Animal Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic care can improve your senior pet's health and overall quality of life. Joints in the spine and limbs of animals usually lose flexibility with age which causes the animal stiffness and discomfort. Regular chiropractic care can help these animals to become more active and comfortable.

Puppies - can also benefit from chiropractic work to correct the fixations and subluxations caused when playing with other animals or the trauma from falling due to their under developed lack of coordination. By taking care of a puppies chiropractic needs, the chances of later back and hip injuries are decreased. Certain canine breeds whose long, unsupported back predisposes them to musculoskeletal problems will benefit from a program of regular chiropractic adjustments.

Dogs competing in sports - such as obedience, agility and flyball need regular chiropractic care to restore their flexibility and to achieve and maintain peak functioning. Repetitive activities create additional stress on the dog's spine and limbs.

Many of these dogs will exhibit no overt symptoms until the problem has become severe. Some symptoms for dogs can be hesitation or reluctance to jump or failure to maintain attention while heeling.

Movement restricting conditions - can be treated successfully with chiropractic adjustments. Loss of flexibility in any part of the skeleton, causes other parts of the body compensate creating stress on joints as the animal shifts its balance. Chiropractic care for these animals improves their flexibility and reduces pain levels, and reduces the need for pain medication.

Acute disc problems can benefit from chiropractic care beginning immediately after the problem has been diagnosed. Other conditions that often respond to chiropractic care include radial nerve paralysis and Wobbler syndrome.

Chronic gastrointestinal problems - respond well to chiropractic treatments. They can also be recommended for animals who have suffered any kind of physical trauma resulting in decreased flexibility and mobility.

The Veterinarian and/or the Veterinary Chiropractitioner will determine if VOM treatment should be considered based upon blood work, x-rays, or other diagnostic tests. Dr. Bodenbender will perform an evaluation of your pet that includes palpation, gait analysis, a neurologic/orthopedic overview, and bio-mechanical study. She will then do a "diagnostic pass" which entails her running the device down the pet’s spine, searching for pathological reads indicative of subluxations. The subluxations found will be recorded. If significant subluxations are found and they correspond to the clinical disease presented, then a course of VOM treatment will be recommended.

A second VOM pass will be made (therapeutic pass) and the changes to the reading pattern will be noted. Your pet may be already showing signs of improvement.

A third VOM pass will usually be made, (second therapeutic pass) and that data evaluated. Most if not all of the reads may be reduced at this point. An appointment to return for readjustment will be made upon release and post-adjustment instructions will be given as to activity and potential discomfort that evening. Some medicines may be dispensed depending on the clinician and the nature of the case.

A series of 3-5 readjustments may be needed to reach a point where no reads are found in which case the subluxation pattern is cured. Maintenance checks may be recommended ever 4-6 months to watch for recurrence.

After the adjustment you may see a response while your pet is on the examination table. It can be that fast. The average case will see some sort of positive response within the first week and commonly the entering clinical complaint will be gone within the first three adjustments.

Cases that show no response within 1 month may be due to a lack of function for years or per-existing paralysis. If neurological damage is extensive, significant and permanent the animal may not respond well to VOM, however with VOM, it cannot hurt to try.

Follow-up appointments are necessary because the body has gotten used to functioning in a sort of state of out of communication and the nervous system has thrown up a nerve adaptation that allows some marginal level of function. The body develops a pseudo-memory of how it has "adapted". When the body is re-introduced to functioning correctly, that system wins out for a stretch of time until the nagging pseudo-memory of the neuronal adaptation re-expresses itself on the body again and the body slips "out of adjustment". Systematic readjustment on a succinct schedule then finally wins out over the pseudo-adaptive memory and further adjustments are not necessary.

It reduces the subluxations present in the joints of your pet. It cannot create a subluxation in your pet. It can only flip the neuronal switches that are turned off, on. It cannot flip a switch off.

It provides very accurate and precise motion to specific areas of the pet's spine and if a subluxation is present it can detect and reduce it quickly and without pain or injury.

Sometimes the adjustments may cause some minor pain or discomfort but does not produce enough movement to cause injury.

The beauty of the VOM Technology is that it provides the exact amount of force to the subluxated joint needed to reduce the subluxation without having to induce a lot of depth due to the deviceÕs speed. The device trades motion for speed to maintain the force needed to reduce the subluxation.

You bet! All the reads that we see in the dog and the cat are magnified in the horse. Areas usually devoid of subluxations in the shoulder areas of dogs and cats are hot spots in the equine.

Progressive myelopathies

IV disc disease

Agility dysfunction

Endocrine disease

Progressive lameness

Unilateral lameness

Esophageal disease

Digestive disorders

Performance problems

Behavioral problems

Wobbler's disease

Diseases of the knee

Acute and non-acute lameness

Hip Dysplasia-like syndromes

Urinary and fecal incontinence

Increased or decreased GI mobility disease