The Veterinarian/Chiropractor Team

Chiropractic can also offer valuable assistance to veterinarians dealing with lameness.  The goal here is to find the primary source of pain, rather than treating what might be a secondary source.  In equine practice, back problems and leg injuries are often inter-related.  An example of this might be an acute lower limb injury causing the horse to later his gait and carry the affected leg abnormally.

The abnormal weight bearing and altered gait can subsequently overwork or injure associated back muscles.  Back injuries can result in increased forces to the joints, resulting lameness, or gait alterations in the feet and legs, as the horse tries to protect its sore back.. Unless the primary cause of the back pain is identified and treated, most horses will have recurring back pain when returned to work after a period of medication and/or rest. 

Chiropractic provides expertise in the evaluation of back and joint problems that can provide the veterinarian additional means of diagnosis and early treatment options in certain lameness problems; especially conservative treatment of biomechanically-related musculoskeletal disorders.

It should be stressed that chiropractic, in no way, should be thought of as a replacement for conventional veterinary medicine, but rather as a valid, concurrent, complimentary treatment procedure for many back and lameness problems.  And as with any health related problems or conditions that your horse may experience, it is important that your veterinarian be contacted initially so that he or she can assess your horse for any underlying medical condition that could be causing similar symptoms.