger animals. Smaller animals can be treated by hand, in ways that are similar to human treatment methods.

Can Chiropractic Care Help?

Animal chiropractors can help animals with many different conditions, including:

• Pain in the neck, back, and legs
• Muscle spasms
• Bowel and bladder disorders
• Injuries
• Joint and spinal disorders