What is chiropractic?

Chiropractic is now one of the leading primary healthcare professions throughout the world specialising primarily in spinal conditions including neck and back pain, however chiropractic philosophy encompasses the body’s innate ability to heal itself and therefore addresses the body as a ‘whole’ rather than focusing just on the area of complaint.  

Why do we need chiropractic?

Often in chiropractic we encounter and treat patients with ‘acute’ problems, which have onset suddenly with little or no known cause. However, what we are all guilty of and very few aware of, is the huge amount of stressors we expose our bodies to and we often forget how adaptable our bodies are to these stressors. It is only when such stressors become too much for our bodies to deal with, and when we are no longer able to compensate, that injury occurs. These stressors include physical (lifting, bending, prolonged sitting), chemical (poor diet/nutrition, exposure to foreign bodies), social (sleeping position, dominant sided, crossing legs) and psychological (stress, anger, depression)…all these place demands on our bodies that we must adapt to and very often we are able to compensate, however this leads to gradual changes in our bodies and it is a slow progression until injury results. In many cases we are given warning signs, i.e. twinges in the low back, headaches, poor vision, aching in the knees, cramps in the lower leg, all of which we ignore or take medication for, this however just disguises or reduces the symptoms…..and it is these symptoms which are the warning signs that we should NEVER ignore.  

It is therefore no wonder that 85% of the population experience low back pain at some time in their lives AND that it accounts for the NUMBER ONE reason for loss of earnings due to being unable to work.  

So, if this can happen to us, just why can’t this happen to our animals?  

IT CAN. One of the most stressful events we encounter in our lives is birth….yet how many of us believe that children have, or should have no pain or problems with their bodies?! It is babies and children, which are the ones that should definitely be checked to help prevent such problems and issues arising in later life. Like us, stress on animals begins at birth and to a much greater degree if anyone has ever seen a mare give birth to a foal? Many times the mare is standing and the foal is birthed and falls from a great height onto a firm surface, and then within a short period is trying to stand, walk and feed!!  

We then expose our animals to a HUGE number of stressors…stabling, travelling, riding numerous different styles, jumping, collection, extension, saddles, bridles, dentistry, harnesses, shoeing, clipping, etc…the list goes on, and the same applies for the canine…agility, obedience, clipping, showing, collars and leads, jumping up, etc. It is therefore inevitable that our pets, show animals or livelihoods may at some point experience injury, whether trauma/overuse induced, or due to conformational defects, whatever the cause is, is it not natural to assist our animals in the healing process as we would ourselves?  

Chiropractic does NOT replace traditional veterinary medicine but rather provides an adjunct to it, providing complimentary therapy alongside your traditional veterinary care to improve and optimise the health and function of your animal.  

The importance of the Vertebral Subluxation Complex (VSC)

The VSC is what we treat as chiropractors and it is important to understand that there are many components to the VSC and influences as a result of it. A vertebral motion unit can become dysfunctional in its NORMAL ROM by being fixed in a neutral position, being fixed outside its neutral position or just showing a reduced amount of motion. Our job as a chiropractor is to RESTORE motion and function to these joints, NOT to put them back into place as they are not out of place, which is a common misnomer. This fixation or subluxation as termed by chiropractors has many different effects, but the principle one being, which dates back to DD Palmer is its negative effect on the nervous system, leading to neuronal (nerve) dysfunction thus effecting all the actions of the nerve which is irritated or compressed.  

This helps to explain why chiropractic has been shown to help in treating non-musculoskeletal disorders such as asthma or IBS because if the thoracic segment 4 is fixed or subluxated it can cause irritation or compression of the spinal nerve which exits that level. This spinal nerve happens to supply the lungs, therefore fixation at T4 may aggravate asthmatic symptoms.  

Chiropractic uses various non-invasive techniques including posture and gait analysis, static and motion palpation, flexibility tests and pain challenges to assess and identify areas of joint dysfunction, which can often be the source of the problem. Low force, high velocity adjustments are then used to restore NORMAL function to these joints. All adjustments are carried out within the NORMAL range of motion, so this is non-painful and non-invasive to the animal, however muscle guarding and spasm that often results from injury as with us can often be sore to the touch, and therefore muscle work and exercises are often integrated.