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A large proportion of our work is the treatment of back problems in horses, back problems in dogs, back
problems in cats and back work in other species. Many of our patients have back pain or a back problem that has gone unnoticed,
since the signs of back pain and neck pain are subtle. A painful back or painful neck is often betrayed by difficulty in rising,
tenderness over the hind quarters, tenderness over the loins (lumbar region), difficulty in jumping, not jumping straight,
not sitting straight, not tracking up, lying awkwardly, not standing straight, not standing square, difficulty in getting
up, high head carriage, moving eyes more than head (neck pain), inability to raise head, hollow back, hunched back, arched
back, scoliosis, pelvic misalignment, unsymmetrical work or uneven work (i.e. not bending to left or right or not working
equally well on left rein or right rein), incorrect jaw movement, wrong posture etc. Because our patients are quadrupeds,
they also experience difficulty in going down a steep slope or downhill.
Sadly, many of cases of spinal misalignment go unnoticed at a standard veterinary examination, since a deep
study of back alignment issues is not part of the training of veterinary students. Misalignment will even go unobserved on
X-Ray examination, since any anomaly is usually put down to incorrect positioning of the patient on the X-Ray plate.
We give each patient a routine back check. Correction
of any discovered back problem is then offered. The technique we use most often is based on a very gentle form of chiropractic manipulation. We also use acupuncture, LASER, massage etc.
In horses, we also check the fit of
the saddle. Saddling and saddle fitting can be a source of pain and discomfort for the horse and great frustration for the
caring owner or rider, who can find it difficult to obtain the support needed.
We travel the UK, for the treatment of horse back problems. We perform treatment of dog back problems
and cat back problems at the AVMC premises, although house calls (home visits) can also be arranged for dogs,
cats and other species.
Although a back problem can
arise anywhere along the axial skeletal system, regions of most stress are: temporomandibular joint, atlanto-occipital joint,
cervical-thoracic junction, thoracolumbar junction, lumbosacral junction and pelvic alignment.
Christopher Day - holistic vet, acupuncture vet, homeopathic
vet, herbal vet and chiropractic vet.
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