Should I bother with a Chiropractor for my Horse?

Of course, I will say yes because that is what I do for a living. I have a gentleman that works for me that says if you go to a heart doctor it will be the heart, a surgeon will want to cut and a chiropractor will say adjust it. In order to answer that ques�on you must first understand what chiroprac�c is about. Chiroprac�c is a healthcare discipline that emphasizes the inherent recupera�ve power of the body to heal itself without the use of drugs or surgery. The prac�ce of chiroprac�c focuses on the rela�onship between structure (primarily the spine) and func�on (as coordinated by the nervous system) and how that rela�onship affects the preserva�on and restora�on of health. Chiroprac�c assumes that every living body has some innate intelligence. Animal chiroprac�c care is about total health and wellbeing. It’s about helping animals to feel great and get the most out of life by func�oning at their op�mum poten�al. The spine is there to protect the spinal cord, which is part of the central nervous system. The spine is like a set of armor made up of segments that can bend and move naturally with the body. A spinal segment consists of two vertebrae and the joints that connect them. There is a disc between each vertebra that acts as a cushion.

Underneath that armor, a whole lot is happening. Messages travel from around the body up the spinal cord and into the brain. The brain processes those messages and sends replies back down the spinal cord to tell the body how to respond. The central nervous system is one big informa�on highway and it carries vital messages to every part of the animal’s body.

Some�mes the wear and tear of everyday life can impact the spine and can cause spinal segments to move in a way that is different to normal, in a dysfunc�onal way. That wear and tear can happen gradually, such as from bad posture, or it can happen suddenly, which is common with sports injuries, and because of the close rela�onship between the spine and nervous system, everyday strains can actually impact the flow of informa�on and communica�on between the brain and the body.

Messages may not be delivered to the brain or they may be inaccurate. When that miscommunica�on occurs due to abnormal movement in the spine animal chiropractors call this ‘a vertebral subluxa�on’ or a chiroprac�c subluxa�on. By making fast gentle adjustments to the spine cer�fied animal chiropractors restore the natural movement of the spine.

If the central nervous system is like the engine of the body, a cer�fied animal chiropractor acts as a mechanic, tuning the spine and central nervous system, so that the body can run like a racecar. Just keep in mind that as your animal is adjusted you may hear a popping sound that can seem a bit strange. In fact, it’s completely harmless. It’s just a release of gas from between the spinal segments, and it’s no more significant that any other release of gas from the body.

Chiroprac�c is a process not a procedure. The adjustment and its immediate response are not the goal. The adjustment provides input into a system that uses the energy in the way that it is programmed and capable of. The goal is to allow the

By Dr. Bill Ormstrom

system to sustain EASE. Normal movement, normal physiology and normal development. The goal is to allow the system to op�mize and be able to handle the stresses of life. Animal Chiropractors don’t fix or heal animals. Each animal is already whole and has the intelligence to care for itself. The proper specific adjustment allows that intelligence to express itself as op�mally as possible.

The cer�fied Animal chiropractor will make only one diagnosis, vertebral subluxa�on. It is difficult to know without seeing the animal to know if these are present. It is impossible to know without adjus�ng the animal to know if removing the nerve inference that is present in the body will allow the animal’s innate wisdom to restore a homeosta�c condi�on that is health. So, what is a subluxa�on? The short answer is that a subluxa�on is a misalignment of the vertebrae of the spine. This can happen due to all sorts of reasons, and the side effects can vary from horse to horse. But one thing that all sufferers have in common is that these subluxa�ons definitely harm their health and should be corrected. These misalignments create pressure or irrita�on on the various nerves in the spine, and can cause a wide variety of symptoms throughout your horse’s body, such as localized pain, soreness, imbalance, and weakness. When pressure is applied on a nerve in the spine, the nerve energy is interrupted, which can profoundly affect the func�on of other systems or organs in the body. Dr. Chung Ha Suh of the University of Colorado showed that even a small pressure (about the weight of a dime) on a nerve can reduce the func�on of the nerve by 60 percent and that the nerve will start to degenerate if the pressure is sustained for three hours. No animal chiropractor anywhere ever cured anybody of anything. No doctor anywhere ever cured anybody of anything. Healing or curing very simply is the crea�on of new living �ssue. When you cut your finger, you destroy a billion cells. A simple li�le cut will destroy a billion cells and your body will create new cells to heal that cut. When all those new cells have been created that cut finger is healed. If your dog has a sore ear it’s because there’s billions of cells in there that are sick and dying. When all those sick and dying cells die off and are replaced by new healthy ones the ear is healed. If the cells are replaced by unhealthy cells the ear s�ll hurts. Healing takes place by one means only, the crea�on of new living �ssue. So, for a Doctor to say they healed something they would have to be able to create living �ssue. We are ge�ng closer all the �me but for now all the scien�sts, all the medical doctors, all the osteopaths, all the veterinary surgeons and all the chiropractors in the world can’t even create a blade of grass let alone living human �ssue. Only a living body can heal itself. Actually, the living body just replaces the damaged cells with healthy cells if it is given the correct informa�on and building blocks.