| By
Michael R. Gaines, D.C.
1980
— The words “Supremely Graceful”
have been used to describe many of the animal kingdom’s
creations of greater motion. Often such an expression
can be felt when in view of a seagull stationary in
the sky against the wind, or any of the land animals
in motion in their natural habitat, such as deer,
or man.
Stress
and complications resulting from stress take a toll
in all systems of motion, in musculo-skeletal components
of all life forms that need mechanical and structural
elements to effect motion. Chiropractic has proven
its outstanding effectiveness in management of structure
stress related conditions in man and now presents
hope to other vertebrates as an alternative to medicine
and surgery. This presents itself in light of recent
research in the application of chiropractic principles
in the removal of nerve interference in vertebrates
other than man.
Interest
began to grow when Stewart Duberstein, owner of racehorse
Don Jose, brought an article from the October 1979
issue of Hoofbeats magazine, a horse racing
trade journal, to Dr. James Dankovich at the Tooma
Clinic in Lathrup Village, Michigan. The article presented
a story about Easton, Pennsylvania Chiropractor John
Cavallo’s research with local veterinarians
into the application of chiropractic techniques to
various muscluo-skeletal problems in farm animals
that fail to respond to conventional medical veterinary
care.
The
Hoofbeats article reported positive results
with chiropractic treatment on animals such as cows,
bulls, dogs, cats, goats, even hogs. Duberstein pointed
out the written results about chiropractic and racehorses,
however, and was interested in its application to
Don Jose and other horses.
Intrigued
with the concept, Dr. E.S. Tooma initiated a telephone
conversation with Dr. Cavallo for instructions and
suggestion on the topic of horse adjusting. Inspired
by Cavallo’s enthusiasm, the doctors and staff
of Tooma clinic visited Mr. Duberstein and Don Jose
at Briarwood Stables in New Hudson, Michigan and began
to systematically palpate and adjust Don Jose and
other trotters and pacers that have demonstrated symptoms
of vertebral subluxations or have failed to respond
to conventional medical veterinary care. The results
were excellent. Further encouraged by the improvements
observed in the animals, Dr. Tooma sent an associate,
Dr. M. Galinis, traveling with veterinary technician
Pat Guthell, to Easton, Pennsylvania, to work with
Dr. Cavallo first hand and to observe the present
state of the art of quadruped chiropractic technique.
The
difference between adjusting quadrupeds and man is
reported to be minor. Doctor Cavallo says that his
hands are adequate for correcting subluxations in
smaller animals such as dogs, cats, even goats, (with
protective muzzling where appropriate), but on larger
animals experimentation yielded the use of a padded
2 by 4 board to convey force delivered by a hammer
blow in lumbar and dorsal regions. Cavallo has found
the padding to be necessary to avoid skin injuries
from adjustments delivered over the animals spinous
and transverse processes.
The
subluxation direction is determined by palpitation
of the paravertebral tissues or through the use of
a heat sensing device called a “Chiro-meter”,
which in Dr. Cavallo’s experience, registers
a lower relative temperature on the side of laterality
and rotation of the vertebral transverse and spinous
processes.
Cervical
correction in larger animals is performed by hand,
and is accomplished by taking a specific contact (nail
point one or pistiform) on the lateral or rotated
vertebra and delivering a rapid lateral thrust with
rotary motion brought about by listing the animals
head on a saggital axis from an indifferent contact
on its nose or mouth. The hammer and 2 by 4 is not
used here because of the sensitivity and delicacy
of the cervical structures, regardless of the animal’s
size. Mr. Duberstein, owner of pacer Don Jose, reports
a direct correlation with the adjustments and the
condition of his horse. He mentioned that problems
are most common with the hindquarters of trotters
and pacers and that after one adjustment they “loosen
right up.” Duberstein added that Don Jose is
eleven years old, the equivalent of 65 years old in
a human.
Briarwood
Stable trainer Leroy Perry reports that since Don
Jose and other horses have been under chiropractic
care, their response to training has markedly improved.
