By Randy Southerland
Surely, no chiropractor ever had a patient this big. Sitting astride the back
of the retired circus elephant, the doctor began palpating the spinal structures
that lay just below the surface of the hard, rough skin. Then with a quick thrust,
the bony structure moved ever so slightly, and the job was done.
The aging pachyderm, having spent years sitting up on her hind legs and assuming
other unnatural positions designed to delight audiences, had reached old age
with uncharacteristic back pain. Chiropractic adjustments relieved her discomfort.
This giant mammal is just one example of the countless species of animals that
are under chiropractic care. While some may be surprised to hear there are DCs
who do nothing but adjust animals, this particular niche has always been a part
of the field. In fact, B.J. Palmer set up the first clinic devoted exclusively
to animal chiropractic, and, at one time, Palmer College of Chiropractic even
awarded diplomas for animal adjusting. This is not just a “behind the
barn” technique, animal chiropractic is a subspecialty with its own course
of study and certification.
Today, there are more than 1,800 certified animal chiropractors worldwide. While
some doctors only adjust animals, most have a mixed practice that includes both
humans and animals of various sorts. The most popular chiropractic patients
are horses, dogs and cats, although other doctors provide care for virtually
every kind of animal imaginable, ranging from the aforementioned elephant, to
a veterinarian in Chicago that specializes in adjusting exotic animals like
iguanas and rabbits.
According to Kingston, Ga.-based Dr. Heidi Bockhold, this brand of adjusting
is quite different from that of detecting and removing subluxations in humans.
Bockhold, along with two other doctors, operates Wellsville, Kan.-based Options
for Animals International, as well as the Options for Animals International
Academy of Animal Chiropractic and the International Academy of Veterinary Chiropractic,
UK.
Using X-ray is difficult, since animals literally won’t stand still for
it. And forget about the holding the breath part. Larger animals can usually
only be positioned for X-ray by restraining or anesthetizing them.
“It’s not very helpful for analysis,” says Bockhold. “We
have to find subluxations purely through motion palpation.”
The chiropractor can easily adjust to the differences in animal anatomy. While
the number of segments may differ, the shape of the bones and the muscular attachments
are largely the same.
“The biggest difference is [that], biomechanically, quadrupeds use themselves
very differently than bipeds and they respond differently,” she explains.
The animal nervous system also reacts differently to chiropractic care. You
can’t adjust an animal three times a week without causing them to become
ataxic. The approach of adjusting animals is much the same, but the chiropractor’s
goals have to be different due to differences in the way animals use their bodies.
Bockhold’s organization provides a 210-hour training course sanctioned
by the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association (AVCA). This five-session
course includes study of neurology, chiropractic philosophy and history, along
with dissection, motion and static palpation and live animal labs for practicing
the adjustment. Participants also become acquainted with basic veterinary medicine
practice, such as basic medications and animal handling and safety.
Training in animal anatomy and physiology is essential to giving the doctor
the skills to adjust animals both safely and effectively.
In most cases, adjusting instruments, such as the activator, are ineffective.
It is virtually impossible to adapt human analysis to the animal. That leaves
the traditional thrusts and flexion that a doctor can perform by hand.
“With a horse you could laterally flex their neck around,” explains
Bockhold. “You have to get up on a higher level to get the right angle,
usually by climbing up on bales of hay, or we have blocks at the school to get
yourself high enough so that you are higher than their backs when you thrust.
With smaller animals the thrust is greatly modified, and is lighter than a thrust
on a human.”
The animal chiropractor can also perform a gait analysis pre- and post-adjustment
to judge how the animal is progressing. They check for heat, and perform static
palpation of tight muscles and hyperclonic or hypertonic muscles.
“The animal can’t vocalize the way humans do. The doctor can look
for the expression in their eyes, or in the horse, licking and chewing,”
she explains. “Dogs usually do a good shake like they’ve gotten
out of a bath. You also base your analysis on the observations of the owner.
The focus is really on correcting the decrease in performance because (the adjustment)
drastically increases and improves performance.”
Owners are becoming increasingly interested in having their animals receive
chiropractic care, both for general wellness and to resolve physical problems.
That increase is reflected in the large number of chiropractors and veterinarians
who are making animal adjusting either part or, in some cases, the sole focus
of their practice. Bockhold, for example, gave up adjusting human patients several
years ago to focus on animals—primarily horses.
“Probably most of the new clients that we get are performance animals—race
horses, performance show horses, show dogs—and we get the client because
there is a decrease in performance,” she explains.
Many owners bring their animals for care even though they may never have had
an adjustment themselves. Bockhold recalls going to a number of barns to see
equine patients whose owners are obviously in need of chiropractic care themselves.
“But they can’t afford it—but they have show horses and they
need to keep the horses performing,” she says.
While it might seem natural for DCs to adjust pets, work animals and zoo inhabitants,
doing so can sometimes present legal difficulties. Each state regulates veterinary
licensure and practice, and scope of practice varies depending on local laws
and customs.
“Animal chiropractic is so new and growing so rapidly those chiropractors
and veterinarians don’t know what to do with the [state] Boards,”
explains Bockhold. “In some states anybody can do whatever they want,
while in others only chiropractors can adjust animals, but they must have a
veterinarian supervising them.”
In yet other jurisdictions, only vets can legally treat animals, and that sometimes
leads to clashes between the two professions. The AVCA was set up in part to
bring the two sides together and ensure that all animals receive safe and effective
care by trained professionals.
That was the goal of modern animal chiropractic’s founder, Sharon Willoughby,
who trained as both a vet and a DC. She took over a small organization known
as Options for Animals in 1988, following a conference held at Life University
two years previously. After adopting the name American Veterinary Chiropractic
Association for both the organization and the new school, she began teaching
classes. She developed a comprehensive curriculum for training animal chiropractors
by combining the practice philosophies of both fields.
A few years later, she gave up the AVCA name so that it could be adopted by
a new and restructured professional organization for animal chiropractors. Separated
from her school, the AVCA became a certifying agency for animal chiropractic
schools and their graduates. Its mission is to regulate the new specialty. Options
for Animals became an independent school for teaching animal chiropractic.
Following her retirement to Alaska in 2003, Willoughby sold Options to Bockhold
and two other instructors. Since then, the three doctors have updated the curriculum
to accommodate the expanding interest in animal adjustment. The school offers
both a basic and advanced course of study. Completion of the basic course entitled
students to sit for the AVCA certification exam. Attendance is open to both
licensed chiropractors and veterinarians.
“The whole idea is for the two professions to work together,” says
Bockhold. “Because chiropractors cannot be primary healthcare providers
for animals, we have to work very closely with the veterinarian. By meshing
the two together and building a strong working relationship with both chiropractors
and veterinarians, we can get the respect within the two professions and avoid
some of the MD/DC dissention.”
Some vets attend the course simply to learn more about adjusting and develop
a basis for referring their patients to chiropractors. Others want to incorporate
adjusting into their own practices themselves. Bockhold spends several days
a week working in a large veterinary practice as the resident chiropractor.
While vets typically don’t arrive at Options for Animals with any expertise
in adjusting technique, they are already experts on animal anatomy.
“The veterinarians have a bit more of a struggle to learn because it’s
so much chiropractic in a short amount of time,” she says. “The
students really work together and help each other.”
When these students graduate, they will join a growing movement that is restoring
health and bringing renewed vitality to all kinds of animals. Just as B.J. Palmer
recognized so long ago, spinal health is vital to all creatures, everywhere.