Carrot Stretches

This week I went out to work with "Pal", a Palomino with a stiff neck.  He was having a hard time turning to the left when his rider was asking him.  An easy way to tell if your horse may have some muscle tightness or a misalignment of the vertebra (subluxation) is with carrot stretches.  With your horse standing square and you off to its side, gently ask your horse to bend its neck back towards its stifle.  When they do so they get the carrot! Make sure to stretch both sides equally.  You can also ask your horse to stretch his head down between his front legs.  Again with you off to his side, hold a carrot between his front legs and he should bring his head all the way down close to the ground and really get a good stretch of his top line.  If your horse is unwilling to stretch a lot at first it may just be due to the fact that they are not quite sure what you are asking them to do or they may have some other concerns such as tight muscles or subluxations.

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Pal, did his carrot stretches great to his right side but very poorly to his left side.  I found subluxations at C5 and C7 on his left side and some very tight muscles in his lower neck and chest.  After some adjustments and a little muscle work he was doing his stretches like a champ on both sides!  If you've never done stretches before with your horse, take things nice and easy and don't make them stretch farther than they can.  Just imagine if you were to start Yoga without ever doing it before.  It may take some time for their muscles to get used to the stretches and to lengthen.

Bummer Day

Last week I saw a dachshund that came to me with sudden paralysis of his back legs (not an unusual case).  They drove 2 hours one way just to see me!  The dog was 7 years old and such a sweetie.  He had no injury but he had back issues a few years ago but not this bad.  He had no hind reflexes, no deep pain response, had no bowel or bladder control and was painful upon palpation of his spine in this lower back. I've seen this case many times, especially in dachshunds.  I adjusted him and recommended that he see the veterinarian for an exam and some possible pain meds/anti-inflammatories since it was 4 days since it had happened and they didn't take him in anywhere yet. The vet did an exam, urinalysis and prescribed some medications.  I sent them home with some easy exercises to do with him and had them ice his back throughout the day.
I called to check on this dog over the weekend and he seemed to be doing okay. He still wasn't walking but wasn't getting any worse and was eating better.  I was suppose to see him yesterday when they cancelled because the dog had passed away earlier that morning.  I was shocked.  Needless to say I called the family right away to see what had happened.  They said that the day before he was suppose to see me he started loosing control of his front legs so they took him in to their vet who did blood work, etc.  From what the family said, he had some sort of rare disease that there is no cure for and all tests come back negative.  It sounded like the paralysis traveled throughout his body and affected his breathing.  They thought the disease started with a "c" but couldn't remember the long name for it.  I have been searching for this rare disease but have been unable to find it thus far.  If you know....I would love to know so that I am better prepared for this in the future, although from what the family said there was nothing anyone could have done.  At first I thought it was a tick-borne disease but I think they are all treatable.  I also read up on Coon-paralysis but that too, is not fatal.  Would love to hear ideas if you have them! RIP Leo.

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Snow Day

The weather man just said we got 15.4 inches of snow with another 2-4 inches on the way.  How lovely! And I thought spring was on the way.  I was supposed to travel to Rhinelander and Merrill today for some animal appointments but I am not going anywhere.  Hopefully they can hold out for a few more weeks. This was Winston after Bohdi (our German Shorthair) made a little path for him :) Needless to say he was pooped when he got back in the house!

Acupuncture

At Best Friends Animal Care Center in Merrill, WI (one of the vet clinics I work at) Dr. Kate Alden is certified to treat animals with acupuncture.  It is quite amazing to see.  We work together on a lot of cases and those animals seem to get better faster.  I do my adjusting first to make sure everything is lined up properly, then Dr. Kate will do her acupuncture treatment and then follow up with laser therapy after that.  The dogs REALLY seem to love it!  I think its like going to the "spa" for them :)  Most of the time the dogs seem like they are falling asleep.  If you've never thought or heard about acupuncture for your pet, it's something to think about and there is a laundry list of conditions that it is helpful with.  It also works great in conjunction with other treatments such as chiropractic, laser therapy and your traditional veterinary medicine.  

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Sasha

I've been working with Sasha for almost a year now.  When she first came to me her owners brought her in for Degenerative Disc Disease (DJD).  She had jumped off the bed and then wouldn't move. I believe we adjusted her 4 times (her thoracic spine/middle back was the worst) and she was back to her good old self running around and jumping up and down like nothing had happened.  I hadn't seen Sasha for about 3 months or so when her owners brought her in with complaints that she was acting different.  She wasn't eating or drinking and was panting a lot.  She was in and out of the vets office a few times and had gotten fluids.  When I examined her, I found that her upper cervical spine was very tender and really out of alignment!  We did another short series of adjustments and had put her on a maintenance schedule every few months to make sure she stayed feeling well.  Last week Sasha's owners drove a total of 4 hours to bring her to me when she started limping for no reason (her owners are really great!).  Her lumbar spine (lower back) was out of alignment this time.  She hadn't done anything besides walk through some deep snow but that might have been just enough to throw her back out of alignment.  I checked in with her owners on Monday and she was doing a little better but still limping.  I will she her again this week and hopefully she has made some marked improvements.  Sasha is a older dog but responds great to her adjustments! Hopefully she will bounce back just as quickly from this last episode. 

Sasha's gait last week.

Success Story

I just received this email and I thought I would share:

Hello Doctors Kate & Kristy!

After these several months have passed I wanted to give you each an update on Cinder’s condition following the care you gave her subsequent to her spinal injury in August 2010. You may remember that the injury resulted in the loss of use of her back legs for a time.

Dr. Kate treated her injury promptly (next day) and after the first few treatments she could actually walk again. At home, however, I observed that she still had difficulty moving about the house, especially on tile, or when we and her two brothers went for walks. She would fall occasionally; she would scrape her rear toenails on the ground as she walked; her tail would be mostly limp and flop from side to side with her stride, as if she had only partial control of it or maybe of her rear end in general. Dr. Kristy’s chiropractic adjustments really helped in overcoming that problem. There was steady improvement over the weeks.

What prompts me to write you today are some things I observed about her on our walks, now that the ice is gone from our street. First, her toenails do not scrape the pavement at all any more, indicating to me that she has regained much strength and control in her back legs & ankles. I have been doing the test you taught me of turning her toes under & backwards as she stands. She corrects that position immediately now. She won’t put the slightest amount of weight on the foot until she corrects its position. Furthermore, when we walk her tail no longer wobbles around; she carries it steadily and in the typical up-curve so customary among doxies, and completely under control.

I could go on and on about how crucial and indispensable your treatments were in helping Cinder. Many, many thanks to you both! It is a wonderful success story.

Greg S.

Rhinelander, WI

Laser Therapy

Two of the three vet clinics I work at have laser therapy.  Laser therapy is helpful for pets with inflammatory conditions, arthritis, neck and back pain, trauma injuries, surgery recovery, open wounds and more.  I see faster changes in my patients that get laser therapy treatments after I adjust them than in the ones that do not have laser therapy.  The laser helps to promote healing at the cellular level and also provides pain relief.  There are no side effects and the pets seem to REALLY enjoy it.  It works great in conjunction to alternative therapies like chiropractic and acupuncture as well as traditional veterinary medicine.  To learn more about the types of laser therapy check out Laser Therapy for Dogs.