Chiropractic & Acupuncture Therapies

Chiropractic put simply is the adjusting of joints that are restricted in their normal range of motion to allow a return to more optimal movement and thus more relaxed muscles and nerves. This can be done with the clinicians hands or a chiropractic activator.

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese technique that dates back to 3000 B.C. It illicits certain responses in the body by stimulating certain locations in the skin or in muscles/connective tissue. These points can be stimulated with a number of techniques as aforementioned all have efficacy but a certain technique may suit some horses better than others. As part of acupuncture Chinese pulse diagnosis is an advanced technique that often achieves remarkable results when treating by using just one or at the most two acupuncture needles strategically placed in special acupuncture points around the fore and hindleg coronet bands.

Acupuncture, chiropractic and osteopathic therapies whilst both being powerful primary therapies in their own right, when combined have a synergistic effect such that an adjustment will remain effective for longer than if no acupuncture was used. As a result most horses with chronic problems only need to be seen once every 3-6 months once initial diagnosis and treatment has been performed.

Other Therapies

Homotoxicologic agents are medicines that combine well in effect with acupuncture when injected into acupuncture points and muscle tears.They induce systemic(all body) healing responses and can be used for many ailments eg. chronic viral infections/ immune system problems.

Osteopathic techniques are very subtle methods that often rely on the horse’s respiration to relax and heal damaged tissue.

Chinese and Western herbs are very useful combined with the above therapies when treating certain problems in the equine.