Veterinary Spinal Manipulation (Animal Chiropractics)

Chiropractic care focuses on the relationship between structure, primarily of the spine, and function, primarily via the nervous system, as it is related to health, posture and performance.  This is done by manually adjusting a musculoskeletal area of the body that is functioning improperly.  

Motion palpation, which is performed by the spinal manipulation therapist, is a palpatory assessment of active and passive joint range of motion.  A subluxation is the restriction of motion of a joint.  An adjustment is a high velocity and low amplitude manoeuvre, usually at a facet joint, which should be neither painful nor noisy.  In fact, it, and your pet’s reaction to it, are likely to be minimally noticeable at the time of an adjustment.

Dr. Kim Holzman performs spinal manipulation on one of her patients.

Some goals and effects of a chiropractic adjustment include: 

• Helping to breaks down adhesions by the quick stretch of fibres

• Improving joint motion and thus inhibiting pain

• Reduce spinal stiffness or hypomobility

• Reduce pain at the spinal cord 

• Relieve muscle tension

• Secondary outcomes include improved visceral function, immune system function, stress relief, etc

How does veterinary spinal manipulation therapy work?  It creates (a brief but significant) burst of neurological activity, primarily dependent on speed of the thrust, and there will be modulation of muscle activation, improvement of visceral function, enhanced sensorimotor integration, reduced pain sensitivity, and general pain modulation.  This effect may be transient, but due to neuroplasticity (the adaptability of the nervous system), the goal is for sustained changes and improvements to occur.  

Some of our favourite applications of spinal manipulation include:

• Adjustments for rehab patients who have compensatory muscle tightening and pain 

• Senior pets

• Conditioning of sports dogs:  improves performance, helps correct imbalances, helps detect injury and compensatory issues, provides added stimulation to associated musculature, promotes well being