Is it crazy to take your dog to a chiropractor??
We don't think so! If fact, we've been doing it for years with great success. We started taking our dogs to the chiropractor when we used to show a lot. It made huge improvements to their movement as well as how they carried their head and neck.
The benefit was overall health to the dogs. We still continue to do chiropractic in our dogs today. Whether they are young and playing and their spine becomes misaligned or they are older and just helping to ease the aches and pains of arthritis and old age, chiropractic for your dog can have many benefits.
Sometimes the dogs are a little worried about what is going on, how this person is moving and manipulating them but once their adjustment is complete, they absolutely love it and love going back for follow up visits!
For more information, check out this article at the NEW YORK TIMES that discusses how chiropractic and veterinary care can go hand-in-hand and even help save some money on vet care for your pet.
Dr. Becker has this to say about Chiropractic in animals:
How Chiropractic Care Helps Pets
Chiropractic care is an excellent way to prevent and treat joint degeneration in your pet. Proper vertebral alignment keeps the body from shifting into unhealthy positions to compensate for joint pain caused by injury or degeneration.Regular manual orthopedic manipulation, especially with large and giant breed dogs, will help keep the musculoskeletal system from degenerating as the aging process occurs. It can also help keep your pet moving comfortably throughout her whole life.Dogs with floating kneecaps can benefit greatly from chiropractic adjustments to keep the hips and knees in alignment and to help prevent the condition from progressing.Dogs with hip dysplasia can avoid compensating injuries through chiropractic adjustments as well.Some pets with urinary incontinence are helped by chiropractic adjustments, and I have seen many cases in my practice of improved bladder tone and neurologic function through maintenance chiropractic care.If your pet has been injured, a veterinary chiropractor can help realign the spine to avoid compensating injuries from occurring in addition to the underlying primary injury.If your pet has had surgery with general anesthesia, I always recommend a visit to the veterinary chiropractor afterwards to realign a body that has potentially been flopping or jerking around while the animal was anesthetized.I also recommend maintenance chiropractic care proactively for all my patients to reduce the risk of injury and joint degeneration. This is especially good for puppies and kittens because they are 'loose' – their joints are not yet completely formed. Their bones are still growing and they're prone to subluxations.Other conditions that often respond well to chiropractic care include:
- Neck and back pain
- Difficulty chewing or swallowing
- Tail injuries
- Sporting or working dog injuries
- Muscle spasms and nerve problems
- Bowel, bladder and other internal organ disorders
- Injuries from slips, falls, accidents
- Maintenance of joint and spine health
- Jaw or TMJ problems
- Post-surgical healing
Read more of this article HERE:
At this point we know you are saying "Sounds GREAT! Where do I find a chiropractor for my dog?" While there are some "dog" chiropractors out there, sometimes it can be difficult to find one in your town. First, check with any horse stables within driving distance. Chiropractic has been big in horses for years and years and often times they will have a chiropractor that comes to their stable on a regular basis. The other way to find one is to just start calling around to human chiropractors. We find the ones that specialize in "sports injuries" tend to be more able or willing to work on dogs. The chiropractors we use say that working on dogs is very similar to working on humans and the biggest difference is that the dogs have much more muscle mass in their necks than humans do.
Here are a couple of more resources to check out as well:
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