Noted were such changes as a freer gait, reduction
in lumbar tenderness, straighter running, and an overall
improvement in trainability. The horses have been
described as “better students.” The dividends
also have been gratifying. Since the adjustments,
Briarwood Stables has logged six wins out of the last
nine races, as improvement described by Duberstein
as “Fantastic.” Similar results have been
sought in the use of powerful pain masking drugs with
stimulants by some racing circles, resulting in the
inevitable demise of the horse.
Leg
and spine problems are very common with pacers and
trotters according to Pennsylvania Veterinarian Dr.
Pet Tersigni. Such horses are trained and bred to
pace at a speed at which they would naturally gallop.
The result is tremendous pressure and frequent injury
to the hind legs and spine.
Results
of chiropractic treatment have been gratifying with
other types of animals as well. Mrs. Trudy Rausch
of Greenwich Twp., New Jersey, as reported by Andrea
Axelrod of the Easton Express, states that
one of her goats has increased its milk output by
“many gallons” since its first adjustment.
Dr. Cavallo has been treating Mrs. Rausch’s
Nubian Toggenburg, and buck goats successfully for
conditions ranging from head tilt to near paralysis.
Veterinary
reaction is reported to be mixed. Skepticism appears
to be the general trend among Easton area veterinarians,
though Dr. Cavallo has been working extensively with
veterinarian Pat Tersigni for as long as 15 years.
Another local veterinarian, Dr. Robert Blease said
that he has never seen adverse effects from the adjustments.
Usually the treatment either didn’t work or
the results were excellent. Dr. Blease is quoted in
the Hoofbeats article as saying, “I’ve
had real skeptics who just looked at me when I suggested
trying the Chiropractor who ended up going to him
themselves.”
Lexington,
Michigan Veterinarian Dr. Lynn Friday, acting as consultant
to the Tooma clinic staff on an experimental basis
feels positive about the chiropractic approach to
veterinary problems. Dr. Friday has expressed a desire
to see the various approaches in veterinary health
care intermeshed with the chiropractic approach, yielding
a more wholistic concept. Certainly, the owners of
various animals benefiting from such care wish to
see the idea grow.
The
future of animal chiropractic bears a hopeful overtone.
Its possibilities point towards a greater degree of
interprofessional cooperation and a more profound
understanding and application of the most basic laws
of health that affect all levels and forms of life.
It would make exquisite sense to find that the myriad
expressions of life are but different sparks of design
from the same essence, similar to the multitude of
patterns that just a few paper clips can cause through
the lens of a kaleidoscope. If such is indeed the
case, it is possible that chiropractic in its approach
to the care of animals is a first-rate step in the
direction toward the application of more of the fundamental
principles of harmony common to all life forms. When
asked what such applications could mean to health
care in general, Dr. Tooma feels that this is a natural,
logical step in the evolution of all forms of health
care. He states that though chiropractic is the only
health profession that expressly works with the restoration
of natural harmony by reducing interference in the
form of vertebral subluxation, all forms of health
care will eventually adopt a similar, more natural
orientation.
When
asked how it all began, Dr. Cavallo tells the story
about two nearby farmers in his eastern Pennsylvania
community. One had a cow that had been paralyzed and
laying in a field for two weeks. The cow had been
diagnosed as suffering from contusions and pelvic
distortion as a result of giving birth to a large
calf. Local veterinarians had given up on the cow
and the farmer had heard about Dr. Cavallo through
the veterinarians and other farmers. Deciding there
was nothing to lose, Dr. Cavallo began to adjust.
The cow totally recovered in a short time, prompting
another farmer in the area to seek Cavallo’s
help with a cow that had also failed to respond to
conventional medical veterinary care. The cow recovered.
The farmer then brought his son, who had been in deteriorating
condition at a nearby hospital, to Dr. Cavallo for
treatment of spinal meningitis. The boy showed marked
improvement over the next two weeks, and soon more
of the family was under the doctor’s care. Some
time later Dr. Cavallo asked the farmer why he was
prompted to bring his son under chiropractic care.
“All of the other doctors failed with my cow,
and all of the other doctors failed with my boy,”
the farmer said, “so what’s good enough
for my cow must be good enough for my son.”
|
