It is time for barrel racing in western North Carolina!! What an exciting, fast sport for the young and old. You ride your horse into the arena, make sharp turns around 3 barrels, then sprint out. It is timed, of course. In these parts, it is a great family and friend time as well.
As we age, our joints and muscles continue to need motion to maintain their balance and motion. True for animals too. When your dog and cat (or other pets) begin to reach those golden years, daily exercise is even more important in some ways.
Joints begin to stiffen somewhat with arthritic type changes and that limits the amount and comfortableness of the joints in question. In dogs, it is very common to see that stiffness upon getting up first thing in the morning, after lying for the day, after too much vigorous activity. Like the rusty hinge we all know about, after we get things moving, they move easier and with less resistance.
Actually, the initials are PST which stands for Pulsed Signal Therapy. This technology has been used extensively on humans and is now available for dogs, cats, and other small animals. It is a therapy that significantly helps joint pain, joint and muscle tenderness, painful motion, joint inflammation and helps improve mobility, sleep and general activities of daily living (paraphrased from pstvet brochure).
All I can say is the dogs that Dr. Tami Shearer sees, love this treatment and benefit from it greatly. Dr. Shearer specializes in treating and caring for animals in chronic pain. Shearer Pet Health Hospital in Sylva, NC gets referrals from around the area for her special treatment of these pets. PST is a non-invasive therapy that assists new bone and cartilage growth as well as the benefits listed above. It is an honor for me to work with Dr. Tami monthly at her clinic providing chiropractic care for the same population of animals.
I am frequently asked about “when do you know if chiropractic is indicated in my pet’s situation?” Asking your veterinarian first is, of course, indicated and I find that unless that veterinarian is versed in chiropractic and/or has been a patient of chiropractic offices, they often are still learning which conditions are responsive to chiropractic. I am still learning some of these myself and I have been a chiropractor for over 25 years.
Chiropractic care is very successful with mechanical problems. By that I mean, sprains, strains, disc problems, shoulder and elbow problems, non pathological limping or lameness, neck problems. In other words, we are specialists in analyzing joints and there movement and have techniques to help normalize these areas through balancing the musculoskeletal and nervous system associated with those areas. Chiropractic dovetails very nicely with physical therapy, stretching, acupuncture, Tellington Touch, and other neuromuscular therapies. Used in conjunction they are synergistic.